The Montgomery County 9/11 Stair Climb is coming back for another year on Saturday to honor the first responders who died in the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago.

The event is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. at Jim Blacklock Field at Montgomery County High School. Participants will climb the bleachers 110 times in remembrance of the firefighters who climbed the Twin Towers in New York City to save others. Thousands of victims — including first responders — were killed in terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I’m excited to have it again,” said Gabrielle Talley, the event’s head organizer. “There was a lot of excitement from last year after the event. Many people reached out to me after the event last year, saying, ‘Oh, man, are you going to do this again?’ I would love to participate next year.’ Throughout the last year, I had people approaching me and asking me questions about it, so there’s a lot of excitement.”

This year’s Stair Climb will be held a day later than last year. Talley said since Sept. 11 is on a Friday, most of the Montgomery County community would probably be cheering on the high school team as it is scheduled to play a game at North Callaway.

“We wanted to be able to have as much as the community participate as possible, so we felt like if we held the event at the same time as the football game, it wouldn’t allow for that,” Talley said. “So we moved it to the next morning. Hopefully, we’ll beat the heat as well.”

More than 50 people participated in the first annual Stair Climb, which was sponsored by the Montgomery County BackStoppers. Proceeds benefitted the BackStoppers organization, which invited Montgomery County in 2022.
There are 20 steps at the high school bleachers and participants have to run through those steps 110 times, equivalent to the 110 stories of the World Trade Center.

Talley said there will be two walking challenges at this year’s Stair Climb.

“Last year at the last minute, we added a walking challenge and it was to walk 2,200 steps, which for most people is about a mile, maybe a little bit over a mile,” Talley said. “The reason for the 2,200 steps is that’s the amount of stairs that the firefighters climbed at 9/11. We’re going to bring that back, but we’re going to add a second walking challenge. The first walking challenge is to walk about a mile or 2,200 steps. The second walking challenge, if they prefer, is to walk a total of 110 minutes.”

Registration is still open, but participants will not guarantee a T-shirt as the registration deadline for a T-shirt was on Sept. 7. Participants will receive lanyards that will include pictures of fallen first responders.

To register, go to the Achieve Fitness Facebook page. The cost is $20. Also, participants can sign up to be an event sponsor in three different levels – gold ($500), silver ($250) and bronze ($100).