Hey again.
As all of you know, I am a Volunteer Fire fighter.
Every year, The Luekaemia and Blood Cancer foundation do a charity drive to raise money.
It's the Sky Tower climb. 51 Flights, 1103 steps. 750 Firefighters. Sounds easy?
Well when you consider we are wearing our structual gear, and a BA set (Breathing Apparatus) and sucking a cylinder dry at a great rate of speed it's not so easy. And YOUR CLIMBING THE SKYTOWER!
I'm in my third year of doing it. And a little over it, and I haven't even climbed the tower yet
It's the training.
You start of easy, just level two's (structure gear) nothing else. And climb stairs. In our case we do Bridal veil fall steps.
There is 261 of them, Designed and built by a 9 foot tall man with a stride of about 4m. They are uneven, long, short, steep, shallow and lethal. And no place for a man of my stride.
We do that 4 times. 4 X 261 = 1044steps.
It's a nasty start to the day.
Then we move onto the Raglan surf steps. 99 of them, built and designed by a hobbit. So small you have to take two at a time which means you need to be 7ft tall to not feel the lactose acid build up in your legs. Now we wear a BA on our back, an extra 25kgs. Heavy and Uncomfortable.
We do that 18 times. 18 X 99 = 1782steps.
It's a real nasty start to the day.
THEN! we move onto the Wharf steps. 66 of them. Designed well enough to get into a good stepping rhythm. Only problem is there is no rest time as the short walk back down allows no time to rest or get your breath back so by number 20, your lungs are screaming, your legs shake, your hot, And your beathing with a mask on and trying to save the 180Bar of pressure in your cylinder,
(By the way, you need approx 200bar to get to the top of the Sky tower)
1320 stairs later you are knackered. You collapse on the ground and try to breathe normally and trying not to puke. And clap each other on the back and know in 2 days, it's time to do it all over again.
Put on top of that the fundraising we are asked to do, it is a big ask. Is it worth it?
Hell yes. I have seen first hand what this cancer does to a small boy, His Parents, His Brother, His Family.
Every cent we raise goes towards this foundation, Every drop of sweat I make is nothing compared to what people with this cancer go through, So I will climb more stairs, 3 times a week, for four months, until May 23 when I climb the Tower.
So If your reading this, and you have a spare dollar or 10. Please consider that we do this not for us, but for those who cant. So donate to our team. Please.
Brett Soanes.
John Oetzel.
Dirk De Ruysscher.
Leanna Darby.
David Thompson.
Stephen O'bryne.
Nigel Mcleod.
https://secure.leukaemia.net.nz/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?teamID=84399&langPref=en- CA&Referrer=http%3a%2f%2ffirefightersclimb.org.nz%2f#&panel1-2
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