Wai Ching Soh secured his second straight win at the Empire State Building Run-Up on Thursday night.
The Malaysian athlete scaled the building’s 1,576 steps in 10:44 to hold off the challenge of Japan’s Ryoji Watanabe, who crossed the line in 10:57.
“I’m so happy to be here to compete again. This is my second win, and I improved my time,” said Soh. “I hope to be back again next year and to improve my time again.”
Italy’s Fabio Ruga took third in 11:19, followed by Germany’s Goerge Heimann (11:40) and Belgian Omar Bekkali (12:03).
The Empire State Building Run-Up is just a few days away. Here’s a rundown of the men on the start list for the 44th edition of the event.
Wai Ching Soh (Malaysia)
The reigning champ is back to defend the title he won last year with a 10:46 finish. He’s spent the last week warming up with wins at the US Bank Tower in LA and the Space Needle in Seattle, while the earlier part of the year has also been full of victories and new course records at events in Europe, Asia and the USA. Far and away the most active tower runner in this line up, so anything other than a faster win than last year will be a big upset.
Ryoji Watanabe (Japan)
Third in the Vertical World Circuit in 2019, Watanabe is making his debut at the ESBRU. Throughout the VWC he showed himself capable of getting reasonably close to two former ESBRU champions Piotr Lobodzinski and Mark Bourne, so should give a good account of himself.
The last time Soh and Watanabe squared off in the same event was at the 3,398-step Shanghai Tower International Vertical Marathon in November 2019. The Malaysian finished 28 seconds – and one position – ahead of Watanabe in that event to take fifth. Both men have made significant improvements since then, with Watanabe chalking up numerous wins in Japan this year. This really is the clash of the night. Watanabe is well fired up, telling Soh in an Instagram exchange earlier in the week, ‘I’ve been waiting for the day to fight you again!’. Here’s hoping for a close race.
Fabio Ruga (Italy)
The Italian won the European Tower Running Championship in Poland earlier this year and will be making his fourth ESBRU appearance (if he makes it to the start line – TBC). Ruga’s best time at the Empire State Building is the 11:18 that earned him third in 2019, when he was just four seconds behind Wai Ching Soh. He’ll almost certainly need a sub 11-minute finish to win. Although constantly racing in the mountains, Ruga hasn’t had many outings in 1,000+ step buildings lately and that stairwell rust is probably going to have an impact. Hope to see him back on the podium but top spot might be a stretch.
Sproule Love (USA)
One of the all-time great American stair climbers, Love made his debut at the ESBRU all the way back in 1999. He’s been on the podium in New York a number of times over the years, most recently finishing third in 2018. His times at the ESBRU have varied quite a lot recently, ranging from a blistering 11.15 in 2016 to a 12.35 last year that was good enough to earn him fourth.
If he can bring back that sub 12-minute form this year, we might see an American on the podium again. But keeping up with the top visiting international athletes all the way to the 86th floor will be a tall order for The Ghost. Chance of a top five finish again for Love this year we reckon, but he’ll have to be on top of his game to ensure he holds off enough of the European challengers.
Görge Heimann (Germany)
Heimann made his one and only ESBRU appearance back in 2016, where he clocked a very respectable 12:20 to finish sixth. He won the German Tower Running Cup this year so is evidently in good shape. Imagine he’ll be hoping to finish around the lower 12-minute mark again this time and fingers crossed he manages it and it’s enough for another top-six finish.
Omar Bekkali (Belgium)
The Belgian policeman has raced three times at the ESBRU and has a PB of 11:53, which earned him second place in 2018 behind Frank Nicolas Carreno. He was a bit slower in 2019 (fifth in 12:12) and then couldn’t make the 2020 race. Highly active in years gone by, but has been largely absent from the scene this year. Not had his attendance confirmed, but if he does race it will be a case of wait and see what sort of shape he’s in once the race is over. Would be good to see some Euro athletes in the top five, so we’ll have fingers crossed Bekkali comes in fit.
