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Gallery | One of Victoria’s oldest sports will continue on at Mooroopna this weekend

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Smiles on dials: Strathmerton’s Brylie Barnes and Madison Knight work together on the water pump. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

The CFA Championships will continue this weekend after a successful start with the juniors at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve last weekend.

Across March 16 and 17, the Urban Juniors State Firefighter Championship took centre stage; this weekend, the Urban Senior, Rural Junior and Rural Senior State Firefighting Championships will be on display.

Members of the public are encouraged to head down and watch the competitive events and learn more about firefighting at the displays, demonstrations and training drills.

There are also food and drink trucks, merchandise stores, covered seating and grandstands for attendees.

This weekend’s competition will also be held at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve and on Sunday the senior state firefighters will be running through their events in what is sure to be impressive viewing.

The sport is designed to improve firefighter skills, techniques and efficiency while also encouraging members of the public to give the sport a go.

Forty-five brigades will compete in the championships — one of the oldest running sports in Victoria — and CFA acting chief officer Garry Cook said he was looking forward to the weekend’s action.

“The championships are an important and much-loved event on the CFA calendar and go a long way to build and grow the future of the organisation and our next generation of firefighters,” Cook told the CFA.

“For our seniors, it’s an opportunity to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, go head-to-head and both develop and showcase their firefighting skills.

“For us, it’s also a chance to give back to our regional and rural communities that have had a challenging few years impacted by devastating floods and fire.

“The people in these areas are the heart and soul of CFA and we are proud that we can support a regional community like Mooroopna once again and thank all the competitors, families, officials and support staff who make it happen.”

The CFA will be running its annual torchlight procession on Saturday night through the streets of Shepparton.

However, this year the CFA will use sustainable custom-built LED-powered aluminium lanterns that resemble the traditional torches.

Saturday’s competition will run from 8am until 4.30pm, while Sunday’s events will run from 8am until 2.30pm.