Firefighter Jodi Purdie still hopes to be able to climb Sky Tower this year

Te Puke Firefighter Jodi Purdie had a helmet specially painted for the postponed 2020 Sky Tower Stair Challenge.

Last month, hundreds of firefighters were due to take on the challenge of climbing to the top of Auckland's Sky Tower.

But, like many other events, the 2020 Firefighters Sky Tower Stair Challenge didn't go ahead. There is a chance, though, that the annual climb will be rearranged for November. Te Puke firefighter Jodie Purdie hopes it will.

If it does, it will give her the chance to wear a specially painted helmet created by Te Puke artist Noel Walmsley of Envy Art.

The helmet has been painted to look like a vivid green turtle shell - reflecting Jodi's collecting of turtle-themed items.

''I like it because I'm not a fast runner, but I have stamina. It's like slow and steady wins the race and I wanted to stick with that theme,'' she says.

Noel sent Jodi a few different ideas and she picked one, but was still stunned when she saw the finished result.

''He did it better than I could have ever imagined,'' she says.

Noel has a history of painting Te Puke firefighters' helmets.

In 2015 he painted the helmets for a worn by a group of firefighters who took the stair challenge to another level.

Over two weeks in 2015, the trio ran in relay from Invercargill to Auckland before tackling the stair challenge.

Jodi is the only Te Puke firefighter who was to take part in this year's event which is fundraiser for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.

She still has her fundraising page open - via the event website - and is also collecting car batteries to raise extra funds. Batteries can be dropped off at the Stihl Shop Te Puke.

An announcement on whether the 2020 event will be rescheduled to November or cancelled will be announced in July. In the hope that it will be rearranged, Jodi is continuing to train.

''I have been training heaps with my son [Cooper]. We're going up Pāpāmoa Hill once or twice a day, but it still doesn't really prepare you for stairs. I'm hoping to find a gym with a stair climber. Something we don't have access to locally is stairs in a place where we can wear our level twos.''

Last year's was Jodi's first at the stair challenge.