I went to Bisbee last weekend to compete in a unique local race, among other things. Every year, on the 3rd Saturday in October, the small mountain town hosts the Bisbee 1000 and the Iceman Challenge, 2 races featuring something Bisbee has quite a bit of: stairs.

The Bisbee 1000, a.k.a. The Great Stair Climb, is the main event. The course consists of 1000+ stairs and 5k of running, and is, quite honestly, one of the most brutal race courses out there. It has become quite popular, with around 1500 participants each year. Elite runners, walkers, and a generous helping of people in costumes all take to the stairs. Musicians set up at the tops of the stairways and play tunes to spur the runners on and ease their pain.

At an elevation of around 5500 feet, ascending flights of over 200 stairs at anything more than a walk can be downright painful. Imagine arriving at the top of one of these flights of stairs: you’ve come up as fast as you could, and your legs are now made of wood and jello. Your lungs are on fire, your heart is coming out the top of your head, and you feel like you might just go ahead and puke in front of all these people. But instead you must try to summon the energy and leg control to run down the windy road. Repeat this process 8 times and you have the sweet agony of the Bisbee 1000.

I’ve run this race many times over the years and have done fairly well on occasion. I won my age group and got 7th overall one time. The sheer brutality of trying to run it competitively is daunting, though, and the second event is much shorter and the payout is better. Some feel that not running the main race first gives me an unfair advantage in the second race. I totally agree about the advantage part. After running the Bisbee 1000 your legs are cooked, no doubt about it. Unfair? Anyone who wants to forgo the big race along with me to even the playing field is always welcome to do so.

The Iceman Challenge is held after the Bisbee 1000. The race is a throwback to the old days when people kept their food cold in iceboxes and “Icemen” would deliver blocks of ice by running them up to the houses perched on the steep hillsides, accessible only by long flights of stairs.

Unlike the first race, this one is very short and is all about pure sprinting power instead of hardcore endurance. The Iceman is an all out sprint up a single flight of 155 stairs, with one twist: you have to carry a 10lb block of ice held by a pair or old-fashioned ice tongs all the way up. People go one at a time, and the fastest 3 men and fastest 3 women win prize money. While short, this race is nothing easy. By about halfway up, you start to go anaerobic, which is a fancy word for running out of gas, but still pushing as hard as you can. That’s the when the railing comes in handy.

This year I won handily with a time of 22.5 seconds, which turned out to be a new course record. The second place finisher came in at 25.05, third place was 25.62 seconds. For my brief efforts I got $100 and a hug from Smokey the Bear. Smokey was there because of the recent wildfires in the hills above Bisbee, and he seemed uncomfortably warm in his bear costume. It felt great to win because winning is fun, but also because Bisbee is my home town and that flight of stairs is very familiar to me. It leads to High Road, where I grew up, and I used to run up them when I got off the bus from school. I’ve won this event several times now, and I plan on owning it for as long as I’m able!