Give us five – you’re all superstars! Thanks to all of your hard work and support, Stairclimb for Clean Air 2012 was a ton of fun – and a huge success! So far we’ve raised over $150,000 – and we still have more trickling in! We are blown away by all of you, and want each and every one of you to know how much we appreciate you.

We’re looking forward to doing it all again next year – and we hope to see you all! Of course, if you just can’t wait until then to see us, head over to our website and check out our upcoming events, The RUSH: Race and Urban Scavenger Hunt, coming up on June 23^rd and the Bicycle Trek for Life and Breath which will be happening on September 8-9^th. Both will be just as much fun (if not more) as the Stairclimb!

Thanks from all of us at the BC Lung Association!

By Sophie Collins, our awesome Special Events Assistant

Stairclimb might be done, but you still have 18 days to fundraise!! The fundraising deadline closes on March 23^rd and there are plenty of amazing incentive prizes to be had:

• If you raise $250, you can choose between a $25 gift card from Sport Chek or Best Buy and you also get entered into a trip for two to Paris to climb the Eiffel Tower! (For every $100 you raise over $250, your name gets entered again!)
• If you raise $500, you can choose between a $50 gift card from Sport Chek or Best Buy
• If you raise $750, you can choose between a $75 gift card from Sport Chek or Best Buy
• If you raise over $1000, you get a pair of Adidas running shoes of your choice from Rackets and Runners

Here are a few more ideas to help bump up your fundraising totals!!

• Host a garage sale and add all the proceeds to your fundraising efforts!
• Hold a bake sale at work – you’ll raise money AND your co-workers’ spirits! (Who doesn’t love cupcakes??)
  
• Host a car wash with your kids on the weekend. Not only are you raising money, you are teaching your children the value of fundraising for a good cause! What a great way to spend a Sunday morning!
• Throw a party! You throw them anyway – why not use them as an opportunity to fundraise? Instead of a hostess gift, ask for small donations towards your goal for the climb. Here are some party ideas for you: wine tasting, cocktail party, clothing swap and cheese tasting.

Good luck with your fundraising. If you get stuck, feel free to get in touch with me at collins@bc.lung.ca or 6047315864 – I’m here to help!

Help us reach our goal of $250,000!

We finally have all our galleries posted online for you to peruse! Check out your portraits, PixelBooth photos, and candid shots by our awesome crew of volunteer photographers!

Photographs by Jorge Posada:

• Climbers
• Firefighters
• Team Global
• Team Rogers Radio (News 1130)

Photographs by Volunteer Photographers:

• Alham Dhalla
• Windy Corduroy
• Callum Dornan
• Ines Morin Elias
• Sara Jakubowicz
• Jose Antonio Madriz

PixelBooth Photos

Take a look and see if you’re in any of our photos! We’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to our volunteer photographers for their hard work capturing Stairclimb 2012!

This year’s event sponsors were:

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated, sponsored and supported the 11th Annual Stairclimb for Clean Air! Particularly the climbers who not only got up early on Sunday morning, but came all the way into downtown Vancouver to climb 739 steps for us. Stairclimb for Clean Air 2012 was a rousing success, and we hope you all had as great a time as we did!

Our first gallery of Stairclimb photos (taken by Jorge Posada) are now online here. We’re working on getting more event photos online for you – keep an eye on Facebook for gallery updates or check back to see when they’re published on our website.

Your climb times are also available online, follow the links below to see yours!

Overall Participants:

Overall Climb Results

Results by Age Group

Firefighters:

Firefighter Climb Results

Results by Age Group

Masters Results

We have so many wonderful memories of this year’s event – and we’d love to hear yours! If you have a special story, moment – or even a suggestion or comment – please let us know in the comment section below!

By Cecilia Huang, our fabulous Development Assistant

We are only two days away from the event.  How exciting is that?!  It’s exciting alright, but one might wonder what is so special about the Stairclimb that really gets us going?

Today I interviewed our team and asked the big question:  What is the one thing you are looking forward to the most this weekend? Here are their answers.

Jessica:

“Talking to the people who thought they couldn’t do it and congratulating them on their achievements.”

Marissa:

“Seeing the firefighters in full gear (or as little gear as possible…)!”

Emily:

“Meeting all the people I’ve interviewed over the phone.”

Sophie:

“Seeing the entire event come together – it’s my first Stairclimb!”

Myself:

“High-fiving everyone at the top!”

What are YOU are looking forward to this weekend? Tell us in the comments below!

Meet Scarlett Chen, Marina Madden and the rest of Team J.C.!

The J.C. in Team J.C. stands for Jeremy Chen, the inspiration behind the team. Comprised of his wife, Scarlett, close friends, colleagues and family, the team is back to climb in Jeremy’s name — and to help make a difference in the lives of others affected by life-threatening and life-altering lung disease.

Jeremy had lung cancer. He was diagnosed in late 2010 and passed away not long after our Stairclimb event in February 2011. He never smoked a day in his life – nor did any of his family or close friends. Jeremy is one of the 10-15 percent of lung cancer patients for whom the cause is a mystery.

This year Team J.C. is even bigger as more of his family and friends are taking part in his memory. Last year they were our top fundraising team — and it’s looking like they’ll be holding onto the title in 2012.

See Jeremy near the centre of the above Stairclimb 2011 photo wearing black. He is missed.

Bored of the same old workout? Well, these days you’ve got a lot to choose from. It’s not just about treadmills and push-ups anymore!

1. Bar Method

Based on the training methods used in traditional ballet classes (some of which you may remember from your childhood ballet classes), this method not only builds strength, but flexibility and grace, too.

2. Antigravity Yoga

Have you seen Cirque du Soleil’s ribbon dancers? This is along those lines. But not as high off the ground (to start with, anyway). It comprises elements from a few disciplines, including dance, Pilates and calisthenics, and is great for relieving pressure on the joints while still providing a great workout!

3. Zumba

Fancy trying out those latin dance moves? Then this is the workout for you. It takes classic salsa, cumbia, merengue and samba dance moves and puts them together to create a music-based workout that, hopefully, you’ll enjoy so much you won’t even notice that you’re getting in shape!

4. Piloxing

Piloxing is a combination of Pilates and boxing (and a little bit of dance). Developed by Swede Viveca Jensen, it builds your core, arm muscles while at the same time getting that cardio in. And it’s a lot more graceful than it sounds!

5. Roller Derby (or Derby Lite)

If you saw the movie Whip It a few years back, you might have been inspired to pull out those old roller skates and give it a go. But if you weren’t quite ready for the bruises and potential to become roller-roadkill, Derby Lite might be more your speed. It’s a recreational Derby league founded in 2007 by a retired derby player as a way to have fun in a more relaxed setting. If you can call whipping around on skates “relaxed!”

From big hair to combat boots – the next big craze to hit the fitness world was boot camps, based on military training techniques and often taught by ex-military instructors. These hit it big in the ’90s, but are still prevalent today for anyone who is willing to get up ridiculously early and get yelled at. Now drop and give me 20!

Aerobics was, of course, the biggest fitness fad of the 1980s – complete with neon leggings and leg warmers! Though the real birth of aerobics (the word and the practice) can be traced back to Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D. in 1968, it was Jane Fonda who turned it into the biggest fitness craze of the ’80s.