Local fireman climbs to 3rd in Stair Challenge

IF you have a stairwell fire, Gavin Mason is your man.

The Queenstown Airport rescue fireman finished third out of about 670 firefighters in Saturday’s Sky Tower Stair Challenge — a major fundraiser for Leukemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.

Wearing full kit and breathing apparatus, Mr Mason mounted the Auckland Sky Tower’s 1103 steps in nine minutes 34 seconds.

That was 20 seconds faster than last year, when he placed fourth.

Remarkably, just two weeks after that feat, Mr Mason was barely able to walk up one stair.

He was hospitalised with the rare autoimmune disease GuillainBarre Syndrome, a condition affecting about one in 100,000 people, and has spent much of the past 12 months rebuilding his strength.

Mr Mason said Saturday’s run, his third Stair Challenge, was like coming full circle.

‘‘It was kind of symbolic of that full process — this was the last thing I did before the slippers got kicked off a bit hard.’’

Coming third was a bit of a bonus, he said.

‘‘It was kind of weird ‘cos I felt content when I got to the top without knowing what time I did or where I placed until I got down the bottom, got changed and looked online.’’

He said he was fortunate, though, to be in the front wave of firefighters ‘‘as you don’t have all the traffic to battle through’’.

He added that he is grateful his employer shouted his airfare.

Eighteen Wakatipu firefighters entered Saturday’s Stair Challenge.

Arrowtown’s Victoria Tovey and Todd Weeks did well in the ‘firefighter of steel’ category, in which competitors don heavier steel cylinders as opposed to lighter carbon cylinders.

The duo finished third woman and fourth man in the 40to49 masters section.

Meanwhile, Frankton’s Jamie Harris outgunned his Wakatipu colleagues by raising almost $4100 for the event’s charity.