While the final tally’s still being done, on average, it seems they raised almost $1000 an hour.

For 24 hours, from 8am last Friday, a team of more than 40 Queenstown Cook Brothers Construction staff took turns on a treadmill at Frankton’s The Mill, all the while raising money for the area’s  three volunteer fire brigades — Queenstown, Frankton and Arrowtown.

Simultaneously, a second supporters’ treadmill was running — that was filled with trade partners, friends, family members and  fireys themselves.

Dreamt up by Cook Brothers’ “GSD”  Haleigh Glass while stuck in Queenstown’s congestion, she set the “ambitious” goal of raising $20,000 for the brigades through an online Givealittle page, a charity spin class, raffles and silent auctions and other donations during the event.

She tells Mountain Scene they are still doing the final wash-up — the Givealittle page(sl1nk.com/og780il) does not close till Monday — but says they have surpassed their goal and have also received donations for some equipment.

“When I talked to the Frankton Fire Brigade, specifically, they were looking to do a decompression area, [so] when they come back from a job, they can go jump on a bike, do some weights, stuff like that.

“So we managed to get a few bits of equipment together, donated by two different parties, which is very cool.”

Glass says she continues to be overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity and general support.

“We just had people coming in all through the night, coming in to say, ‘hello’, sitting with us in support and coming back for the finish.

“It’s been amazing.”

While, for Cook Brothers, one of the goals of the endurance challenge was to get everyone to participate, Glass says she was blown away by the commitment from supporters, including Frankton  firey Emma Stokes who arrived at 4am, in full kit and spent three hours on the treadmill.

While the Cook’s team’s only just starting to catch up on their sleep now, Glass says she hopes to make the treadmill fundraiser an annual event, to continue to support the resort’s firefighters.

tracey.roxburgh@scene.co.nz