It’s one thing to climb New England’s tallest building in breezy workout gear, and quite another to do it with more than 75 extra pounds on your back.

Four Mattapoisett firefighters did just that on March 5 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Climb to the Top Boston at the John Hancock Tower.

Lt. Justin Dubois, firefighters Justin Blue and Silas Costa and probationary firefighter Bill Olivier joined 654 other people on the race up more than 1,200 stairs the 61-story building.

“Typical people would do it in gym shorts and T-shirts,” said Dubois. “They have a special category for firefighters.”

The four men were among several other fire department teams that signed on for the grueling climb wearing their full gear, something that was tough to prepare for in a town with few hills and no skyscrapers.

“The biggest stairs we had was the high school. That’s three stories, which doesn’t compare to sixty-one,” said Dubois.

He and the other guys are all fitness buffs and trained as much as they could leading up to the event.

“Sometimes we got together and did some workouts, really working on cardio, trying to get our legs ready to do it,” said Dubois. “We kind of just made sure we prepared that way as much as possible.”

Last year, a group from the Mattapoisett Fire Department did a similar challenge in Providence, but that one was about a third the height of 200 Clarendon St. and apparently not hard enough for the firefighters.

Dubois said he did question why they volunteered for the 61-story race as the team jogged up a back stairwell, but he said it was fun and for a great cause.

Each person in the race raised at least $150 for multiple sclerosis. That coupled with encouragers positioned on various floors helped spur the firefighters upward.

“It was awesome,” said Dubois. “If you start having a tough time, you have people cheering you on.”

Dubois said the team stayed together throughout the ascent. It took them about 24 minutes to get from the basement to the top, where they quickly peeled off their hot firefighter suits and masks and enjoyed the view before taking the elevator back to street level.

The team finished 46^th of 53 in the team category, though that included teams not wearing 75 to 100 pounds of gear.

Next year, the Mattapoisett firemen plan to suit up and do the race again.

“It’s challenging. It builds teamwork. It's all the stuff that we need on the fire department,” said Dubois.