Photo courtesy of Lacombe Fire Department.
Members of the Lacombe Fire Department challenged themselves by climbing Calgary’s tallest tower, Brookfield Place, raising funds for Albertans living with cancer.
The annual Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge highlights the risk first responders take when responding to calls, while also supporting Wellspring Alberta programs and services for Albertans living with cancer.
“It went really well. Everybody was amped up to get going. We were a little bit behind at the start, but pushed through,” Tammy Brigley, Lacombe Firefighter said. “Everybody did really well.”
To prepare for the 57-story or 1,370-step climb, Brigley trained at the gym and ran stairs equivalent to the tower in her gear.
This year, Brigley completed the climb in just over 17 minutes, down from just over 18 minutes last year.
“I wanted to be able to beat my time last year. I wanted to make sure that I was ready and that's why I trained so hard for it,” Brigley said. “I ended up beating my time from last year, so it all ended up really well for me.”
While training, Brigley set a personal goal of completing the climb in 18 minutes and was in shock when she realized she had beat her goal.
“I pushed as hard as I could possibly push,” she said.
For Brigley, participating in the climb every year is important because she wants to help individuals and their families living with cancer.
“It’s a challenge for you mentally, and physically, but it keeps me going,” she said. “Watching somebody die of cancer is not the easiest thing in the whole wide world, and neither is running stairs. If I could run stairs to make somebody not have cancer, I’ll do it until I can’t do it anymore.”