Above: NKF&R firefighter/paramedic Craig Barnard at the top floor of Columbia Center, after completing the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb on March 8. Photo: North Kitsap Fire & Rescue
SEATTLE — No matter how heavy each step becomes, no matter how labored each breath, no matter how much your legs ache or how much sweat is dripping into your eyes, the incentive to keep going is looking at you at each landing, compelling you to push on to the next floor and the next and the next.
“On each floor, there’s a picture of someone with cancer,” said Taska Elin, a firefighter/advanced EMT with Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services. “Some have gone through treatment, some have passed away. On each floor, you realize that no matter how much you’re hurting, somebody had it worse.”
Elin, 52, was one of 1,711 firefighters to finish the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb on March 8 in downtown Seattle’s Columbia Center, the second-tallest building west of the Mississippi. Firefighters climbed 69 flights of stairs — that’s 1,311 steps and 788 feet of vertical elevation — in full firefighter gear to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The stairclimb raises money through individual and department fundraising, sponsorships, and entry fees. In 2014, the event featured 1,800 firefighters from more than 300 different departments and brought in a record $1.97 million for blood-cancer research and patient services. This year’s event reportedly raised $1.5 million.
Elin finished the climb in 56 minutes 19 seconds.
“It’s an honor to do it,” Elin said. “There are so many people we know or are associated with who have cancer. Those pictures help put us in touch with it – people of all ages, all professions.”
She added, “I’m not doing it for the competition, I’m doing it for those who are suffering.”
Elin’s fitness regimen contributed to her ability to accomplish this feat. She works out three to five times a week, and every year participates in two half-marathons and what she calls two “main events.” One of them in the stairclimb. “It gives me something to train for,” she said. The other, the STP, or Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic.
While the stairclimb is indeed a fundraiser, there is indeed a competitive aspect to this — and why not? It does, after all, involve climbing the stairs of America’s 22nd largest building in full firefighter gear. AA Sports records each firefighter’s name, department, gender, age, time, pace, and how they placed according to age, gender, and overall. AA Sports breaks down the stats into lists of top 10 overall males, females, masters males, masters females; and overall results by time, alphabetical, males, females, and age division. There are stats for fastest chief and fastest team.
Only Major League Baseball keeps more stats.
The fastest time was accomplished by Andrew Drobeck, 33, of Missoula City Fire, with a time of 10 minutes 46 seconds.
The fastest female to finish the climb was Michelle Croft, 46, of Columbia River Fire and Rescue. She posted a time of 14:54, good enough for 52nd overall.
The fastest master, age 40-and-older, to finish was Peter Kilga, 42, of West Pierce Fire & Rescue, 12:28, good enough for fifth overall.
Croft was the top female masters finisher.
The oldest firefighter to complete the climb was Mike Kirk, 73, of Vashon Island Fire & Rescue. He finished the climb in 20:26.
Of 190 teams, Poulsbo Fire Department came in 106th with a team-total time of 1:00:17.
North Kitsap Fire & Rescue came in 109th with a team-total time of 1:01:38.
Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services came in 133rd with a team-total time of 1:04:38.
Of 1,711 finishers — 1,548 male and 1,634 female — here’s how local firefighters fared (place, name, department, age, time).
279: Sherman Williamson, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, 32, 17:50.
298: Matthew McCrea, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 40, 17:59.
506: Shane Keeley, Poulsbo Fire Department, 42, 19:32.
515: Brian Ramey, Poulsbo Fire Department, 43, 19:35.
686: Anthony Reichmuth, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, 45, 20:58.
713: Justin Zeigler, Poulsbo Fire Department, 37, 21:11.
791: Edward Baze, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 42, 21:50.
896: Scott Trueblood, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, 36, 22:50.
1041: Christopher Strickland, Poulsbo Fire Department, 51, 24:17.
1087: Michael Prime, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 30, 24:50.
1155: Evan Markovich, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 26, 25:51.
1185: Kris Osera, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, 33, 26:11.
1263: Jonathan Baiiley, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, 41, 27:26.
1388: Justin Rovlanaitis, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, 24, 30:08.
1379: Michael Foreman, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 37, 29:53.
1516: Nathan Sharp, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 38, 34:39.
1542: Brian Kidder, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 57, 36:09.
1561: Shane Reed, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 34, 37:35.
1562: Craig Barnard, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, 33, 37:38.
1594: Gabrielle Hernandez, Poulsbo Fire Department, 30, 40:26.
1603: Jennifer Fraga, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 36, 41:40.
1609: Juanitta Lang, Poulsbo Fire Department, 54, 42:55.
1670: Taska Elin, Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services, 52, 56:19.
“While Kitsap firefighters’ athletic performances were certainly impressive, it’s also important to note that the teams from the three departments — Navy Region Northwest, Poulsbo Fire and NKF&R — have raised nearly $18,000 to support the work of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” NKF&R public information officer Michele Laboda wrote.
“They are still accepting donations until the end of this month.To check on their fundraising progress or make a donation, you can go to http://www.llswa.org/site/TR?fr_id=1453&pg=entry and input the name of the team.
“Here at NKF&R, we have some personal connections with the diseases that LLS fights. Among these: the death of our firefighter/paramedic Tom Kenyon in 1997 while awaiting bone marrow transplant in his second battle against leukemia. Against all odds, [he] had just become a father for the first time. His daughter, Amanda, was just six months old when Tom died. Amanda and her mother, Leanne, regularly attend the stairclimb to cheer on our team and others.
“Just last April, my own brother died at age 50 from a stroke caused by a blood disease that’s among those being studied by the LLS — polycythemia vera.”
Above: NKF&R firefighter/EMT Tony Reichmuth of Hansville awaits his turn to climb Columbia Center in the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb, March 8. Photo: North Kitsap Fire & Rescue
