A 42-year old High River firefighter is off to prove his metal this weekend at the Fire Fit Challenge in Drumheller.

Ryan Wiebe hopes to improve on his previous outing in the gruelling event.

He says it starts with throwing a fire hose over your shoulder and running up six flights of stairs. Wiebe says at the top competitors throw the hose in a basket and pick up a rope with another rolled hose, weighing about 42 pounds, and pull that up to simulate bringing equipment from the ground to the fire floor.

"A lot of it is strength training, but also a lot of endurance," Wiebe says. "So you want to make sure that your endurance is up there, because you're fully geared up, you've got a tank on, your mask on, everything, so your breathing is restricted to a point. So when you're going hard like that and going through the competitions you need to control your breathing."

He'll also be competing next weekend as part of a team of High River firefighters at Spruce Meadows.

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