St. Stephen Man Goes For Bodybuilding Championship

Is that a 6-pack... an 8-pack... or a 12-pack?


St. Stephen native Randy Madsen is all trained and ready to go to the 2012 NB/PEI Bodybuilding & Figure Championships tomorrow in Fredericton.

Madsen tells Tide News he graduated at St. Stephen High School in 2004 and sports were his passion. He says he got to meet and work with a lot of fantasic people, most notably the late Nick Desilets, who coached football at SSHS. Madsen says Desilets molded his mind and his outlook on reaching for higher goals. He adds Desilets was one of the best people he could ask for as a role-model, especially coming at a time when he suffered a great loss in his family.

Madsen tells us he decided to enter his first-ever competition and train for the 2011 Bodybuilding Championship last year. He says he put all of his effort into training, stayed with his meal plans, and really worked his tail off at the gym. He ended up winning the Men's lightweight bodybuilding category.

Tomorrow's championship will take place at the Fredericton Playhouse, but, Randy says, the show has been sold out for week's. He adds, "If you can get to Fredericton by 10am, you may be able to get tickets for pre-judging."

Madsen says his next goal is the 2013 Canadian National Bodybuilding Championships in Halifax next July.
He says it will be a very costly endevour so he will be opening up an online donation page for anyone who would like to contribute to his journey. He says every bit of money goes to training and nutrition, and he will be giving credit where it is due.

Randy encourages everyone and anyone to follow him personally on Facebook or Twitter ( handle is @MadsenRandy), or you can subscribe to his updates and follow his team's progress on the Blueprints Athletics Fan Page on Facebook.

Madsen says, "The support that I get from people is the strongest motivator that I have because I really enjoy being able to share my story, share my tips and tricks and hopefully I'm able to help people by doing what I do and with the information that I learn."

Woman Is Safe After Fire Dept Rescue In St. Stephen

One of St. Stephen's finest rescuing a woman from an apartment fire this week.


The St. Stephen Fire Department receiving a call to a fire at 80 Union Street at around 1:20pm on Tuesday, November 6th.

Lt. Mike Theriault tells Tide News when he arrived at the scene, he started to get the hose lines ready when a resident told him a woman was still trapped in the burning building. The resident said he was unable to get the woman out. Theriault says he went inside the apartment building, and noticed smoke coming from under the woman's door. He says the door was locked and it took a few tries before he could bust through it using his shoulder.

He says once the door opened, heavy black smoke poured out, making it extremely difficult to see. Theriault says he took a few steps into the woman's apartment with his hands out infront of him. He grabbed what he thought could be an arm and it turned out to be the woman. He describes the woman as covered in soot and ash and her hair was sizzled.

He brought the woman outside and asked her if anyone else was inside the building, which she replied, "Yes." He asked her again and the woman said, "Well, my cat is inside." He agreed the department would try to recover the cat after she was out of harm's way. Theriault says he handed the woman over to paramedics and she was treated with smoke inhalation.

Theriault says he started working with the St. Stephen Fire Department in 1992, and in Pennfield four years before that.

The department has not yet determined the cause of the fire.
Theriault says the woman's cat made it out safely as well.