Courtesy of McQuaid & Co. Strategic Communications

SEATTLE – Canadian Shaun Stephens-Whale captured the overall title for the second consecutive year at Seattle’s Big Climb with a 7-minute, 17-second climb up 69 flights of stairs of Seattle’s tallest building.  The 24th annual skyscraper climb benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In his ascent of 1,311 steps of Seattle’s 76-story Columbia Center, Stephens-Whale, 20, a University of British Columbia junior from Roberts Creek, B.C., logged the second-best time in the event’s history.  He missed the previous mark, which he set in 2009, by 3.65 seconds.  Paul Kimball, 26, of Spokane finished second in 7:38.0.  Jesse Lucas Berg, 37, of Chicago, finished third in 7:49.0. Kevin Crossman, 26, of Snohomish finished fourth in 7:51 and Tim Van Orden, 41, of Bennington, Vermont was fifth in 7:53.0.

The women’s title was won for the second consecutive year by Seattle’s Kourtney Dexter.  Dexter bested her 2009 winning time by 11 seconds, reaching the Columbia Center’s 73rd –floor observation deck finish line in 9:19.0.  Dexter, 29, finished 25th overall.

A total of 6,000 climbers from 19 states and Canada participated in Sunday’s Big Climb.  With fundraising continuing until April 9, the event has already exceeded its 2009 total, raising $1.3 million for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  To contribute to a local team that competed in the Big Climb, log on to www.BigClimb.org.

At 943 feet, about one-and-a-half times the height of Seattle’s Space Needle, the Columbia Center is the tallest building (by stories) on the West Coast and the 57th tallest building in the world. Over 100 climbs take place each year in office towers around the world.

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