Scorching effort from firefighters

FIREFIGHTER Corey Neilson heads into the Sky Tower as a part of the Silver medal winning relay team. TC150508SP04

BY CATHY ASPLIN

Climbing 47 flights of stairs in full firefighting kit sounds like torture for most people - but firefighters are a tough breed and the numbers entering the Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge keeps increasing every year.

A team of nine from Te Awamutu (and two of their partners in running gear) were amongst the 230 firefighters who took on the fundraising event in Auckland this year. The team raised around $2000 for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation and they were rewarded with two medals for their gutbusting efforts.

Dave Shaw, Glenn Anderson and Corey Neilson collected a silver medal for the relay (an event which replaced the 10,000 step challenge). They climbed three flights of stairs at a time and passed over hoses - much like a baton in a normal relay - finishing in a time of 10:59, just 12 seconds behind the winning team from Eastern Beach.

The bronze medal was achieved for their cumulative team time of 36:56, finishing behind Manukau (35:12) and Auckland Airport Emergency services (36:21).

TOUGH EVENT FOR FIRST TIMER

Firefighter Laurence Potter attempted the feat for the first time this year after being with the Te Awamutu Volunteer Fire Brigade for nine years. He was talked into entering the fundraiser by his fellow firefighters, but admits he wasn’t as prepared as he should have been.

‘‘I didn’t really do much training this year and hoped my natural fitness would be enough. ‘But after the first 10 floors your body starts screaming and it was pretty obvious at that stage that I certainly wasn’t fit enough. ‘The 14th -20th floors were a real slog and I sat down at that stage for a few minutes. I was considering not completing the climb actually, but the fact that it was a fundraiser spurred me on to finish. Once I got going again I got into ‘the zone’ on about the 30th floor and it was a great feeling to walk out at the top. Although it was a physically shattering experience I will certainly be doing it again next year - I plan to start training next month!’’