A grueling 24-hour stair climb supporting mental health counselling services in Edmonton wrapped up Friday.
Participants climbed the 32-storey Telus House building as many times as they could, some going non-stop for a full day. This year’s record holder ascended the stairs 56 times, which translated to 39,000 steps.
Organizers estimate there were 350 participants throughout the 24 hours. Eight people climbed for the entire 24-hours straight.
The Great Stair Climb is put on by the Mental Rescue Society which raises funds for Edmonton’s Momentum Walk-in Counselling.
The event’s co-founder, Paul Semeniuk, says it’s a critical service in our city.
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“Mental health touches everybody. There’s nobody that can hide from it. It affects us all in different ways and that’s a lot of the reason why we started this.”
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Semeniuk says the money is important but opportunity to build a community of like-minded mental health advocates is what keeps him engaged.
“It allows people to have this community they didn’t know existed in order to lean on one another’s words.”