Springfield firefighter Tina Shaw is working out regularly on a stair-stepper machine and a treadmill in preparation for a task that many people avoid: Taking the stairs.
Shaw, 34, already has raised $300 in pledges for the "Fight for Air Climb," a stair-climbing race scheduled for Feb. 20 on the 60 flights of stairs that lead to the top of the 30-story Hilton Springfield, 700 E. Adams St.
"It's for a very good cause," Shaw said of the event, a fundraiser for the American Lung Association in Illinois.
The group hopes to attract as many as 500 participants for the first annual event, which is connected with similar competitions in buildings as high as 103 floors across the country.
Racers are individually timed with electronic chips and start their running or walking ascents one at a time, in 10-second intervals, so they can avoid bumping into each other on the way up. They take the elevator back down.
"It's becoming a signature event of the American Lung Association," said Kelsey Dyckman, special-events coordinator for the Springfield-based Illinois chapter.
Registration costs $15 on or before Jan. 8 and $25 after that. Participants also must raise at least $100 for the cause to take part. Anyone who has raised $100 by Jan. 8 can participate in up to five stair-climbing "boot camps" at the Hilton, Gold's Gym and FitClub South.
One of the boot camp instructors will be Terry Purcell, 38, a Springfield resident and one of the nation's top competitors in the relatively unknown sport of stair-climbing.
Purcell, who plans to take part in the competition at the Hilton, has been an elite-level competitor for 15 years, but doesn't spend a tremendous amount of time training. In his day job, the native Australian and soon-to-be naturalized U.S. citizen, is a computer-system designer for IBM.
Purcell said he, like many people, doesn't have hours every day to train for running competitions. However, he said, many people would benefit from preparing for a stair-climbing competition.
Most participants are likely to take about 10 minutes to complete Hilton race. Elite competitors are expected to finish in less than three minutes.
"I can be incredibly fit and train less than 30 minutes a day," said Purcell, who stands 5-foot-9, weighs 155 pounds and has a resting pulse of 40 beats a minute.
His intensive workouts normally involve interval training on a stationary bicycle, sprints and some long-distance running, as well as other exercises to develop the leg strength to run up stairs two at a time.
The relatively sedentary lifestyles of Americans are evident when Purcell travels to other cities. He looks forward to staying at hotels with 20 or 30 floors. That way, he can train in the stairwells, where he knows he won't have to worry about bumping into others in search of good workouts.
"You never see anybody," he said.
Most of Purcell's training doesn't involve running up stairs, however. The general public isn't allowed to visit most buildings to run up their staircases. Hotel guests can use the Hilton's stairs, but the general public isn't allowed to train there, General Manager Michael Fear said.
The Lung Association will have medics available every five floors, and there will be water available, Dyckman said.
This will be Shaw's first stair-climbing competition.
"It was a good goal for improving fitness," she said. She started training Nov. 4.
Shaw has several more emotional reasons for taking part in an event designed to help fight disease and promote health.
Her mother died from cervical cancer 17 years ago, she has an aunt who is battling breast cancer, and her father, a chain-smoker in his late 50s, is having breathing problems.
Finally, a friend of hers in Tennessee who smokes three packs of cigarettes a day has pledged to reduce her daily intake by one cigarette for every floor Shaw completes in the race.
Dean Olsen can be reached at 788-1543.
To help
To sign up or contribute to Springfield's "Fight for Air Climb" event Feb. 20, go to http://tinyurl.com/springfieldclimb or www.fightforairclimb.org. Proceeds will be used to fund lung-health research, education and advocacy in Illinois.
Above photo: T.J. Salsman/The State Journal-RegisterDan Gordon videotapes nationally known competitive stair-climber Terry Purcell of Springfield as he climbs the stairwell of the Hilton Springfield.
