Firefighters throughout the world take pride in the fact that they are well known for being in top physical shape. One member of the 422nd Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department recently took that pride a step further than most when he went on an almost 12,000 miles round trip to compete in the 9th World Firefighter Games in Hong Kong. The biannual competition has 52 events and was attended by more than 3,000 competitors. Lead Firefighter Steve Price competed in three of those 52 events and stood out among the 3,000 competitors when he won the gold medal in Indoor Rowing. Steve competed against firefighters from France, South Africa and Hong Kong in the event and beat the second place finisher by eight seconds. When I got to 500 metres I was in third place, he said. I thought at that point it would be nice to finish with a bronze. When I got to a thousand I was in second, and thought I might have a chance to win it. When I hit the 1,500 metre mark I moved into first place and then just kept the pressure on for the last 500. He didn't keep his competitive spirit to his area of expertise, though. He also competed in the 50-metre backstroke and freestyle swim. That's not my strongest area, and it showed, laughed Steve as he talked about the competition. It was really embarrassing. Not only did I come in last, I was about 10 seconds behind the guy who came in second to last. That's a pretty big difference when you're only swimming 50 metres. The Firefighters Games in Hong Kong weren't the first ones Steve has competed in. I competed in the games in Sheffield two years ago, he said. It was then I decided I was going to do the one in China. The Hong Kong games won't be his last either. The next games are in Liverpool and Steve will be there. He doesn't plan to go alone, though. I'm going to try and get my wife to play in the next one, he said. I need a team player for lawn bowls, so I'm going to try and persuade her to do that.