The American Lung Association hosted its annual “Fight for Air Climb” event at The Strat on Sunday.

The event, known as “Scale The Strat,” attracted people from across country, who gathered to raise funds and awareness for lung disease research.

What Is Scale The Strat?

Every year, the American Lung Association organizes a stairclimbing event that allows people to scale the iconic Strat Tower. The daunting climb is 1,455 steps and 108 floors. It’s a journey of tribulation, success and dedication.

Upon entering the tower, you climb up a stairwell. However, this is just the warm up. Participants then line up and then are given a count down, which signifies that it’s your turn to enter the tower and start the climb.

Airpods, headphones, apple watches and water are not allowed in the tower. So, this is truly an experience with you and your thoughts.

The challenge can get even more difficult when the elevation starts to change. There are water stations and oxygen tanks placed throughout the stairwell to help climbers.

American Lung Association Raises Funds For Lung Disease Research

The main pillar of the event is the dedication and effort that teams, businesses and people put in to raising money for the American Lung Association’s cause. According to the website, Scale The Strat raised over $257,000, which will go toward lung disease research.

People Climb For So Many Reasons

Another beautiful aspect of the event is the “why” aspect behind it. To wake up one day and say, “I’m going to scale The Strat,” takes courage. And often, this courage is motivated by a bigger reason. As people climbed, you could see the names of loved ones stuck onto shirts. Some people wore lanyards with photos of loved ones who passes away from lung disease.

Across the country, different cities participate in their own versions of a stair climb. In New York, people scale the Penn 1 building; in Detroit, the annual stair climb takes place at Comerica Park and in San Francisco, the climb takes place at the 555 California skyscraper.

The Fastest Time Goes To Wai Ching Soh

Wai Ching Soh of Malaysia had the fastest time, climbing the entire tower in 6 minutes and 43 seconds. Second place went to Ryoji Watanabe, who also scaled The Strat in 6 minutes and 43 seconds. Third place went to Jason Larson, who climbed the talent in 8 minutes and 28 seconds.