Tower running
Tower running is a sport which involves running up tall man-made structures. Usually the races take place on the internal staircases of skyscrapers, but the term can cover any foot race which involves a course that ascends a man-made structure.
Tower running races often take place at the world's tallest structures, including Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, Taipei 101 (Taipei), Menara Tower (Kuala Lumpur), Willis Tower (Chicago), CN Tower (Toronto), Eureka Tower (Melbourne), Swissotel (Singapore), Tower 42 (London), the Empire State Building (New York), the Bitexco Financial Tower (Ho Chi Minh City), and the Colpatria Tower (Colombia). Races are held in either time trial or mass-start format and attract elite athletes from various sports often with large sums of prize money.
The results of more than 160 races on all continents are evaluated each year for the Towerrunning World Cup. The most important - about 15 so called "Masters Races" - have a predefined factor of 1.5 to 4, whereas all other races are given 0.5 or 1 depending on class and internationality of the participants. 2010 World Cup winners were Melissa Moon (NZL) and Thomas Dold (GER). The World Cup Final 2012 was hosted on December 8 in Bogota (COL).
Participants
Leading international stair runners include:
- Men
- Sproule Love (USA), cross-country skier.
- Jesse Berg (USA), Fitness Instructor.
- Justin Stewart (USA), Track athlete and fitness instructor.
- Paul Crake (AUS), professional road cyclist.
- Thomas Dold (GER), world champion running backwards.
- Troy de Haas (AUS), international orienteer.
- Marco de Gasperi (ITA), world champion mountain running.
- Matthias Jahn (GER), European x-country runner.
- Javier Santiago (MEX)
- Jorge Olivares Cabrera (MEX)
- Women:
- Andrea Mayr (AUT), mountain running champion.
- Suzy Walsham (AUS), commonwealth game 1,500m finalist.
- Cindy Harris (USA).
- Kristin Frey (USA).
External links
