Newry, ME – The Wolfeboro, N.H. Fire Department edged out 14 other teams from around New England on Sunday to take first place in the 22nd Annual Firefighters’ Race held at Sunday River ski resort in Maine. Meanwhile, proceeds from the race, as well as the 20th Annual Eat the Heat Chili Cookoff and the 27th Annual Ski-A-Thon, helped raise more than $270,000 for Maine Adaptive Sports & Recreation, formerly Maine Handicapped Skiing.
Wolfeboro’s winning time was 26.7 seconds. The margin of victory over second place finishers from the Jay (Maine) Fire and Rescue was only 1.2 seconds; the margin between the second and third place team from Auburn was also 1.2 seconds.
Fire department from around New England also included those from the Maine towns of Poland, Livermore Falls, Bethel, Lewiston, Gorham, Falmouth, Readfield and Newry. The department from Wolfeboro fielded two teams. Firefighters in full gear raced down a giant slalom course on the Tempest trail toting 50 feet of fire hose. Teams were composed of skiers, snowboarders and snowbladers.
At the bottom of the giant slalom race course on Starlight Trail just outside the White Cap Base Lodge was the Eat the Heat Chili Cookoff. Nine slow-cooking teams from Sunday River and the surrounding area offered up their best batches of chili to the hungry crowd and panel of celebrity judges, including Jeff Peterson of WGME 13, Steve Minich of WMTW, Robert Witkowski of Portland magazine, Lori Voornas of WJBQ, travel writer Barbara Rogers, and special guest Herb Gross.
Judge’s scores combined to award first place to Rooster’s Roadhouse in Bethel, Maine. The runner up awards in the annual chili contest went to Gringo Harry’s in Newry, Maine with Shipyard Brewing Company, also from Bethel, finishing third. People’s Choice award went to the Funky Red Barn in Bethel.