Lexington firefighters make history in Firefighter Challenge Championship Series
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 News Now) — Two Lexington firefighters have made and continue to make world history in the Firefighter Challenge League. Both Sarah McGill and Andrew Cook received awards in the 2025 Firefighter Challenge Championship Series.
The Firefighter Challenge League is an official sporting league designed for firefighters across the nation, regardless of their experience or status, to receive recognition for their emergency services.
Each year, the league hosts the Firefighter Challenge Championship Series, a set of competitions allowing firefighters across the nation to compete with each other in different obstacle courses. Participants in each challenge are timed based on how fast they can complete the criteria for each specific obstacle course.
According to the Firefighter Challenge League, both firefighters are members of the Firefighter Challenge League Lion’s Den, an award and honor for athletes who can meet a certain amount of criteria. In 2021, McGill received the award for a female to have a run-time less than or equal to three minutes. In 2022, Cook received the award for having a run-time less than or equal to 100 seconds.
McGill holds a U.S. National Record for being the overall fastest female to complete the course in only two minutes and four seconds. She was crowned the U.S. National Champion in 2025 for this record.
In 2025, the Lexington Fire Department’s male team was crowned the Fire Department Showdown Champions and the Fire Department Relay Team Winner. Both McGill and Cook won the title for the Coed Open Team Champion for the Fire Department Tandem competition, and Cook was crowned an individual champion in the male under-40 category.
Both McGill and Cook are competing in the 2026 Firefighter Challenge Championship Series. On April 1 through April 4, the All American Challenge and Training Camp was held in Seminole County, Florida. Both Cook and McGill competed in multiple challenges.
The 2026 Firefighter Challenge Season Opener is set to take place in Indianapolis on April 21 through April 24.
