The rowing challenge held at Sixways before the Worcester Warriors v Exeter Chiefs match on Saturday (14 April) has helped boost the total mileage in Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Services (HWFRS) FireFit Challenge.

The FireFit Challenge is a national initiative aimed at encouraging both Fire Service staff and those in the wider community to get active and improve their health and fitness levels ahead of this summer's Olympic Games.

HWFRS is aiming to complete 5,250 miles in total during the course of its FireFit Challenge (the equivalent mileage the Olympic torch will travel from Beijing to London) and every mile rowed by the three teams in Saturday's rowing challenge (a team of firefighters from Droitwich, a team of officers from Fire Service headquarters in Worcester and a team of rugby players from Worcester Warriors) helped towards this target.

Station Commander Phil Griffiths from HWFRS, one of the officers who participated, said: "There was a lot of interest in the Challenge from spectators arriving to watch the match and many had a go at guessing the total miles rowed. The three teams certainly put in a great deal of effort and in total, we rowed an impressive 36km, the equivalent of 22 FireFit miles!"

He thanked Worcester Warriors for hosting the rowing challenge and Concept2 for providing the rowing machines on the day.

Firefighters from the local station were on hand during the event to offer home fire safety advice and Chief Fire Officer Mark Yates also attended to lend his support to the FireFit initiative. A group of Young Firefighters from HWFRS also attended, raising money for charity as the rowing challenge was underway.

Visit www.firefithealthchallenge.co.uk/hwfrs for more information on HWFRS's Firefit Challenge and details of further FireFit events being held in the run up to this summer's Olympic Games.

Ends Issued by Julie Wedgbury, Press Officer on 01905 368411