OceanaGold Mines Rescue Team represents at Sky Tower challenge

OceanaGold Mines Rescue team member Matt Anderson. Photo / Kit Wilson

When Matt Anderson scaled the 51 floors of Auckland's Sky Tower with the heat and restricted oxygen of a BG 4 mine rescue breathing apparatus, he had one person in mind.

His late mum Irene, who passed away with pancreatic cancer in October.

The event draws more than 400 firefighters to raise funds for Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand, and Matt was among the OceanaGold Mines Rescue Team taking part.

Matt's mum Irene had not been diagnosed with her form of cancer when the event was originally supposed to have taken part in May, before Covid-19 forced its postponement.

"One way of looking at it was that could somehow fundraise research and maybe there'd be some cross over that would help pancreatic cancer [patients] as well," said Matt.

"It's such a horrible thing to have to go through - any cancer - and it rips families and lives apart, so if I could in some small way try to help, it's certainly worth it."

The Waihi team took out third place in their category for fundraising with Shay Perkinson leading the charge once again, raising an incredible $12,821 himself and making it to number 5 overall on the leaderboard.

Shay thanked the town of Waihi for his success.

"You always have people willing to help out and they have become part of the journey along with us. I worked pretty hard on the local guys that work with us at the mine and the local cafes are always willing to help out. We all know each other and work closely, and a lot of people know someone affected by cancer, it's quite a scary thing these days," says Shay.

On the climb, Shay added: "It's torture at the time but after you do it it's a weight off your shoulders and you get to enjoy and cherish what you've accomplished with the guys.

"It's a physical test but ultimately it's for blood cancer research. And we're pretty lucky, we get to meet people willing to help others."

The team have a reputation as among those to beat, with feats like a combined Waihi and Macrae mine rescue team raising almost $25,000 in 2018 and last year the team raised some $20,000 with Team Captain Shay raising $8560 and Malcolm Coleman, $5430.

Teams are released 15 seconds apart at the bottom and toward a certain height, the whistles start screaming as the oxygen cylinders worn by participants reach low levels.

"The further up you get, the more people are suffering," says Matt.

Leroy Crawford-Flett, Taylor Knight, David Walker showing the effort after a Waihi mines rescue training session.

On the climb, Matt came home 15th overall and 13th in the open category with a time of 12 minutes 22 seconds.

Mitchell Sims, Shay and David Walker were close behind, all in the 15 minute bracket. They were followed by Jamie Bird then Troy Hargreaves who was competing in the masters category.

Unlike other firefighters on the challenge, the Waihi Mines Rescue team were the only ones wearing BC4s, special apparatus designed for underground rescue which adds to the heat and lessens the availability of oxygen while on the tortuous climb.

"It's closed circuit, so instead of air coming out to the environment, when you breathe, it goes back into your kit and is scrubbed with soda lime granules and back into your system so you can breathe it again," he explains.

"The most difficult thing to deal with is the heat that builds up in your face mask ... when your breathing is slightly restricted you get a bit panicky, and you just want to rip off your mask."

He says he does not have a particular training routine apart from a couple of runs with his BA on his Dad's Waihi farm beforehand: "I just keep active, I ride to and from work and have three kids that I play with on the trampoline after work, they keep me busy."

The winning time was Josh Harrison at 8 minutes 17 with Genesis Energy ERT team mates Gareth Dodd and Steve Rabarts in second and third.

Teams from Paeroa, Whitianga and Coromandel also took part, and of other locals, Damian Langley of Coromandel placed 25th in the open, Michael Huitema 25th in the masters and Ian Cox of Whitianga placed 18th in the grand master division.

The next event is in six months and fundraising for next year has already started by the mines rescue team.