Owen remembers 9/11 with Stampede on the Stairs
Annual relay honors first responders who raced to peril
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
September 11, 2023
Twenty-two years ago, an unimaginable tragedy forever changed the nation.
As Owen High School students and faculty welcomed first responders and veterans to Warhorse Stadium in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 11, a somber race honored the memories of those who lost their lives as they rushed into certain danger in the World Trade Center.
The annual Stampede on the Stairs returned to the Swannanoa Valley, where teams of four runners representing various organizations, including first responders, the Black Mountain Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9157, Owen faculty and student-athletes, gathered in the home bleachers, in a dense fog, at 6 a.m.
Senior Army Instructor for Owen JROTC, Brook King, spoke to the dozens of participants to open the event.
“This is a very somber day in our country’s history,” the U.S. Army Veteran said. “People who wanted to inflict harm on you, your families and friends and our way of life in this country attacked us. Thousands of people lost their lives that day, after waking up that morning, 22 years ago today. They had just spent Sunday watching football, going to church, eating dinner with their families and were just going to work for the day.
“They didn’t come home,” King continued. “It changed the trajectory of our country and our world. Those who were alive remember exactly where they were that day. I know where I was at, and I know where they sent me after that. Let us never take for granted every day we’ve been blessed to live in this country.”
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 2001 attacks, including 343 New York City firefighters and paramedics, 23 NYPD officers and 37 Port Authority law enforcement officials.
Honoring their sacrifices with students who had not yet been born when the attacks occurred is important, according to Buncombe County Sheriff Deputy Matthew Owenby, who started the event in 2021.
“We have to remember it every year,” said Owenby, who participated with a team of first responders. “If we don’t remember events like this, it can be divisive. We need more days like Sept. 12, when the country came together.”
The collective sense of loss and grief affected everyone, King added.
“As a father to a child who wasn’t alive at the time, I think learning about significant historical events offers young people perspective,” he said. “We really want to reinforce the impact of that moment in history, and not just for first responders or people in the military. We want these kids to see the community involvement and reflect on the events of that day.”
Gavin Bertrand, a firefighter with the Black Mountain Fire Department who graduated from Owen in 2022, participated in the race the third straight year. He wore full gear, an air pack and high rise pack, which contains 100 feet of fire hose.
“It really struck me how strenuous this was, and that’s considering I wasn’t experiencing an actual catastrophic event,” said Bertrand, who also volunteers at the Swannanoa and Riceville Volunteer Fire Departments. “I wasn’t alive when 9/11 happened, but carrying this equipment gives me some perspective on the intensity of what those firefighters experienced. It’s really difficult to imagine.”
SVFD Chief Anthony Penland started the race, which included batons made of decommissioned fire hoses containing the hand-written names of each first responder who died in the attacks, as relay members passed them after completing a lap up and down the bleacher steps.
A four-member team representing the Black Mountain VFW Post 9157, containing two veterans and two civilians, completed the 44 laps first, winning the Stampede on the Stairs for a second straight year. The results were fitting, according to King.
“You can’t ever count veterans out,” said King. “I’m a member of that post, so to have those guys come in here and support this is really cool.”
Photos of the Third Annual Stampede on the Stairs can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.