Alison King: Hot on the heels of the challengers

Daniel Voss of the Ngongotaha Volunteer Fire Brigade in training Photo/Ben Fraser

I've climbed 200 stairs and my legs are already starting to feel the burn. After 300 I have to open up my jacket to allow some cool air to reach my pounding chest - no one wants me to keel over from overheating.

At 400 my legs are roasting, it's like I'm in a sauna but without the relaxation aspect.

I call it quits after 585 stairs, I'm only halfway to the top of the Sky Tower. But I'm not really in Auckland racing against the clock. Instead I'm with the Ngongotaha volunteer firefighters in one of their practice runs.

Reporter Alison King in full firefighter gear to see what the stair training is like.

We're at the Novotel Rotorua, not the Sky Tower, but it's a fair substitute when it comes to preparing for the big day.

On May 23 these firefighters will race up 51 flights of stairs with 750 others in 25kg of kit. They're doing it for the physical challenge, and for the charity aspect. There's an element of personal challenge too.

Clay Gulliver, who was Ngongotaha's fastest last year, reckons it's the hardest physical challenge he's ever done. And he's raced half ironmans and represented New Zealand in the World Triathlon Age Group Championships.

Paul Osborne hopes to get to the top under his own steam and without having to carry another firefighter with him.

Reece Claxton and Natasha Morrison want to find out what it's like to push themselves physically. And Aidan Reynolds is doing it for his gran.

Nowhere to hideWhen I tell them I want to give the training a go, I think they reckon I'm nuts. People collapse at the top of the Sky Tower, some feel faint when they're near the top. It's certainly not a challenge for the weak, frail or unfit. Thankfully, I class myself as reasonably fit. I ran the Rotorua Marathon a couple of weeks ago and I like to challenge myself .

The crew wanted to give me a boots-and-all experience.

The boots are heavy, that will be the steel caps. The pants are cumbersome and the jacket? I felt like the Michelin man once I was zipped and velcroed in. Then came the helmet - and that was heavy. Finally, just so I had a good workout, the 10kg breathing apparatus cylinder was strapped to my back.

I didn't wear a mask. There weren't enough to go around and besides, I've never used one.

And then we're off. Up and up and up. There are 117 stairs to climb. The team is aiming for 10 repetitions to emulate the 1103 Sky Tower steps . Sure, there is a recovery phase as we walk down, but the stairwell is narrow. It's getting hotter from all the body heat and there's nowhere to hide.

The first time up I wonder where the top is, the second time we step up the pace a little. The third time, I'm feeling the burn.

The fourth time, with every step I'm wondering how far we are from the top. I try to count but my tiredness leads me to forget what flight we're on.

And all this time there are firefighters passing me, waiting at the landings to go back down, and breathing through their masks. I wonder how much more I can take. It turns out to be five times up and down, though I'm sure I could have gone one more.

On the fifth time up I'm maintaining my usual pace until we're just 30 stairs from the top. I find myself pausing on the landing, my heart is racing and my lungs are heaving.

Coming down I'm already resolved to the fact I'm going to stop. Not bad for the first time, I console myself.

"It's easier with the mask," one of them says. Something to do with the cold air on your cheeks to cool you down.

The heat from the kit is incredible. I can't wait to get it off and feel the cool night air.

We all have a cup of ice-cold water and, apart from the sweat pouring down my face, I feel a million bucks, as if I could do it again. Maybe another time ...

-The Ngongotaha team is: Aidan Reynolds, Brandon Jacobs, Clay Gulliver, Daniel Voss, Francis Boag, Kurt Rencher, Natasha Morrisson, Paul Osborne, Reece Claxton and Ricardo Wallace.

To sponsor our local crews, go to http:// firefightersclimb.org.nz/ All donations go to Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand.