CALGARY -- It was a race like no other.
Straight up to the top of the 55-storey Bow building in downtown Calgary. That's 775 vertical feet, or 1,204 steps, and doing it in full firefighter duty gear, including air packs without a face mask.
Hundreds of firefighters from across North American, and as far away as Australia and New Zealand, proudly took part. The event on May 5 was the 5th Annual Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge, a fundraiser for Wellspring Calgary to raise awareness and support for firefighters and all citizens living with cancer.
The stairclimb was supported locally by firefighters from Innisfail and Penhold. They had extra incentive to participate as they have colleagues whose lives have been directly impacted by cancer.
"It went very well. The amount of money raised by the more than 600 firefighters who took part exceeded $460,000. Our five Innisfail firefighters raised just shy of $5,000 at this point in time," said Gary Leith, chief of the Innisfail Fire Department. The May 5 stairclimb was the second time Innisfail firefighters participated in the event.
"I was a minute quicker this year than last year and that is good. I completed it in 18 minutes. Our last member achieved it just over an hour," said Leith, who was joined by four other Innisfail firefighters. "Everybody completed it, which is awesome, and we are going to do it again next year. Hopefully we will have more competitors next year and raise even more money."
Penhold senior firefighter Mackenzie (Max) Johnston, whose department has participated in all five Calgary stairclimbs, said all eight participating Penhold firefighters finished the stairclimb in under 40 minutes.
"The fastest guy on our team was just under 20 minutes. It was a lot of fun," he said, noting his time was about 37 minutes. He added the fastest time from all participating firefighters was one done in just over 11 minutes.
"There was more people this year, about 600 or so, 100 more than last year. There were guys from Australia and New Zealand and some from the States as well," he said, noting the less than ideal conditions for the stairclimb added an extra challenge. "It was hot, hotter than last year. It was cold outside but warm inside."
Most importantly though, the team of eight from Penhold raised about $3,000 for Wellspring Calgary.
"It was a good event and a lot of fun," said Johnston.
