Rotorua man conquers the Sky Tower Challenge for mate

Ngahi Bidios completing the challenge. Photo / Supplied

For the average-Joe, taking the stairs is not the first option. Taking 51 flights? Don't be ridiculous. But Rotorua's Ngahi Bidois did just that in full firefighter kit to raise money for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand. Pushing himself physically as the mental strains took over, he made his way to the top of the Auckland Sky Tower drenched in sweat. Bidois spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post about what he learnt in those tight walls.

Rotorua's Ngahi Bidois has conquered the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, raising $5000 in honour of his mate.

Not all heroes wear capes and Bidois said he was lucky enough to run with firefighters from across the country, "the real heroes".

Bidois completed the 15th annual Firefighter Sky Tower Stair Challenge with 1000 others with a total of over $1.3 million raised for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand (LBC) which receives no Government funding.

According to LBC, six New Zealanders are diagnosed with a blood cancer each day. It's a disease that can strike anyone of any age with no known causes.

Bidois was part of Squad 20, the only non-firefighters invited to climb the 1103 steps.

"You think about all the people you're doing it for . . . Just thinking about them while I was climbing, and doing it for them," he said.

"They're fighting for their lives, I was just climbing stairs."

Ngahi Bidois completing the challenge. Photo / Supplied

Bidois rounded up the experience with a proverb: Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari he toa takitini. [I come not with my own strengths but bring with me the gifts, talents and strengths of my family, tribe and ancestors.]

He did it for his friend, Darcy Hunter Junior, who died at the age of 42 in 2017 shortly after his cancer diagnosis.

Darcy Hunter Jnr (left) and Ngahi Bidois. Photo / Supplied

Hunter was one of Bidois' dearest friends and accumulated an impressive list of speedway titles including the Bay of Plenty and Auckland championships, a New Zealand title and the 2002 and 2005 World Invitation Superstock Championship.

A go-getter, always up for an adventure, and always there when needed, and "such a humble guy", Hunter never failed to inspire Bidois.

And it was with that same grit and passion that Bidois raised $5000, double the goal LBC had set.

Squad 20 of the Sky Tower Firefighter Challenge. Photo / Supplied

The community support for the kaupapa of the challenge paired with the support of his whānau who cheered him as he started at the bottom and did a haka as he crossed the line made the experience moving.

He trained extensively on stair climbers and rowing machines at the gym, a stationary bike and running the steps at Smallbone Park.

But his training could not prepare him for those concrete walls just arms' width apart which, along with the 25kg of firefighter kit he wore, offered no mercy.

Ngahi Bidois surrounded by family after the Skytower Challenge. Photo / Supplied

"I hadn't trained for the environment and that's what got me ... I felt like I couldn't get my breath by the 20th floor," he said.

Bidois finished the climb in 24 minutes and 13 seconds.

"No pain, no gain. You got this Ngahi, the man," he could hear Hunter say to him as he ploughed through and thought of the turtle in the race.

What got him through it was the thought of those battling cancer.

"Who don't have the luxury of going outside, who don't have the luxury of meeting people in case they get sick."

Ngahi Bidios did the challenge to honour his mate Darcy Hunter Jnr, pictured to the right of him. Photo / Supplied

LBC chief executive Peter Fergusson said money raised would help fund emotional and practical support for patients, education, investment in research to find a cure and patient advocacy.