David Roeske (USA)
Roeske has made six ESBRU appearances, debuting in 2015. His time each year has hovered around the 12 and a half minute mark, although last year he clocked a slightly slower 12:44 to take fifth. If everyone on the start list turns up, that sort of time probably won’t be fast enough to earn fifth again.
Best of the rest
Troy Alston – a spread of wins in the US saw Alston surge to third in the world rankings earlier this year. Highly accomplished at sprint and long-distance climbs, he’ll be looking to make an impact on his second ESBRU appearance. He clocked 13:03 on his debut back in 2016.
Josh Duncan – the 2018 USA Stair Climbing Champion is well familiar with the 1,576 steps of the Empire State Building. He ran 13.31 at the 2019 event but an understandably slower 14:21 last year.
Mark Ewell – another successful American tower runner, with a good 13.26 PB at the ESBRU.
Mark Henderson – finished in an impressive 12.52 in 2019 and will surely be happy to chop any time off that this year.
Cole Hetzel – he’ll be the youngest man in the lobby of the Empire State Building but definitely one to watch. He debuted at the ESBRU last year after bagging a lottery entry and finished in 14:37. He subsequently went on to win Bop to Top in Indianapolis in January and then came second (third overall, with Wai Ching Soh winning the race) at the USA Stairclimbing Champs at Scale the Strat, Las Vegas a few weeks later. He’ll be looking to clock something much faster than last year’s time.
Josh Jackett – making his long overdue ESBRU debut this year, Jackett is the man behind the excellent Stair Life, the leading website for all things stair climbing related in the USA. A handy tower runner himself, he’s had a win and podium finish this year. No idea how he’ll fair in NYC, but hoping he has a great race.
Jason Larson – a strong athlete with tons of stair racing experience and wins around the States. Has dipped under the 13 minute mark a couple of times at the ESBRU and will be looking for more of the same tonight.
Stephen Marsalese – The Beast from the East made his ESBRU debut way back in 1996 and has clocked up 25 appearances in total. He’ll be looking to chop some time off the 14:40 he posted last year and get his finishing time back down closer to 14:00. He’ll no doubt be bolstered by the win he secured at the Corning Tower in Albany, NY last month.
Martin Pederson – the Danish athlete had to skip the Elite race last year due to travel restrictions. This year his Elite invite was pulled but he’s bagged a place in the Open. If he doesn’t get bumped up to the Elite wave, hopefully he’ll get a clear run in the Open. He clocked 13:11 in his debut in 2019, but admits to not being as good shape this year so will probably be very happy with a sub 14-minute finish.
The European Tower Running Championship takes place tomorrow (21 May) at the Rondo 1 tower in Warsaw, Poland.
It’s the fourth edition of the championship and 2016 champions Christian Riedl and Anna Ficner are both returning to defend their titles.
The Championship format involves two runs up the 38 floors of Rondo 1, in a time-trial format. The athlete with the fastest combined time will win.
The who’s who of European tower running will be in attendance, but disappointingly the anticipated return of Piotr Lobodzinski will no longer happen, after the Polish athlete had to withdraw due to injury.
Men’s Elite
Görge Heimann (Germany) Fabio Ruga (Italy) Stefan Stefina (Slovakia) Jakob Mayer (Austria) Christian Riedl (Germany) Tomáš Maceček (Czech Republic) Tomas Celko (Slovakia) Sebastien De Castro (France) Daniel Koszykowski (Poland) Krzysztof Gawlas (Poland) Gerko Floor (Netherlands) Pawel Ruszala (Poland) Lukáš Mlýnek (Czech Republic) Siegfried Flor (Germany) David Leitheiser (Germany) Mateusz Marunowski (Poland) Kacper Mrowiec (Poland) Matthias Gall (Germany) Marlo Post (Netherlands) Andreas Fruhmann (Germany) Pavel Holec (Czech Republic) Pawel Zakowicz (Poland) Lars Migge (Germany) Rauno Tiits (Estonia) Božidar Deodat Krešić (Croatia) Adrian Hebda (Poland) Jindrich Schick (Czech Republic) Nishad Manerikar (UK) Roberto Toffano (Italy) Irakli Chubinashvili (Georgia) Wai Ching Soh (Malaysia)
Two-time tower running world champion Piotr Lobodzinski will return to action at the Rondo 1 Run-Up (Bieg na Szczyt Rondo 1) in Warsaw, Poland on 21 May.
