More than 800 people rushed up the 2,226 steps of the One World Trade Center in New York today at a charity race to support the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“Tunnel to Towers Tower Climb” is run every year by relatives of Stephen Siller, a firefighter who died working in the Twin Towers after the terrorist attacks of 11S, newspaper Newsday reported.
Runners from all over the world climbed the 102 stories of the building that stands where the ancient towers were, a journey that recalls the “heroic acts of those we know and those we do not know,” said Frank Siller, brother of the honored firefighter, to the newspaper .
On the day of the bombing, Siller ran from Brooklyn to ground zero, past the Battery Tunnel, equipped to quell the fire with his companions, but he died with 343 other firefighters in the collapse of one of the towers.
The winners of Sunday’s race were German Thomas Dodd and Australian Darren Wilson, who completed the tour in 12 minutes, followed by American Shari Klarfeld, who did it in 15 minutes and 47 seconds.
According to Siller’s relatives, the event, which raised more than $ 400,000 this year, serves to pay the debts of members of emergency teams who died in the attack and to improve the accessibility to the homes of those who turned out wounded.
