Malachi Schofield averaged just ten seconds per flight of the 91 storey Firies Climb for MND challenge up the Sydney Tower, while all seven Tamworth representatives, joined 501 fellow firefighters in successfully summiting in full kit.

For organiser and participant Jason Lee the challenge was “one of the hardest things I have done”, although the event was so inspiring that he is already planning next year’s assault on the stairs, after the team raised over $4500 for MND research.

“The heat of wearing the jacket, pants and helmet that are designed to insulate you really sapped my strength,” he said.

“I did it in 26 minutes which was a bit slower than expected – but we were really happy to raise the money and awareness around Motor Neuron Disease, and it was just a fantastic day.”

Overall the 509 firefighters raised over $708,000 for the Macquarie University MND Research Centre.

Meanwhile, there has been very little recovery time for Mr Lee and Nathan Fitzsimmons, who are both off to Dubbo on Wednesday for the NSW Fire Fighting Championships.

Unfortunately the West Tamworth 508 team are at least two men short for the championships after two teammates had to withdraw, and a third booked in the wrong dates.

However Mr Lee and Mr Fitzsimmons are hoping to fill the two open positions with spare members from other teams, as they check out the competition ahead of Tamworth hosting the Australasian Championships in October 2019.