For a moment during the post-race awards ceremony of 2015's CF Climb Milwaukee, it appeared as though West Allis triathlete Adam Bruss would walk away with a trophy for fastest climber of the night.
Unfortunately for Bruss, however, thanks to a timing issue at that climb, several competitive climbers' times were mistakenly omitted from the results, leading to them not being given awards during the post-race ceremony--including that of Minneapolis-area towerrunner Jason Larson. Larson clocked in fastest of the night with a 5:35 personal best at the 47-story, 981-step US Bank Center. After the omissions were discovered, Bruss—who had just completed his debut climb second-fastest overall at the event with a time of 5:53—turned the trophy over to Larson. Fast forward two years to Thursday's CF Climb Milwaukee 2017: Bruss, 36, would not need to hand the trophy over to anyone. Blistering his way up to the top of the stairwell in 5:19, Bruss dethroned reigning CF Climb Milwaukee champion Sal Impellitteri, who was aiming for his seventh overall US Bank Center climb win. Bruss' finish, which ranks as the 13th fastest in building history, extended a personal PR streak as well. After his second-place 5:53 debut in 2015, he shaved his time down to 5:50 at 2016's CF Climb before trimming it down more to 5:45 at this past March's Fight For Air Climb. He came away with third-place finishes at those two most recent climbs behind Impellitteri, 36, and Chicago-area towerrunners Robert Liking and Jesse Berg, respectively. With no Chicagoland climbers with a sub-6-minute climb on their records slated to climb, likely the only person standing between Bruss and first place was the Milwaukee-area runner Impellitteri. Toeing the line first for the climb’s staggered start on the merits of his local stair racing accomplishments, including a 5:02 finish at last March’s Fight For Air Milwaukee and a 5:00-flat finish at last years CF Climb Milwaukee, Impellitteri set the pace. That is, until Bruss caught him. When he did, Impellitteri stepped aside to give his Stair Club Milwaukee teammate the inside rail. Bruss remained locked in and rode his momentum to the top, sealing the win. Impellitteri, who stepped away from competitive running and serious, regular training after running in April’s Boston Marathon, had been trying to break the building’s vaunted 5-minute mark at US Bank Center climbs in his most recent attempts, but in enjoying his newfound retirement, had joked prior to the climb that he’d be lucky to break 6 minutes. In the end that proved to be a bit of a stretch, as he reached the top floor finish line in 5:34, which ranks fifth fastest of his seven career climbs, and 21st fastest in building history. Impellitteri’s six combined wins at both US Bank Center climbs, which includes a current five-climb FFA win streak, ranks first all-time ahead of Chicago towerrunners Berg and Eric Leninger, each with three. Additionally, the only two people since 2002 with times faster than Impellitteri’s best are Berg and building record-holder Justin Stewart of Springfield, Ill. (4:50). Rounding out the men's CF Climb Milwaukee podium was Mark Ewell, 44. The Colorado Springs towerrunner, currently ranked no. 6 in the country, was the only other sub-6-minute finisher of the night, reaching the top in 5:53. It was a whirlwind week for Ewell, who flew to Chicago for SkyRise Chicago on Sunday, where he finished ninth overall at the 105-story, 2,159-step Willis Tower climb. He then flew back to Colorado for the bulk of the week before flying back to the Midwest for the Thursday night Milwaukee climb. The women’s race was a little more wide open, with no US Bank Center veteran top finishers slated to toe the line. In the end it was Grayslake, Ill.'s Jill Paha who reached the top the fastest, clocking in at 8:20. While not her personal fastest finish in Milwaukee, it was the 36-year-old no. 17-ranked US towerrunner’s first career first-place finish. The win does happen to carry a dubious distinction, however. For the second straight year, the winning women’s CF Climb Milwaukee time goes down as the slowest women’s win in building history. Abbey Schneider’s 8:07 finish last year was the first winning time not faster than 8 minutes. KC Kennedy, 51 (ranked 15th in the country), finished just shy of Paha’s time, as the Colorado Springs towerrunner completed the climb in 8:22. Finishing third among the women was longtime Milwaukee-area stair climbing veteran Cathy Sharkey, 55, who crossed the finish line in 8:52. ZEKE DOES IT AGAIN West Allis firefighter Zeke Dombrowski, 31, easily defended his CF Climb Milwaukee title as the fastest full-gear firefighter, reaching the finish line in a CF Climb personal best and firefighter event record 7:21. The win is Dombrowski's sixth consecutive CF Climb win and his eighth overall US Bank Center win, including Fight For Air Climb wins in 2015 and 2016. When factoring in his FFA climb times, Dombrowski's CF Climb win ranks as his second-fastest full-gear race time, which is more impressive considering the FFA Firefighter Climb utilizes an alternate 42-story, 84-floor flight, 899-step stairwell, while the CF Climb Milwaukee firefighter climb uses the main general climb stairwell (47 stories, 94 flights, 981 steps). TEAMING UP Stair Club Milwaukee won its third consecutive combined-time team climb, as the team's top three scoring members--Bruss, Impellitteri and Jean-Roch Grenetier, 54--netted an event record 17:16. Grenetier, on a PR streak of his own, finished fourth overall in 6:23. The team time, which equates to a per-person average of 5:46, beat the its own net of 17:53 (5:58 per person average) at CF Climb Milwaukee 2016. Stair Club Milwaukee also holds the March FFA five-person team record. Among the firefighter teams, it was not much of a contest, as the Dombrowski-led West Allis FD team combined to net 27:26—a 9:09 per person average, nearly 10 minutes net and 3 minutes per person faster than the second-place North Shore Fire Department. CLIMBING FOR A CURE This year's CF Climb Milwaukee saw 262 climb finishers, and raised approximately $46,000 toward its goal of finding a cure for cystic fibrosis. In its 28th year this year, CF Climb Milwaukee has long been among the more affordable climbs in the country, as far as competitive climbers are concerned, with a minimum fundraising requirement of only $50 to go along with a $25 registration fee ($15 early bird, $35 day-of). The event, which is among the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s series of climbs throughout the country, is also known in some stair climbing circles for its post-race dinner/awards ceremony with food provided and five-year age group categories. More information on the climb itself can be found HERE. Full climb results can be found HERE.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |