Mr Hearty celebrates with the research runners!

Around 75 pairs of adventurous and bold legs braved the 20 flights of steps of Sheffield University’s Art Tower to raise heart rates and money for the British Heart Foundation in the Take the Stairs Challenge.

The event was a run like no other as participants scaled the gigantic 78 meter iconic building to be rewarded with a bottle of water, a gold medal and a wonderful view from the top of the tower as well as the wonderful sense of achievement for helping save lives.

Fighting heart disease for over 50 years

The nation’s heart charity has been fighting heart disease for over 50 years but it still needs to raise large amounts of money to continue its research into possible cures and preventions that could save lives.

It looks to reduce cardiovascular disease in the UK to one of the lowest levels in Europe over a generation.

A little bit of help

Runners taking on Sheffield’s tallest stairway got a little bit of help from guest speaker and former Premier League referee, Uriah Renni who gave a quick speech to motivate everyone there before cheering them up and congratulating them as they reached the top.

Here’s what he said:

He may have been used to chasing footballers around a pitch during his career but sadly Uriah’s knees prevented him from taking part.

But the day was a great success and organiser, Lauren Mallinson, hopes that it will become a regular yearly event.

And just click here to see what happened on that fateful day 25/02/12:

http://jus.shef.ac.uk/mabcast2012/Take-the-stairs-slideshow/soundslider.swf?size=1&format=xml