By Callum Ludwig
A batch of Upper Yarra firefighters are once again stepping up for this year’s Melbourne Firefighters Stair Climb.
Among the crew training at Mt Donna Buang are firefighters who will be marking a decade of taking on the challenge down to a first-timer.
Wesburn/Millgrove CFA’s Tony Lewis said he has been a participant since 2015 and this year marks his 10th consecutive climb.
“Given the amount of training for the event that myself and the team have been doing, I feel fit and yet I always get anxious leading up to the big day because I know how hard walking up 28 floors of stairs while wearing breathing apparatus and structure gear can be, that additional 25kgs of gear effectively adds an additional 25 per cent to 30 per cent of your body weight,”
“I have set my fundraising goal at $2500 for this year’s stair climb and my stair climb goal is to finish under 5 minutes, I have only achieved this goal once in the past nine events though last year I was within seven seconds of accomplishing this goal,”
“Preparation for this year’s stair climb has involved eight hours of training per week, six of which are spent at gym and running and the other two hours are spent training each weekend on the Mt Donna Buang observation tower in what can be very challenging conditions at times.”
The 2024 event is the 11th edition of the annual event, which was even held virtually over Covid.
Thomas Wilson of Warburton CFA will also be marking his 10th climb at this year’s event.
Mr Wilson said he is feeling good and fit enough to finish though not sure that he will be breaking any world records.
“Finish time wise under 6 minute would be good, no monetary goal just make what I can in the time left,” he said.
“[I’ve been training by] going to the gym, swimming and weekly climbs on the Donna Buang Tower,”
“I hope everyone has a great climb this year, record breaking number all round both for times and fundraising.”
The event is raising funds for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation, Lifeline and the 000 Foundation with a goal of raising $750,000 in total.
Ron McIntosh of Warburton CFA said this will be his fourth year taking on the event.
“I am feeling positive this year and hopefully that will equate to a good overall time, Raise as much money and awareness as l can,” he said.
“Preparation is via the Mt Donna Observation deck with a great bunch of likeminded people doing what we can and practicing at work when possible,”
“I hope that everyone has a great time and we can raise a heap of money for the cause to help those who need to use it.”
Becy Miller from Wesburn-Millgrove CFA and Andre Araujo from Warburton CFA are taking part in their first climbs.
“My focus is on complting the climb and raising as much as I can. training up Mt Donna can be challenging especially in the snow but I’m sure all the hard work the team is putting in will make for a great outcome,” Ms Miller said.
“As a first-year climber I don’t have a previous time to beat. I’ll still try to get up as fast as I can so that I make myself work harder next year. This year, though, my goal is just to get to the top and raise as much as I can for the cause,” Mr Araujo said.
At the time of writing, Wesburn-Mgrove CFA had raised $3,540 and Warburton CFA had raised $3405.
Troy Morton-Thick of Wesburn/ Millgrove CFA said it will be his third climb and that he is feeling excited and ready for a great day.
“I’m hoping to raise as much as last year and to beat my best time, I’m climbing the tower at Mt Donna when I can or just running up a big hill when I find one,” he said.
The highest individual fundraisers from each of the brigade’s so far are Tony Lewis with $2140 and Andre Araujo with $1590
Justin Hall of Wesburn/Millgrove CFA said it will be his second year.
“I’m enjoying training for this very challenging event and raising money for charities who support those in their moment of need,” he said.
“I’d like to beat last years time of 8 minutes and 26 seconds.”
