Bellevue firefighter Eric Pedeferri was the top climber from the Bellevue Fire Department at Sunday’s Scott Firefighter Stairclimb at Seattle’s Columbia Center.
Pedeferri, 27, scaled all 1,311 steps – 69 floors, in 15:00.70 to finish 62nd overall. He was among three Bellevue firefighters to break into the top 100. The others included Darren Rainey, 33, with a time of 15:36.25 (85th) and Scott Symons, 31, with a time of 15:47.95 (100th). Bellevue’s Camari Ferguson, 44, was the top women’s competitor from Bellevue. Her time of 19:23.20 was good for 479th place overall.
A record 1,556 firefighters, including 19 from the Bellevue Fire Department, traveled to Seattle from 25 U.S. states, three Canadian provinces, New Zealand and Germany participated in the annual benefit for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The event was won by Missoula Rural Fire’s Kory Burgess. Burgess, 27, of Lolo, Mont., 10 miles south of Missoula, climbed 69 flights, 1,311 steps of Seattle’s tallest building in 10 minutes, 55.75 seconds, shattering the previous mark by over 12 seconds. The previous record of 11:08 was set in 2005 by Everett Fire Department’s Brent Molsberry. Seattle Fire’s Zach Schade, 41, finished second in 11:29.15. Molsberry, 29, a four-time winner of the event, was third. He clocked an 11:43.05 on the Columbia Center steps.
“This is completely surreal, I’m pretty much in shock,” said Burgess who trains twice a week in a building one sixth the height of the Columbia Center, an 11-story University of Montana dormitory – Missoula’s tallest building.
“My whole strategy was to maintain a steady pace the whole way,” said Burgess, who was among five Missoula area firefighters to break into the top 10 at the international event. “I knew there were exactly 19 steps per floor, so if I double stepped, it would be five steps per flight, plus a step on the landing. So after doing the math, I knew that two-stepping the whole way would put me in the range to win,” he said. “But once my low air alarm went off at the 59th floor, that went out the window and I increased the cadence. In the end I was either going to finish or pass-out.”
The women’s title was won by Graham Fire and Rescue’s Georgia Sanz Daniels. Daniels, 41, reached the 73rd floor finish line in 14:36.65. It was the 11th Scott Firefighter Stairclimb title for Daniels. Before sitting out the 2008 climb, Daniels had previously captured 10 strait women’s titles from 1998 – 2007.
Other finishers in women’s competition included Liz Thompson, 34, of Portland Fire and Rescue (Oregon), who finished second in 17:06.45. Marissa Martinis, 32, of Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (Oregon) finished third in 17:17.20. 2008 women’s winner Denise Little, 35, of Sparks Fire Department (Nevada) was fourth.
Clad in full bunker gear and breathing apparatus, collectively weighing about 50 lbs., firefighters ranging in age from 18 to 63 sprint-climbed the 788 feet in vertical elevation (1,311 stairs / 69 stories) from the Fifth Avenue lobby to the 73rd floor observation deck of the 76-story Columbia Center. At 943 feet, about one-and-a-half times the height of Seattle’s Space Needle, the Columbia Center is the tallest building (by stories) on the West Coast and the 57th tallest building in the world.
The event, sponsored by Scott Health & Safety, is the first of two stairclimbs benefiting LLS during March at Seattle’s Columbia Center.
On Sunday, March 22, the public can tackle the same Columbia Center steps at the 23rd annual Big Climb, which also benefits LLS. To register for Big Climb visit www.BigClimb.org.
