Climbing 51 floors raises money and heart rates

Two hundred and twenty competitors took part in the recent Sky Tower Challenge that raised over $114,000 for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.

Police were one of forty-four teams that raced the tower's 51 flights of stairs.

As well as raising over $3,500, the team placed in the top ten and all five team members made their personal best times, including team captain Detective Cyrus Robinson.

Detective Robinson was one of the top ten individual competitors. He says he had a great race this year.

“I made the climb in 7 minutes 49 seconds, everything went according to plan, I couldn't have asked for a better race."

Competitors race individually, starting at the base of the tower, four levels underground. At level four they complete a lap around the tower then climb another forty levels of stairs before running another lap around the fire refuge level. The final push is then on until the finish line on level 51.

Competitors start individually at the base of the tower every 10 seconds, says Detective Robinson.

“Overtaking others on the stairs isn’t a problem as everyone is courteous and gives way if you are overtaking. I think they welcome the brief pause in their own climbing.

“This year I wore a heart rate monitor, and also filmed my climb. I was interested to see how my heart rate would climb and how my pace might be affected towards the end.

“My heart rate reached a fairly steady state of about 180 bpm early on in the piece, and then headed towards, what I assume is its maximum of, 193 bpm at level 51.

“As for pace, after running the first few flights, I resorted to a steady two-step rhythm until I reached level 44 where I ran the remainder of the event. This was my plan and it proved to be effective."

Detective Robinson adds that running the whole way isn’t really practical, even for elite climbers. Use of the handrails is also important. If you can take a little strain off your legs it’s a big help.