Professional firefighters from Jablonec brought home gold from the most difficult competition in Europe News | Liberec Gossip

They didn’t have it in the oldies category Zdeněk Vrána and Vojta Prášil competition. 354 pairs from 11 countries took part in the race this year. The pair of firefighters always had to run as fast as possible along the race track from Alexanderplatz square to the high-rise building and climb the 39 floors of the high-rise building with a height of 110 meters in full gear. For the entire duration of the race, the pair must be inseparable, i.e. within sight of each other, from the 35th floor to the finish line, they must be at arm’s length. Adherence to the rules is monitored by referees all the way. The goal awaits on the thirty-ninth floor, where the second of the pair presses the timer button.

“After catching your breath comes the joy of completing the race, of moving and a relaxing day begins, regardless of the location,” describes Zdeněk. “We both really enjoyed the race. Zdenda ran incredibly fast, at times I had to do something to prevent him from running away from me“, admits Vojtěch. Teammates from the shift and from the competition conquered the race course in 6 minutes and 28 seconds.

This year, two teams were originally supposed to start at the firefighting competition in Berlin for the Fire and Rescue Service of the Liberec Region. “Unfortunately, in the last week before the races, Aleš Zeman, my partner from the last two years, passed away.” describes Zdeněk Vrána, but in the end he found a partner. From the second team, Vojtěch Prášil, Zdeňk’s colleague from shift C at the central fire station in Jablonec nad Nisou, was ready for the races. Both firefighters wanted to stand at the start of the race, so the day before the race they approached the organizer with a request to change the start list. And it worked.

Professional firefighters will also use their physical fitness during normal interventions, for example in traffic accidents when rescuing people.