The 36-year old Pole hasn’t raced on the stairs since February 2020, instead turning his attention to long-distance mountain/trail running during the pandemic-imposed restrictions on tower races.
Lobodzinski has won five of the previous nine races at the 836-step Rondo 1 tower in the Polish capital and also holds the course record of 3:27.60, which he set in the qualifying round in 2014.
The event is doubling as the fourth ‘European Towerrunning Championship’, with a strong field of runners that includes Malaysia’s Soh Wai Ching expected to be in attendance.
Athletes will each climb the 38 floors of Rondo 1 twice, in a time-trial format. The runner with the fastest combined time will win.
Soh Wai Ching has extended his unbeaten run of tower running victories to 18, with a win at the Big Climb Houston.
The Malaysian set a time of 5:21 at the 50-storey Three Allen Center in central Houston to claim a new building record and keep his streak of victories rolling
Second place went to Nathan Marchant who reached the top of the Three Allen Center in 6:45. Douglas Schroeder was third in 7:50.
Verity Rees put in a strong run to dominate the women’s division and earn fifth place overall for the whole event.
Rees set a time of 8:19 to secure top spot, with Darlene Perdue (9:17) and Polly Warriner (10:06) filling the other places on the podium.
It will be a confidence boosting win for Rees, as she builds upon the growing list of top-three and top-five performances she’s put in since emerging onto the US tower running scene in 2019.
Soh Wai Ching continues his American tower running tour this Saturday (2 April) as he heads to the Three Allen Center in Houston for the Big Climb.
It will be the third race in seven days for the Malaysian, following his record-breaking wins last weekend at Big Climb Dallas and Big Climb Seattle.
Soh Wai Ching on his way to winning Big Climb Dallas
Saturday will be the fourth edition of the Big Climb Houston, and the action will be returning to the 50-floor Three Allen Center, after the 2019 and 2020 editions of the event were moved to 1600 Smith Street.
The inaugural Big Climb Houston was held in 2018 at Three Allen Center, when US tower runner and rower Harrison Kieffer reached the building’s rooftop in the fastest time of 6:42.
Harrison Kieffer winning the Big Climb Houston 2018
Soh will be hotly tipped to outdo that time as he aims to chalk up an 18th consecutive tower run victory.
Soh Wai Ching broke the course record at the Big Climb in Seattle’s Columbia Center with a winning time of 7:00
The in-form Malaysian athlete took six seconds off the previous record of 7:06 set by Canada’s Shaun Stephens-Whale in 2015.
He had flown in straight off the back of an impressive win at Big Climb Dallas the day before, clocking 7:16 as he ran the 1,326 steps of the Bank of America Plaza there.
The Big Climb Seattle men’s podium was completed by Jeff Devlin (USA) in 8:05 and two-time former winner Tristan Roth (USA) in 8:16.
Big Climb Seattle has been running since 1987 and involves a race up 1,311 steps (69 floors).
Soh will race again next weekend, returning to Texas to compete at the Big Climb Houston in the city’s 50-floor Three Allen Center.
Paha victorious with sub 10-minute finish
Jill Paha carried forward the strong form that saw her win last month’s Scale the Strat in Las Vegas, by clocking 9:52 to finish as the only woman under the 10 minute mark.
Paha was followed by Jessica Pickett in 10:04, while third spot went to Tricia O’Hara in 11:08.
Soh Wai Ching has set a new course record of 12.57 at the 105-floor Willis Tower in Chicago.
The Malaysian star became only the second person to have run the course’s 2,109 steps in under 13 minutes, as he took a second off the previous record of 12.58 set by Colombia’s Frank Nicolas Carreno in 2017.
Mark Henderson and Ezra Mullen battled it out for the remaining podium spots with Henderson eventually edging it with his 16.22 finish enough to see off Mullen’s 16.40.
In the women’s division, Rosalyn Russell (fourth at the ESBRU last month) took the win in 18.48. Jill Paha (19.54) and Verity Rees (19.56) both clocked personal best times in their super-close battle for second spot.
