By Steve Summers and Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — An annual physical challenge to honor first responders and pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, returns this Sunday.
Hero Climb challenges participants to climb 110 flights of stairs in a symbolic gesture to commemorate the 343 New York City firefighters who died responding to the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. The attack, which was the deadliest in U.S. history, killed nearly 3,000 people.
The climb is set for 11 a.m. Sunday at Swanson Stadium at Guilford High School, 5620 Spring Creek Road.
The challenge uses the stadium steps for participants to travel up and down for the equivalent of 110 flights. It typically takes roughly two hours to complete.
“I kept telling my legs to shut up and keep moving,” participant Renee Endress said after last year’s event. She was wearing a lanyard recognizing Captain Brian Hickey, a 20-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department and father of four who died responding to the World Trade Center.
“It was not me running for me,” she said. “I was honoring the captain today.”
The event is put on by 95.3 The Bull, B103, 100 FM and 104.9 The X in partnership with Anderson Toyota, Black Diamond Plumbing & Mechanical and a host of other sponsors.
Rick Sperando of Black Diamond said the event is an opportunity to remind ourselves how important first responders are to the community.
“These guys leave their houses in the morning and they kiss their wives or significant others goodbye and they’re not really sure if they’re coming home,” he said on This Week in the Stateline. “We need to think about that, I think, every day.”
This is the third year of the Hero Climb.
A portion of the proceeds benefit The Greg Lindmark Foundation, a nonprofit that raises awareness and helps connect first responders to the support they need for their emotional well-being and mental health.
“We do a job that’s very dangerous and that is stressful,” Mark Honzel, a retired Rockford police officer, told Stateline Scoop, a Rock River Current partner. “There had not been a lot of people that I could talk to that I felt safe talking to as a police officer. Now, it’s a lot easier to build a rapport with someone when you speak the same language.”
Sign up | Hero Climb 2024
When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8
Where: Swanson Stadium at Guilford High School, 5620 Spring Creek Road, Rockford
Cost: $25
Register: Go HERE
This article is written by Kevin Haas with additional interviews conducted by Steve Summers. Email Haas at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas