| Third year Exercise Science student, Stacey Bourke, pictured in Bathu... Third year Exercise Science student, Stacey Bourke, pictured in Bathurst helping to fit weighted backpacks and vests on some DECC employees |
Exercise Science students test physical fitness of fire fighters
12 Aug 2008 | Bernie Goldie
Exercise Science students from the University of Wollongong have been involved in assisting UOW’s Exercise Science and Rehabilitation Centre (ESRC) in fitness testing about 1,100 NSW Department of Environment and Climate Control (DECC) employees.
The DECC employees work in the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the tests ensure that the employees are physically capable of the strenuous task of fighting bushfires.
A total of 38 third year students of Exercise Science have been assisting with the delivery of the contract to fitness test DECC employees in 29 far-flung locations across NSW.
For many of the students, it has been an opportunity to visit outback and other regional centres that they might not otherwise experience. Cities and towns such as Bourke, Cobar, Forbes, Coonabarabran, Griffith, Tumut, Coffs Harbour, Glen Innes and Port Macquarie have been included in the itinerary. And for some students the project has included travel on small chartered aeroplanes between testing locations.
Testing has been under way since May this year and is expected to continue until September.
The fitness testing involves the carrying of weighted backpacks and vests over set distances to establish required fitness levels, and is the fifth consecutive year that students have been involved in this project.
A UOW graduate, Nataly McCann, has been engaged by the University to co-ordinate the project.
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