Ken Laurie,volunteer fire fighter raising funds for charity. Hastings fire station. 7th May 2020 Photographer Paul Taylor Hawke's Bay Today
Ken Laurie,volunteer fire fighter raising funds for charity. Hastings fire station. 7th May 2020 Photographer Paul Taylor Hawke's Bay Today
Does the idea of a virtual climb up Auckland Sky Tower's 51 floors, in full fire kit, breathing air through a mask, tickle your fancy?
If you're a firefighter now's your chance to do just that and raise funds for a good cause.
Auckland run, the Firefighter Sky Tower Challengehas been luring the fit for 16 years.
Funds from the event go to Leukemia & Blood Cancer NZ (LBC) charity.
But this year Hastings volunteer firefighter Kenneth Laurie decided on a novel approach for firefighters to be able to participate in the challenge, keeping Covid-19 restrictions in mind - a virtual mission.
"Through Covid-19 the charities (and many others) are going to struggle. This is a simple way to try to make a difference," Laurie said.
The event, open to all Fire and Emergency personnel throughout NZ, was supposed to take place on May 23.
"Basically I was trying to think of a way to still raise some funds for the charity while in lockdown. I saw some other 'virtual' events happening and wondered if I could apply the same logic."
Kenneth Laurie, volunteer firefighter, is encouraging fellow firefighters to take part in a virtual Sky Tower Challenge. Photo / Paul Taylor
So he set up a 'Mission' page which participants can access to join up.
"The mission is to get yourself from the Hastings Fire Station to the Sky Tower (about 430km) by recording your own progress," Laurie said.
"This can be through walking, cycling, running, steps around the garden if you like. As long as you have exercised and can calculate the distance, then it can be logged. Once you join, you appear on the map and you can see your progress against the others taking part.
"The entries fill up fast and are capped at 1000."
In 2019 alone, the challenge raised $1.3 million. For 2018 and 2019 combined, the Hastings station raised $44,000, contributing to the total of $1.3m.
"We would like to raise as much as I can through entries," Laurie said.
"There are a range of entry fees, you choose how much you want to pay. Entries are low for now, but building slowly. I have one entry from Australia, and a husband and wife taking part. If you don't want to do it on your own, grab some buddies and join up - that way you are all committed."
He said 2020 would have been the third year for a Hastings team to take part in the challenge.
"Due to Covid-19 the event has been postponed and as a station we had to cancel all our planned fundraising activity," he said.
"I'm quite excited on this, as I feel it has big potential."
For more info and a link to the virtual page, see this link- https://www.myvirtualmission.com/missions/48374/firefighter-sky-tower-challenge-virtual-mission?fbclid=IwAR39pc9daCh7SjlL6dL3P0OguUmXXEinIfsB7p4lsRhGFqZR5gIxqTDXVsc
