Firefighting father and son race up Sky Tower to raise funds for blood cancer support

Tony Scott with 16-year-old Harry, who will be taking on the challenge on his own two feet for the first time today. Photo / Dean Purcell

You could say Auckland's Sky Tower firefighter challenge is in Harry Scott's DNA.

The 16-year-old will today debut alongside 950 firefighters racing up the tower's 1100-odd stairs to raise money for the Leukaemia and Blood Cancer charity.

And he's likely to know better than most what to expect, having gone up and down those stairs back in 2003 when he was 2.

Back then, Harry's dad, Tony Scott - an Auckland Airport Rescue Fire Brigade member - was busy organising the first Firefighter Sky Tower Stair Challenge and began training with mates in a Queen St high rise.

With firefighters expected to lug 25kg of equipment during the race, Scott hit upon the idea of combining babysitting duties with training commitments.

So he simply strapped his son into a harness on his back and sweated and huffed up and down the stairs with young Harry, seemingly unfazed by the bumpy ride, soon nodding off behind him.

It meant Harry was almost preordained to enter the race and 14 years later he sees only one thing as remaining to be done.

"I want to beat my dad's time," Harry said.

Tony Scott's two-year-old son Harry takes a nap during training for the first Firefighter Sky Tower Stair Challenge in 2003. Photo/Supplied

Yet although the race is shaping up as a showdown between the Scotts, the event will also hold meaning to the estimated 21,000 Kiwis living with blood cancer.

Every day, six New Zealanders are diagnosed with a blood cancer and many call on the Leukaemia and Blood Cancer charity to provide them support.

In turn, the charity - which receives no funding from the Government - has come to rely on the Sky Tower challenge as its main source of cash.

Since Scott organised the first race with 88 firefighters taking part more than 14 years ago, the challenge has raised more than $6 million for the charity and grown from strength to strength.

Last year alone, it raised more than $1.2m.

A prodigious fundraiser, who was awarded a Queen's Service Medal in 2016 for his efforts, Scott said he got the idea for organising an Auckland race after taking part in a similar firefighter's event at Seattle's Space Needle tower.

He said he "weirdly" enjoyed the gruelling Seattle race after it led him to get back in shape by losing 20kg.

With the Seattle race in aid of those suffering from blood cancers and his grandma also passing away from leukaemia, it made sense to do the same here in Auckland.

"I love organising events and so the two just went hand in hand," he said.

"One of the things I am the most proud of, is when I first met the CEO of Leukaemia and Blood Cancer, they had one part-time nurse, now they have 11 full-time nurses," he said.

The heat of climbing the Sky Tower stairs in full firefighter gear also has practical applications.

"The challenge is the closest you feel (compared to when) you've really been working hard at a fire," he said.

"It is the feeling of that heat build-up and so it is a good endurance test for a firefighter."

And as for Harry, Scott isn't about to make way for the next generation just yet.

"I am just hoping I beat him one time, so I can say, 'Hey, remember when'," he said.