Mr Thurston, a builder, and Queenstown lawyer Erin Gray were the only southerners in a 10-strong New Zealand team of firefighters competing in the annual stair-climb challenge, which involved running to the top of the 69-storey building while carrying 25kg of breathing apparatus and wearing firefighting clothing. The event raises money for leukaemia research and took place yesterday morning New Zealand time, Sunday in Seattle.
Mr Thurston was ''over the moon'' with his time of 13min 48sec, which was well beyond his expectations.
''I was hoping around 15, 16 minutes, that was my goal. So to get 13.48, I'm really happy,'' he told the Otago Daily Times yesterday in a phone call from Seattle.
The latest 10 floors were the toughest and it had been a ''huge bloody relief to get it done'', he said.
Based on unofficial results, he thought his time put him roughly in 25th place overall out of about 1500 entrants, mostly Americans.
Miss Gray, who was competing just 12 months after back surgery, finished in a time of 19min 31sec.
''It was not as fast as I'd have liked, but never mind.''
She was unsure where she placed overall, but possibly around 360th.
The pair agreed the challenge was a considerable step up - 18 storeys to be precise - from Auckland's Sky Tower firefighters' stair-climb event, in which Mr Thurston finished sixth last year, and Miss Gray won (the women's race) in a record time in 2010.
''It felt quicker than the Sky Tower but it felt a lot harder. You've definitely got to pace yourself right or you'll blow out in the end ... it's definitely a mind game you've got to play with,'' Mr Thurston said.
Both he and Miss Gray hoped to return to Seattle to compete again, but their priority was tackling this year's Sky Tower stair-climb in May, and the Firefighter Combat Challenge for Miss Gray in April. The latter was described as the ''toughest two minutes in sport'', she said.
After returning to New Zealand this Friday, the pair will throw themselves straight back into busy training schedules.
