Two Southland firefighters are taking on a challenge of epic proportions next week, raising money for Gumboot Friday, an initiative of mental health charity I Am Hope.
Guy Johnstone, 43, and fellow Winton firey Steve Turton, 48, will set off from Bluff tomorrow, intending to walk five full marathons in five days, finishing in Queenstown next Friday.
To add to the challenge, they’ll complete the mission in full firefighting kit, including breathing apparatus.
Johnstone tells Mountain Scene the pair, who’ve been with the Winton brigade 25 years and five years, respectively, aren’t strangers to physical challenges for charities.
‘‘We’ve done a couple of the 28-hour treadmill challenges, for blood cancer and leukaemia, and we were kind of thinking of something else we could do.
‘‘Steve always wanted to do something for I Am Hope, so we thought, ‘why don’t we walk to Queenstown?’
‘‘I must admit, we were sober when we decided that — the first 28-hour challenge we [decided on], we were hammered, but we followed through with it,’’ he laughs.
As to why they picked the mental health charity, Johnstone says everyone knows someone who’s battled with their mental health, while many have battled with their own.
To prepare, Johnstone says they’ve been trying to walk about 8km a day — they each did 25km in their full kits, which equates to about 25kg extra weight, last weekend.
They’re now hoping for the ‘‘shitty weather’’ which normally arrives in time for this week’s Tour of Southland bike race, which will likely pass by the fireys.
‘‘[The kit’s] not very breath able; it’s quite warm,’’ Johnstone quips.
‘‘We are being sensible about it — we’re going to walk for two hours, 10km, roughly, and then we’ll have a 10-to-15-minute break, have a stretch, something to eat, and then we’ll carry on.
‘‘It’s not a race, we’ve just got to make it.’’
They’ll start each day at 6am and hope to complete the daily 42.2km grind within nine hours, bedding down at various fire stations along the way.
They’re being supported by Invercargill’s Traffic Management Services owners, Kieran and Lara Simpson, who’ve also taken care of the traffic management plans, and will drive the pilot vehicle.
Southland entertainment pro vider ‘Num Nuts’ will also attach speakers to his car and accompany the pair, blaring music as they pass through towns along the way to draw people out and encourage donations.
While they’ll walk the majority of the 211km distance either on road berms or cycle tracks, where they can, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency won’t let them walk on State Highway 6 either side of the Devil’s Staircase, so they’ll back-track on Friday morning, walk 16km, then be taken by car to Drift Bay, where Johnstone says crews from both Queenstown and Frankton fire brigades will walk with them.
‘‘It’s bloody awesome, actually,’’ he says.
‘‘Queenstown and Frankton have been great, they’re just like, ‘leave it with us, we’ll sort it out’.’’
Others joining them on part of the walk include Southland District mayor Rob Scott, who adjusted his calendar next Tuesday to participate, and patient advocate Melissa Vining.
While they don’t have a specific fundraising target, they’d like to raise enough to cover the cost of counselling for 50 of the 76 daily
kids’ calls to the free hotline — which works out roughly at $6300.
Along with collection buckets dotted along their route, the pair have also set up a Givealittle page: shorturl.at/rASTW
