Firefighters rise to challenge on Sky Tower stairs

Tamatea Rural Fire Force members Tom Heywood and Mike Bennie are training ahead of next month's gruelling climb to the top of Auckland Sky Tower.

Firefighters Tom Heywood and Mike Bennie are set to become the first members of the Tamatea Rural Fire Force to take part in the Firefighter Sky Tower Stairs Challenge to raise funds for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer (LBC) New Zealand next month.

On May 13, the CHB rural volunteer firefighters will be among 900 Kiwi and international firefighters who will climb 51 flights of stairs and 1103 steps to the top of Auckland's iconic Sky Tower wearing 25kg of kit.

The fundraiser is now in its 13th year, with last year's event raising a record $1.16 million for LBC, which receives no government funding.

It may be his first attempt at the challenge, but team captain Tom Heywood is already near the top of the heap in terms of fundraising. Forty days out from the event, Heywood has individually raised $5129.50 - the fifth highest amount of any firefighter entered.

"When you register they ask each firefighter to set a goal of $1000 so the challenge raises a minimum of $900,000. But I set myself a target of $5000 and I would really like to get $9000," said Heywood, who has been busy door-knocking and "rattling a bucket" outside Mitre 10 Mega in Hastings most weekends.

Originally from the UK, the Kiwi permanent resident for the past 13 years said he joined the rural fire brigade as a way of "giving back to the community".

"And entering the Stairs Challenge is just another extension of that," said the 45-year-old electrician at Isaac's Electrical in Waipawa.

His fellow brigade member Mike Bennie, manager of Mitre 10 in Waipukurau, had raised $600 by the end of last week.

"But I've got lots of banking to do," grinned Bennie, 46, who still has 30 tickets left to sell in a raffle to win a ride in a Tiger Moth.

The pair have also organised a fundraising screening of the new comedy, CHiPs, based on the iconic 1980s TV series, next month.

To be screened at the Civic Theatre in Waipukurau at 2.30pm on Sunday May 7, $5 from every $15 ticket sold will go towards their total.

Along with their fundraising efforts, the men have been hitting the gym multiple times a week and walking up a 250m-high hill on a farm in Tourere in full kit to get fit for the gruelling challenge.

He might be a novice at the event, but Bennie said after speaking to other CHB firefighters who had done the challenge, he knew what to expect.

"Lots of pain," he grinned.

Many entrants train year round for the challenge, including Josh Harrison from Mount Wellington station who has taken out the top spot at the event for six years running, reaching the top of the tower in eight minutes and 48 seconds last year.

But Heywood said the pair from CHB would not be trying to keep up with the pace of the other competitors.

"They're half our age and not a drop of alcohol has passed their lips," joked Heywood, adding that the pair would instead be focusing on setting personal bests.

"The good thing about doing it for the first time is, whatever time we set will be a personal best," he laughed.

People can donate to the pair by heading to firefightersclimb.org.nz and searching for Tamatea Rural Fire Force in the team's section under the donate tab, where people can also donate to the Waipawa 63 team entered, which is made up of Siaki Lokame, Temari Taoro-Ashin, Kevin Dwyer and Gwyn Burton.