Castlemaine’s Pete Reynolds is celebrating this week after coming third in the Australia 108 Stair Challenge in Melbourne last Sunday May 7.
The 44-year-old Castlemaine Secondary College maths and science teacher scaled the tallest residential building in the Southern Hemisphere – Australia 108 in Melbourne’s Southbank precinct – running up 1700 stairs (96 floors) in 9 minutes, 37 seconds; finishing just behind World Number Two Japan’s Ryoji Watanabe and World Number One Malaysian Wai Ching Soh.
The keen runner, rock climber and father of two said he was thrilled to claim bronze against the world’s best.
Without skyscrapers or tall buildings to practice in during the lead up to the event, Reynolds resorted to a couple of early morning sprints up the Mt Tarrengower fire tower at Maldon.
“I did 50-60 circuits of the Maldon fire tower each time, which has about 60 stairs,” Pete said.
“I combined this with runs around Castlemaine, focusing on the hills. I found some really steep hills in the bush and these are great training when you repeatedly run up them over and over!”
The challenge raises money for Giant Steps Melbourne, which operates a school and adult services program specifically for children and adults with autism.
The local teacher raised more than $500 for the cause.
“As a teacher, I teach lots of kids who are neurodiverse so this feels like a really worthy cause to support,” Pete said.
Reynolds’ first experience of stair climbing was in 2015 when a friend convinced him to tackle the 88 floors of Melbourne’s Eureka Tower.
“I surprised myself by coming 9th on that occasion and then placed 3rd in 2016 and 2nd in 2017.
It has been six years since he last competed so Reynolds wasn’t sure how he’d perform on Sunday.
“I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood, but I’ve also had a few injuries over the past couple of years. I’ve been more focused on road running. During the covid years, many stair climbing events were also cancelled or postponed,” he said.
“I was really delighted with my efforts against two sponsored world-class stair runners who travel the world competing in the most prestigious events such as the Empire State Building run-up,” he said.
So what’s next for the athlete?
“I’m training for a half marathon later this year as well as some other stair climb events, such as Sydney and potentially Brisbane,” he said.
“I’ve never competed overseas, but I like the Empire State event because it’s so different – the competitors all start together rather than spaced out and it’s a bit chaotic at the start, which I imagine adds to the excitement!” the runner said.
What do his students think of his bronze medal success?
“The kids at school weren’t aware of my efforts and I’m not sure if they’re proud – I think they probably think it’s a bit of a weird pursuit and I guess they wonder why I didn’t just get the lift to the top!”
Local residents can still get behind Pete by making a donation to this worthy cause at https://www.giantsteps.net.au/donate-melbourne/