Victory in Chicago came after he secured a double event win in Detroit less than 24 hours before. At the Gift of Adoption Michigan Stair Climb at Southfield Town Center, Soh destroyed the previous course record up the 522-step building – taking it down to 2.22 from the previous best of 3.13 – before putting in a fantastic one-hour tour de force of 15 climbs to win the Power Hour event.
Cindy Harris powered to the top of the Empire State Building last night to win the 43rd edition of the famous Run-Up.
It’s the fifth time the 52-year old from Indianapolis has won the race, with her previous wins coming in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003.
Harris climbed to the top of the tower’s 1,576 steps and out onto the observation deck finish line in 14.01, in what was her 23rd appearance at the ESBRU.
The American was followed by Mexico’s Maria Elisa Lopez in 14.12 and fellow American Shari Klarfeld in 14.15.
Soh takes men’s title
Malaysia’s Soh Wai Ching took victory in the men’s division with a time of 10.46, taking an impressive 28 seconds off the time he set on his ESBRU debut in 2019.
Soh was followed by 2018 winner Frank Nicolas Carreño from Colombia who clocked 11.23, while third went to Mexico’s Alexis Trujillo who finished in 11.39.
In the build up to his Guinness World Record run last month, Malaysia’s tower running superstar Soh Wai Ching took on a unique challenge at the offices of LILA in Kuala Lumpur.
The world number two took the stairs wearing a weighted vest, while the head of sales at LILA took the elevator to see if he could beat Wai Ching to the top of the company’s office building.
Watch the fun video below to see who came out on top. Or follow this link.
Soh Wai Ching aims to set a new world record in November when he takes on the challenge of achieving the greatest vertical height stair climbing in one hour.
The Asian No 1 from Malaysia will target the record of 1.227 km set by Spain’s David Robles Tapia in 2019.
Wai Ching, who is currently training for the rescheduled La Verticale de la Tour Eiffel in Paris (30 September), is yet to officially announce the building he will make his world record attempt in.
“I’m still looking for an iconic building. I wish to do it in Petronas Twin Towers or Four Seasons Place KL, but I need to inspect the stairs first before officially announcing the building. The barriers are that I need to convince the building owner or the management to allow me to use it as a venue for this Guinness World Record attempt.”
Petronas Twin Towers where Soh Wai Ching hopes to attempt his world record
“Me and my team have met the Four Seasons Place KL General Manager. They agree but they are currently arranging another round of meetings to discuss with property owners, as the building comprises hotels, apartments and shopping malls. Also my friend is helping to connect us with a representative from Petronas Twin Towers.
“Other than that, I’m currently looking at other hotels like WKL Hotel and new residences like Star Residences KLCC and hope to be able to schedule a meet up with the person in charge and convince them to allow me to use the stairs and the lift for just an hour to achieve this GWR.”
Wai Ching hopes to clock 1.3km of vertical ascent during his one-hour climb, in order to claim the record from Robles Tapia.
David Robles Tapia set the one-hour world record in 2019
The 25-year old founding President of Malaysia Towerrunning Association
“I want to inspire sportsmen, sportswomen and youths in Malaysia to chase their dreams. “Dream Big, Believe It, Plan It, Execute It”. Even though we all are fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, there won’t be any competitive races, we can still do something that we believe we can, and do it!
“I strongly believe that one must have a strong desire to pursue their dreams no matter under what circumstances. As long as you’re willing to put in the effort and with good planning, you will be able to achieve it for sure.”
Soh Wai Ching plans to make his Guinness World Record attempt on GWR Day, 18 November 2020.
It was the second course record for Soh in the space of a week, following his new best time at the Sibu Tower Run in Malaysia the weekend before.
Poland’s Kacper Mrowiec finished second in 1:29.7, becoming only the third man to have run the 351-step course at St George’s Tower in less than 90 seconds.
Laurence Ball (GBR) was third in 1:31.4.
