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LBFNZ Sky Tower Challenge: Training

Who: Leukaemia & Blood Foundation, New Zealand
Where: Gen-i Tower
What: NZFS training for the Sky Tower Challenge

Images from the event here

Today I had the pleasure of catching up with Steve Hey of Gen-i, & a few members of the New Zealand Fire Service, as they trained for the 7th Annual Sky Tower Challenge

Steve, a volunteer fireman himself, gave me a run-down on the numbers... & I can tell you it was a jaw dropping conversation.

From the site: "In 2009, 365 New Zealand fire fighters and firefighters from Australia and the U.S. raced up 51 flights - or 1,103 Sky Tower steps - wearing full fire-fighting kit and breathing apparatus weighing up to 25kg."

 

Now, to give this a little more perspective... I can tell you, I was sweating just being in there today, & these guys were running up stairs in full fire suits. Soon, they will begin lugging backpacks with weights in them as well. Also:

  • The breathing apparatus firemen use is a "negative pressure" system. This means you must actually work to breathe normally. So on top of fighting for air as they battle the stairs, their gear is actually working against them from the beginning
  • The suits they wear are heavy, insulated, and I believe not included in that weight estimate. They're not doing this in you're average jogging outfit.
  • The stairs in the Auckland Sky Tower are each slightly taller than the average you will find in most corporate buildings, so they must lift those legs higher too
  • To train, they are using the stair-well at Gen-i Tower. In order to simulate the number of steps, they run to level 18 four times... & there's no air-conditioning in there
  • The fastest male in 2009 did this in just 9mins 40secs, the fastest female in 14mins 11secs. One of the participants was 65yrs old. That's astonishing.

 

Why are they punishing themselves like this? It's all in support of New Zealands Leukaemia & Blood Foundation.

LBFNZ is a superb organisation "dedicated to supporting patients and their families living with leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and related blood conditions". The 2009 event raised $140,000.

Much gratitude to Gen-i, & Chris Quinn, for allowing the New Zealand Fire Service to use their building again, for over a month, to allow the crews to train properly for the event. You'll note that both Chris, & CEO Paul Reynolds of Telecom, were also heavily involved in this years "Kids in Cars" event... It's amazing how much these guys, & the two companies, give back.

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LBFNZ Main Site - http://www.leukaemia.org.nz
... on Twitter - http://twitter.com/LBFNZ
... on Facebook - http://facebook.com/LBFNZ

New Zealand Fire Service - http://www.fire.org.nz
Gen-i ICT Services/Support/Consulting - http://www.gen-i.co.nz

Images from the event here
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Our Photographer for Charity was James Hancox

 
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