APTOS >> It takes 2,071 steps to walk up and down the cascading wooden staircase at Seacliff State Beach 13 times — enough to exhaust even the fittest athlete.

But for the dozens of first responders and community members that gathered Wednesday with an unyielding intention to conquer the steep climb, something much more solemn than a good workout was on their minds.The 13-lap journey on the stairs is the equivalent of climbing 110 stories in New York’s World Trade Center and the event, which took place on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was the sixth annual memorial Stair Climb meant to honor the hundreds of first responders that were killed that day in 2001.

The climb was organized by the Professional Firefighters of Santa Cruz County Local 3535 and drew at least 50 participants, many of whom were current or former first responders from across the region.

“We want to recognize and remember those who died, whose service and sacrifice have made our world safer,” said Jason Nee, fire chief at the Central Fire District. “We are blessed to have this job, these occupations where we can help the community. We take that very seriously, but it does come with extreme risks at times.”

Nee led the group of participants up the first climb, quietly making the ascent in his dark blue shorts and sneakers alongside colleagues in the crisp, late summer coastal air that carried a stirring tune from a bagpiper near the beach below. At the top of the stairs, several volunteers took turns reading aloud the names of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the attack and as participants stopped briefly for a breath and moment of reflection before heading back down for another lap.

In the parking lot, only a few yards away, hung a massive American flag that had been suspended between two cranes from local fire engines earlier that morning. A steady breeze rippled through the thick fabric decorated with the stars and stripes, perched on the bluffs overlooking Seacliff’s historic Cement Ship and the sprawling Pacific Ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see.

According to Nee, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department, 23 members of the New York Police Department, 37 port authority police officers and eight paramedics and emergency medical technicians died in the attack. In all, 2,977 people perished, Nee said, including those at the World Trade Center and others at the Pentagon and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

“We’re going to try to see if we can honor what they did that day,” said Shari Belen whose husband, Sean, works at the Watsonville Fire Department but couldn’t attend the event because he was dispatched to fight the Line Fire still raging in San Bernardino County. Belen added that part of the climb is about “understanding what they went through and how hard this 13 (laps) is going to be.”

Proceeds from the event will go to the San Jose Burn Foundation, the Santa Cruz State Junior Lifeguards and Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks.

“It’s a very moving event to see people reenacting this climb,” said Bonny Hawley, executive director of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. “And the public joining in to go up and down the stairs 13 times and reenact what happened 23 years ago in a really somber, meaningful way … it’s very moving and we’re really grateful.”

Hawley said the proceeds her organization receives will go to its Kids2Parks equity field trip program that pays transportation costs for Title 1 schools that organize a field trip to a local state park. The program had 199 applications this year, which is twice as many as it received the year before.