Hot stepper: Geoff Case takes another step. Picture: Tommy Ritchie 59608
Andrew Mathieson
GEOFF Case is no more tired of climbing steps than of hearing about the stories of his epic climbs.
The window installer marches up and down a ladder in his job several times a day.
So when people realise the man behind Geoff Case Windows is the same name that broke records for scaling the world’s tallest skyscrapers, the anecdotes get longer than the number of storeys.
“There is definitely never a week and sometimes every day of the week that a new customer loves to talk about it,” Geoff nods.
“Sometimes my worker will come back and say ‘They won’t shut up about you’.”
The fit 52-year-old could conceivably have powered his way up more steps than any other human.
His remarkable stairclimbing feats would make most hit the elevator button in a hurry.
Geoff won three consecutive New York Empire State Building climbs, Melbourne’s Rialto run-up and Sydney Tower climb twice each and also posted a historic triumph at Toronto’s massive CNN Tower, all within five years.
While beating hundreds up 66 floors at the Rialto ascended the Batesford athlete to the top of his sport, that accomplishment pales into comparison to Toronto’s 110 floors.
“It’s all external – external lift on the side of the tower and external stairs on the other side,” Geoff says.
“As long I’m inside I’m not scared of heights.”
Geoff became an apprentice builder installing windows when the housing industry hit a slump 35 years.
The job also keeps him on his toes, just like the light-hearted jibes of customers.
“Sometimes when you first walk in they’ll say ‘That wasn’t too many steps for you’,” he grins.
For years before his stairclimbing victories, Geoff was a steady middle-distance runner who battled his way through most summers at Landy Field, often excelling in cross-country runs.
After hearing about Steve Moneghetti’s coach attempting the 1988 Rialto run-up, the unusual course began to arouse Geoff’s curiosity.
Back when the event to promote Melbourne’s new tallest building was run as a time trial, Geoff passed more than 40 other competitors to finish sixth overall.
“When I went home I looked at the times and realised the five people in front of me were in the elite group and didn’t have to pass anyone,” he recalls.
“I mean the guy who finished fifth had just beaten Rob de Castella in a fun run two weeks earlier.
“I realised then I was competing against the elite and it excited me a lot.”
A shift in thinking saw training start only a month later the same year with 13 sessions a week, including cycling to Lorne and back, runs up and down Queens Park hill 10 times and running to the top of the You Yangs and around its base.
“After I won the Rialto to qualify for the Empire, they allowed me free access to the (Rialto) building…nowadays you can’t get to it with security,” he says.
The consequence was that for the next three years Geoff’s name was nearly as famous in New York than the Empire State Building.
The sky was the limit.
No building seemed too tall to climb ever again.
“I never catch a lift – always the stairs,” Geoff smiles.
“Half the time it’s quicker for me than waiting around.
“If it’s in Melbourne where it’s 20 or so stories I might think I don’t need to take the stairs today but only because I’m going to do gym training that night.
“Anything in Geelong I’d walk to the top.”
