Climb For Cancer Race Report

The second race of the Brisbane super stair weekend was Mater Foundation’s Climb for Cancer up the 810 stairs of Waterfront Place. With 500 competitors this was a big event.

Nine SCA members were all pumped and ready to go at the start. We monopolised the starting area to be sure that those who wanted a clear run could achieve their best. Jason was off first followed by Arty, Grayson, Amber, Kaye, Maria, Trevor, Scott and Vanessa. After that we let a few others have a go!

The climb was twisting and turning. It started with a couple of floors with a left rail, then there was a short transfer to another stairwell where the hand rail was on the right, so the early part of the race was hard to get settled into a rhythm. But once into the right handed rail section it was regular all the way to the top. With two flights per floor the numbers counting us up to the 37th floor didn’t seem to tick over quickly enough and the leg burn set in a little earlier than hoped.

But through the top doorway it was then a short sprint down a hallway to the finish line and the end of the pain and the start of the joy at having completed another climb.

Being an office building with a small top floor we were escorted for a lap of top to enjoy the magnificent view overlooking the Brisbane River and cliffs of Kangaroo Point. Then it was back into the elevator and down to ground level. Grayson had two more runs to complete while Kaye still had four more to do! Special mention must also go out climber John Duboulay who completed 15 climbs of the building.

SCA was again well represented in the results. Arty Selvanathan (5:29) took out the individual race with Grayson O’Connor (5:38) close behind in third. Jason Williams was entered in the team’s race but had the overall fastest of the day in 4:24, to complete a clean sweep of the two Brisbane races over this extended weekend. Amber Thompson followed up her win on Thursday night with third place in 6:02.

We hope the Brisbane Vertical Night Sprint and Climb for Cancer events are able to maintain their dates for next year so those SCA members who like to race can again come up for a great long weekend of racing in Brisbane.

Great views from the top for Grayson, Trevor, Amber, Jason and Arty.

Going down.

Team SCA!