Altona Meadows’ Donna Margo and Yarraville’s Chris Price are both aiming for the top.
Ms Margo, a 40-year-old formerly overweight smoker, just hopes she can manage to climb the 1642 stairs to the top of Melbourne’s tallest building, the Eureka Tower. Before losing 20 kilograms and quitting smoking, she couldn’t even climb two staircases to get to the cinema at Werribee Plaza.
Mr Price, who finished ninth in last year’s annual Eureka Climb for charity, wants to be No.1 with an ultimate goal of qualifying for the Empire State Building Tower Run in New York. This year, he has finished second in stair-climbing races in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
This year’s Melbourne event has the closest top three ever seen, including a stair-climber from Norway.
The crowd favourite – Victoria’s Emergency Service Challenge – is even more competitive this year with the Ambulance Services and Victoria Police teams trying to catch last year’s winner, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
Last year, about 2500 entrants raised more than $308,000.
People can walk or run to the top, entering individually or in teams of four.
Open to anyone aged 12 and up, the climb starts at 7am this Sunday.
This year’s event is a fund-raiser for Whitelion, Interplast Australia and New Zealand charity agencies.
