From his hotel on Sunday morning, Sproule Love looked for the Sears Tower's trademark antennas to direct him to the Go Vertical: Ultimate Urban Challenge Stair Climb, but neither he nor anyone else for that matter could see anything but fog. Luckily, he had the street address and was able to get to the race start on time.

The dense fog shrouded the famous landmark, making it all but invisible, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of almost 600 climbers who raced up 2,109 steps or 103 floors to the Sears Tower observation deck on Sunday.

Overall winner, Terence Purcell (photo), an Australian who currently resides in New Berlin, IL, hadn't raced seriously since 2000 but decided to come back and give this one a go.

"I knew Sproule was going to be my competition and he was on my tail," the veteran racer said. "I pulled away with 15 flights to go and he [Love] went with me." Then, Purcell said, he threw in another surge and made it to the top just eight seconds before his competitor. Love, who flew in from New York for a combined vacation/race, finished in 13:58, and third place went to Hal Carlson, who coaches the North Central College Track Club in Naperville. He finished in 15:24. Last year's winner, Joseph Kenny from Franklin, IN, finished fourth overall in 15:47.

It was a repeat women's victory for Cindy Moll-Harris, 34, from Indianapolis. Not only did she handily beat the rest of the women in a time of 16:18, but she finished fifth overall, despite not feeling so well.

"It seemed like it was hotter and steeper than last year," commented Moll-Harris, who also has won the Empire State Building stair cimb four times. "My plan was to go hard for 34 floors, then go steady and then see what I have left." Her strategy worked.

When asked what advice she would give to anyone planning on tackling this sport, Moll-Harris said "It's okay to wear racing flats. It helps you on the turns . . . you don't need the shock absorption." Moll-Harris said she runs 30-50 miles per week to build an aerobic base and climbs stairs whenever she can.

Only two seconds separated the second- and third-place women, Elaine Bell, 29, of Chicago in 18:38 and Maris Goldmanis, 23, of Chicago in 18:40.

Rachel Rose, 21, from Ann Arbor, MI, who has done the Hustle Up the Hancock several times, compared the two climbs. "It's 10 floors longer and 40 percent harder because you have to change directions," she said. "It's much harder than the Hancock race."

In addition to several firefighters who did the climb in full gear---about 40 pounds of gear---there were several teams competing. Chuck Canada (photo), 58, from St. Charles, IL, who was on the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) team, finished in 29:31.

The event benefited the Damon Runyan Cancer Research Foundation. Participants in the event raised approximately $50,000 for cancer research according to Michael Stiver of DRCRF.

For complete results go to www.chicagoaa.com/results/searchable.ht ml