Seventeen volunteer firefighters and support crew trudged 17km along the Lake Dunstan trail on Sunday, wearing full protective gear and carrying an oxygen tank weighing 25kg between them as a relay.

Training for the annual Sky Tower challenge in mid-May, it started out with a small group from the Clyde brigade planning the inaugural event to act as a practice run, and then word got around to local brigades Alexandra and Cromwell, who joined in as well. 

Tim Paulin, Clyde station officer and the organiser of the event, said this year was kept small to make sure it was manageable, "but next year we’ll plan a much bigger and more ‘official’ event.”

Some of the fire fighters started from the Hugo Bridge, with others joining along the track via the support boats from the Coast Guard and Scott Nevill. While the weather was mild, they were definitely sweating under all that heavy gear, fellow team-mate Tom Heath said.

“It was tough at times, but a great team building event. We were all fully dressed in our protective gear and took turns carrying the oxygen tank for about 1km each and passing it on to the next member ensuring everyone got at least one turn carrying the ‘can’.”

Volunteer firefighters making their way to Clyde on the Lake Dunstan Trail on Sunday.

The trail was quiet at this time of year and the Coastguard acted as support crew, even running food supplied by local landscaping business Weka Landscaping at one point, along the trail. 

Tom said there were certainly some interesting looks from other track users, probably wondering where such a big group of firefighters were going on foot, but by stopping and explaining why they were there, the group managed to raise $200 in donations just on the track. 

The brigade thanks the support crew who made the day such a success including:

• The Clyde Coast Guard and Scott Nevill of Quality Irrigation Services for support boats
• JJ Tractors Limited for supplying T shirts 
• Weka Landscaping for suppling the food and drink
• Tony Haig who biked and supported the brigade while on track
• Contact Energy for allowing access over the dam

The Brigade would also like to thank everyone who attended the recent Clyde Wine and Food Festival and donated during the event. They managed to raise over $1800 with proceeds going towards Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ. 

You can still support and donate to the Clyde Volunteer Fire Brigade team via its Sky Tower Challenge website. The team is training hard and looking forward to the Sky Tower challenge in Auckland on May 17.

PHOTOS: Supplied