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After a number of postponements due to changing Covid-19 restrictions, firefighters have a definite target in sight and are training hard for the Sky Tower Challenge.
Since last year’s event took place in May, plans for the 2022 event have been changed a number of times but the eventual date settled upon is August 20.
On that day around 199 teams from around the country will climb the Sky Tower’s 1103 steps (51 flights) wearing firefighting gear, some with gas masks, depending on the category they enter.
As well as the physical and mental challenges that this provides, competitors are focused on raising as much money as possible for Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ.
For Jamie Weaver, a member of the 13-strong Manly Skywalkers team, fundraising is front of mind.
His wife had leukaemia as a child and her sister died of it at the age of 13.
“So it’s really personal to me, but in fact these cancers touch everyone’s lives – eight people are diagnosed every day in NZ with one of these blood cancers,” Jamie says.
Jamie has been a volunteer at Manly brigade for more than two years, and this will be his first Sky Tower Challenge.
He says the team of 13 are training as hard as their day jobs and firefighting call outs allow.
“Some of them are smashing it, and the people who have sedentary jobs especially are at Fitter Faster Stronger on the stair machine whenever they can, to practice climbing wearing around 25kg of gear.”
The Manly Skywalkers range in age from their early 20s to one of the crew’s most long standing volunteers, Craig McDonald.
Another team member, Dean Holgate, has entered the Man of Steel category which means doing an extra set of stairs and wearing old school steel tanks, which adds a lot more weight.
Best of all, Jamie says, the team has exceeded its $2500 fundraising target and has already brought in around $5800 for the cause.
To support the two local teams, Manly Skywalkers or Silverdale Volunteer Fire Brigade, visit https://firefighterschallenge.org.nz/
