Along about the third step, hoisting an 8-pound block of dripping ice squeezed between old-fashioned metal tongs, the throng of stair-climbers would stall out.
Any momentum you had built or were planning to build for the Bisbee 1000 Ironman Ice Competition would be lost as you ran into the bottleneck of upwards of 2,000 competitors squeezing along the narrow stairways. And that block of ice, with the hot early fall sun reflecting on it like a laser, would start to melt and get slippery.
That likely won’t be the case for this year’s Ironman Ice Competition, which is being spun off from the Bisbee 1000: The Great Stair Climb as its own event. In years past, the Ironman was held in conjunction with the Bisbee 1000, which will be on Oct. 18.
Organizer Cynthia Conroy, who started the Bisbee stair climb race in 1991, said splitting the events and bumping up the Bisbee 1000 prize money — $4,000 is up for grabs for anyone who finishes the 4½-mile track in less than 30 minutes — will actually improve the competitiveness. More elite-trained athletes might be inclined to compete in October.
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“We really are celebrating … human endeavor,” said Conroy, who moved to Bisbee from San Francisco in the 1980s.
The Ice Competition is not nearly as competitive as the 1000, but it’s equally strenuous, Conroy said. The track is a quarter mile “like no quarter mile you have ever done unless you are talking about going straight up a mountain,” she said.
“What makes it extreme is that because you are carrying the ice and going up the stairs and the way the oxygen affects you and it being a mile high — the town is a mile high — you hit the wall,” she said.
The route goes up the stairs, along the trail, down the road and ends where it begins.
That block of ice stands a chance to melt a bit during the race. The forecast calls for some clouds and a high of 77 to 80.
