It's taken hours of physical training and fundraising but now two teams of local volunteer firefighters are ready to tackle the Sky Tower Stair Challenge this weekend.
Two teams of volunteer firefighters, from Ohakune-Raetihi and Taihape-Mangaweka, will join 700 firefighters from around the country in a race up the Sky Tower's 1103 stairs, carrying 25kg of equipment.
But it's all for a good cause, as each team is also racing to raise the most money for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.
The Ohakune-Raetihi team consists of volunteer firefighters Bessina Pehi-Tamatea, Caleb Terry, Sam Kristiansen, Luke Gilbert and Kris Lee.
Mr Lee admitted the team had done minimal training together ahead of the big day. "But we've all been doing our own training. We all work, and we're volunteer firefighters, so we don't have much time to train together."