Thousands of people woke up early Friday morning to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Alongside national remembrance events, several events were held across the Triangle, including two annual stair climb memorials at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan Stadium and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

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People climbed the equivalent of 100 stories of the World Trade Center -- 2,076 steps -- by walking up and down the stadiums' stairs.

Large turnout at UNC's Kenan Stadium

People wearing full firefighter gear carrying American flags, police officers, UNC students, parents carrying children and others joined the memorial event at Kenan Stadium, which was open to everyone Friday morning.

None of them stopped until the mission was complete.

Take a look at this video of the climb this morning:

People climbed the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center to honor the first responders who lost their lives in the attacks.

The head of UNC's Army ROTC program, Lieutenant Colonel Lisa Klekowski, had her team organize this event -- and said this year's had the biggest turnout yet. She says at least close to 3000 people and that included students, members of our military, first responders and so many more.

"There were thousands of people that took their last breath 25 years ago today. And then in the service that followed, right, we had a lot of folks join the military and served overseas. A lot of people sacrificed a lot in order to serve this great nation," she said.

WRAL's Kirstyn Clark spoke with people at the event. No matter how challenging the climb was, they said they didn't want to miss such a special way to honor the victims of 9/11 and their families.

They said they're looking forward to next year's stair climb.

Durham Bulls honor the victims of 9/11

At the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, crews began the morning by displaying the names of those who were lost on 9/11 on the park's large screens: The Bull Monster and Mini Monster.

Robert Zoldos, Durham's fire chief, has participated in the stair climb each year. He was one of the first crews to respond the Pentagon attack on 9/11 that killed 125 people with Virginia Task Force 1, a domestic and international disaster response resource for the fire department.

He remembers the fear, but also heroism, patriotism and neighborliness that came after 9/11.