ZFSC 2023
Firefighters again showed that good hearts always help more each time
The Zagreb Firefighter Stair Challenge race, which is run as part of our charity campaign, broke all records this year. We had 586 registered competitors from 7 countries, 20 volunteers, and many good people help raised a new record of 18,706.56 euros for the Hummingbird Association.
Despite all of this year’s misfortunes, from floods, fires, and big unprecedented storms, regardless of everything, at the end of the year, the firefighters put on their uniforms once again and ran up the stairs for the brave Hummingbirds. And what is it actually about?
The charity campaign Zagreb Firefighter Stair Challenge lasted from September 18th to December 15th 2023, with the main event, the staircase race, which took place on December 2nd. As part of the entire campaign, in addition to the race, we had different item auctions for the Hummingbirds Association held in our Facebook group, through which donations are also collected. All donations, as well as entry fees for the race, are collected for the purpose of purchasing the necessary equipment for the Hummingbirds Association.
The Hummingbirds Association was founded at the end of 2011 on the initiative of parents of vitally endangered children with the aim of ensuring and improving basic living conditions. The association is a non-profit, charity organization that currently has around hundred members. The basic task of the Association is to organize charity events and other charity activities in order to collect the funds necessary for the purchase of medical aids and medicines and to cover the costs of different treatments. Hummingbirds are children with various medical problems. Most children cannot speak, move or breathe independently and are dependent on life support machines and 24-hour parental care.
586 firemen and women from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland registered for this year’s race. Of course, apart from the international competitors, most firefighters came from Croatia and it is difficult to mention all the places, but it is worth saying that there were firefighters from all over the country, from Dubrovnik, to Osijek, Rijeka, Zagreb, Vukovar, Sisak, Karlovac, Čakovec and so on… As before, the competition was held in 4 categories: Easy Category for children and youth, Light Category in uniform without isolation device, Open Category in uniform with isolation device and composition bottle, and Strong Category in uniform with isolation device and steel bottle. Out of the total number of registered competitors, 507 competitors finished the race, which is almost 200 more firefighters than last year.
It is difficult to mentions all the winners of the race, not only because it has multiple categories, but because the primary goal of this race is not to be the fastest, nor the best, but the primary goal is to once again help those in need, which we achieved, and we can say that we are all winners once again.
You can find more about the race, results, photos from the race, as well as last year’s race on the website: www.zagreb-firefighter-stair-challenge.com.hr
See you again at the Charity Firefighter Stairs Race on the 07th December 2024.
