Fire crew reach top of tower - the hard way

Hitting the 10th floor of the Sky Tower with more than 25kg of full firefighting gear on his back, Paul Osborne soon realised it wasn't going to be an easy challenge.

The Ngongotaha volunteer firefighter and crew mates, chief Doug Buchanan, Cameron Rowe and Francis Boag, joined 546 other firefighters on Saturday to take on the Firefighters Sky Tower Challenge, raising about $3000 for Blood Cancer New Zealand.

Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday, Mr Osborne said he felt he had done surprisingly well, coming in with a time of 23 minutes. He'd hoped to finish between 15 and 20 minutes. The fastest stair runner did it in eight minutes and 37 seconds.

"I thought I'd be a lot more tired than I am."

He said he was on track to hit the 15-minute mark before the 10th floor but then things slowed down a little.

"At first it was easy but when I hit the 10th floor it became quite daunting realising there were another 41 floors to go."

He knows what to do next time.

"Not push myself as much and pace myself."

Mr Buchanan completed the climb in 18 minutes, Mr Boag 28 minutes and Mr Rowe 43 minutes.

They were all stoked and hoped to take on the challenge again next year. "We all really enjoyed it. The guys were happy with their times and their effort," he said.