Australia’s Suzy Walsham ran up 86 flights of stairs to reach the observation deck of the Empire State Building and win the women’s Run-Up race for the eighth time on Wednesday (February 1), a record for the number of wins of the race.
The men’s Empire State Run-Up was won by Poland’s Piotr Lobodzinski, who was climbing up the steps of the building for the first time.
“I am feeling perfect. Dreams come true. I think I won by Empire State Building in first time here. So I don’t know if there is any other runner who did like this,” Lobodzinski said.
Lobodzinski, of Warsaw, finished the race in 10 minutes 31 seconds, the record for the men’s race stands at 9.33. Last year’s winner Darren Wilson of Torrensville, South Australia came second and Shaun Stephens-Whale of Roberts Creek, British Columbia finished third.
Walsham defended her seven titles to run up the 1,576 stairs in a time of 12 minutes and 11 seconds. The women’s record time for the race stands at 11.23.
“I had a lot of pressure and expectation all week, so absolutely thrilled to have come out on top tonight and get number eight,” said Walsham who is a professional stair-climber or tower-runner, as the sport has now spread to tower and skyscraper buildings around the world.
Cindy Harris from Indianapolis finished second in the women’s race and Meg Santanna of Charlotte, North Carolina came third.
The race is an annual one, raising money for disability charities. After the elite runners finished, around two hundred runners were still on the stairs. Some of those were over 70 years of age, and some had disabilities such as prosthetic limbs. The slowest runner took over an hour to climb to the deck.
(Reuters)
