Melbourne Beach, FL

May 31, 2002

     Brevard County Fire Rescue hosted this year's Florida Firefighter State Games.  With the venue just south of Cape Canaveral, the East coast fire department played host to serious competitors.
East Lake's own Chuck Coit attended the Games this year, competing in his third consecutive Triathlon competition.  This year's race consisted in a 1/4 mile swim, a 12-mile bike and a 3.1 mile run.  A true "sprint triathlon".
"This year I placed 4th in the race.  Unfortunately I didn't place as well as I have in the past two years, (second place in 2000 & 2001) but I thought the level of competition was much higher this year.   I did much better than I expected to do, mostly because of the bike leg of the race.  I really hammered on the bike.  I started off seventh after the swim leg and overtook four cyclists to end up third overall at the end of the bike leg.  That means pedaling in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 mph during the bike leg, then stepping off the bike right into a 5k (3.1 mile) road race.  Of course, all that takes place after a 1/4 mile swimming race!  I love competing in races of this caliber because it takes serious self discipline to perform, and I like to push myself."  This year Coit finished 4th place with an overall time of 1:04:04.
"There are a few local races I would like to compete in this summer, but I am looking forward to next years games in Ft. Myers and I am kicking around the possibility of competing in the 2003 World Police and Fire Games in Barcelona, Spain.  Ola!"

Congratulations to Chuck on a job well done!