Awareness Event – From age 16 to 80, Firefighters take on the Sky Tower Challenge

– Saturday, 20 August 2022

– SkyCity Auckland

– 07:00 – 15:30 (approx.)

Back for its 18 th consecutive year, this year’s Challenge promises to be the best yet. The event is the brainchild of Tony Scott who has been part of both Northland and Auckland Airport Fire Rescue Service since 1988. It raised $17,500 in 2005, its first year, and it now consistently raises over $1 million annually.

This year we have one very notable participant doing his sixteenth climb, Jim Snedden-. Jim is an 80-year-old veteran volunteer firefighter from Waiuku and has raised over $22,500.

There are 918 people participating – includes overseas participants from Australia and the United States.

They are made up of:

910 are firefighters (including volunteers)

8 are non-firefighters – known as Squad 51 – ambassadors and supporters, including people whose lives have been impacted by blood cancer themselves or by a loved one’s blood cancer diagnosis.

07:15: Welcome starts, including a Haka

07:30: First climbers scheduled to start their ascent

07:55: -Jim Snedden will head to the start

11:30: Squad 51 race begins

51 flights of stairs

1,103 individual steps

Firefighters wear up to 25kg of additional kit

At 328 metres, the Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere

Every day 8 Kiwis – children and adults – in New Zealand are diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma or a related blood condition.

Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand (LBC) is the national charity dedicated to supporting patients, and their families living with blood cancers and related blood conditions. www.leukaemia.org.nz

LBC is not a government organisation and rely on the generosity of supporters, fundraisers, and donors for funding. The dollars raised from ‘Shave for a Cure’ help fund core services including patient support, support and funding for research, awareness, and advocacy on behalf of Blood Cancer patients.