Queenstown firefighter Tanya Stone’s proud of completing last Saturday’s gruelling Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge, and has already set her sights on next year.
The 33-year-old — who weighs only 50kg — lugged 25kg worth of firefighting equipment, including breathing apparatus (BA), up the 1103 steps in 22 minutes and three seconds, putting her in 41st place of the 124 female competitors in the annual challenge, which raises money for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.
Stone tells Mountain Scene her focus wasn’t on the time, but finishing it with the BA on.
‘‘But the competitor in me definitely always wishes to do better and will always revise and analyse my performance to see how I can improve.
‘‘I will be coming back next year, knowing better and probably do a lot more training … and I’d like to obviously beat my time,’’ Stone says.
Despite being nervous on the day, she says she felt a lot of support.
‘‘[It’s] such a cool feeling when you do a lap outside of the Sky Tower and you see the kids’ faces light up as you high-five them.
‘‘The crowd cheering you on gave you that extra bit of drive.’’
She says while running, she kept those suffering from cancer, top of mind — her mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 and her dad with prostate cancer last year, while her aunty/godmother’s battling leukaemia.
‘‘There was moments where I was like, struggling, obviously … you do have those thoughts of like, ‘just keep going,’ because, you know, you can do it, they can’t.’’
The event raised more than $1.3 million for the cause, while Stone exceeded her $1500 fundraising goal, ultimately raising
$2121.
