Firefighter from Gibraltar crowned British Champion

A FIREFIGHTER from Gibraltar Matthew Coulthard performed outstandingly in the British Firefighter Challenge competition held at De Montfort University, Leicester.

He is part of the local Firefighter Combat Challenge team who have been competing on different stages throughout the world.

At this event, he competed against firefighters from around the world in eight different but related tasks.

Participants had to climb a tower via internal stairs. Once at the top, haul a hose externally, make their way down the stairs again to the next station and move a hefty weight with a heavy hammer, drag a hose along a certain distance, roll the hose and carry it to a predetermined position, collect foam drums and then drag a 70kg dummy to the finish line.

The competition proved extremely tough, with firefighter Coulthard finishing first in the race, which earned him the Gold medal and the title of British Champion.

He was also invited to join a team of firefighters from Humberside for the team relay, where his contribution to the team earned them the silver medal, narrowly missing out on becoming overall champion.

Matthew earned three medals in total, British Champion (Gold), Overall (Silver) and Team Relay (Silver).