Kalem Blackley and Jim Smith, of the Dunedin Fire Brigade, are training for the 21st annual Sky Tower Firefighters Challenge in Auckland on May 24.
The challenge, where firefighters climb the 51 flights of stairs, or nearly 1100 steps, of the Sky Tower, will raise money and awareness for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand (LBC).
The catch is the firefighters have to do it in full gear — which can weigh up to 25kg.
Mr Smith said this was the first time he had participated in the event.
"I’ve been doing up to 100 flights of stairs on the StairMaster.
"I’ve been training in the hills, walking up Flagstaff, quite a lot of walking on Baldwin St and Jacob’s Ladder."
Baldwin St, as the world’s steepest street, proved an ideal training ground for such a climb, he said.
"It’s great having such easy access to it.
"The Dunedin Hospital has nine flights of stairs; we’ve been visiting them once a week also."
Mr Blackley had participated in the challenge before — this year, they were also training alongside members of the Mosgiel Volunteer Fire Brigade.
"Knowing that you’re raising money at the end of the day for people who are having a hard time, it’s the least we can do.
"They’re doing it a lot harder than we are.
"It’s just physical exercise for us, but there’s people out there having a real tough time. It’s the least we can do to help."
He said a "good time" up the Sky Tower was about 15 minutes, but there were teams that could complete the challenge in under 10.
"But we will definitely be competing against each other for bragging rights."
In total more than 1000 firefighters will participate in the challenge and the overall goal is to raise more than $1.6 million for LBC.