Soh Wai Ching and Kacper Mrowiec
Frost makes it three in a row on return from injury
Sarah Frost was the fastest woman at the LOROS Tower Run, winning in a time of 1:52.8 to secure her third win in a row at the venue.
It was the first race of the season for Frost following an ankle injury that had her sidelined at the start of the year.
Frost had been due to race at La Verticale de la Tour Eiffel on Wednesday 11 March, but with the postponement of that event she kicked off her season in Leicester.
Although Frost’s time on Saturday was the slowest of her three wins, it was still significantly faster than her rivals.
Kimberley Etherington-Bates was second in 2:28.3 and Sonja Shakespeare took third in 2:38.9.
Update: within an hour of publishing this article, the 2020 edition of Vertical Rush was cancelled. Read more on the cancellation here.
Malaysia’s Soh Wai Ching will be back in London on Thursday to defend the Vertical Rush title he won last year.
Soh won the 932-step race at Tower 42 in March, 2019, in a time of 4:17. In doing so he became the fourth fastest person to ever race the tower, with only Thomas Dold (3:58), Piotr Lobodzinski (3:59) and Fabio Ruga (4:11) having run faster in the 11 editions of the UK’s biggest stair race.
The world number two has made massive improvements in the past 12 months and established himself as a legitimate contender to world champion Piotr Lobodzinski with a win over the Pole in Dubai in February.
Soh Wai Ching was the winner of Vertical Rush 2019
As such, he is expected to run even faster at Vertical Rush this year and could well eclipse the time of Italy’s Fabio Ruga. The 3:58 course record certainly isn’t out of reach, either, and it would be no big surprise to see the young Malaysian get very close to it.
Soh’s closest British competition on Thursday is likely to be newcomer Laurence Ball, the rising star of UK tower running. He will be expected to take a huge amount of time off the 4:49 he clocked on his Vertical Rush debut last year, which earned him fourth spot. It’s Ball’s first stair race of the year, so it will good to see what form he is in.
Laurence Ball
Unfortunately, Mark Howard (3rd last year) will not be racing, so fans will have to wait for the next installment in the ongoing Ball vs Howard rivalry.
Another relative newcomer to the sport who’s also anticipated to be in the mix for the podium is Poland’s Kacper Mrowiec.
Mrowiec is not long back from a winter training camp in Spain, and since his return to Poland he’s been training on the stairs alongside world number one tower runner Piotr Lobodzinski.
Like Ball, Mrowiec is a little over a year into his tower running career and beating the more experienced Soh might be just out of reach right now. But expect a very close battle for the remaining spots on the podium.
Malaysia’s Soh Wai Ching set a new record at the Sibu Tower Run (627 steps) today with a time of 2:56.
It was the third win in a row at the event for Soh, who took a second off the unofficial record he set during a practice run at Wisma Sanyan last month.
Michele Tan (above, right) took the narrowest of wins in the women’s race, finishing ahead of Cheong Yan Wei by less than half a second.
The 627-step Wisma Sanyan, venue for the Sibu Tower Run
There was no 5km pre-run this time around, which had been a key feature of the event since its inaugural edition in 2017. This allowed world number two Soh to go all out in the stair run.
His victory is the perfect end to his preparations for one of the biggest races of the year at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, next week.
“I am happy with my performance today and I am totally ready for La Verticale de la Tour Eiffel on Wednesday”, said Soh.
Soh Wai Ching will race at the Sibu Tower Run tomorrow as he aims to win the event for a third straight time.
For the first time since the event began in 2017 there will be no 5km pre-run and runners will simply take on the 627 steps of Wisma Sanyan, giving Soh the perfect opportunity to go all out on the stairs.
Soh visited the tower last month to meet with race organisers and did a record-breaking practice run of 2:57 while there. He’ll be expecting to better that time tomorrow morning.
Soh Wai Ching (r) receives his winner’s trophy at the Sibu Tower Run 2019
It’s a perfect final tune-up for the Malaysian before he heads to Paris to compete at La Verticale de la Tour Eiffel on Wednesday, March. 11.
The 627 steps at Wisma Sanyan closely matches the step count for the new format for La Verticale, which involves two qualifying rounds of 665 steps and a final run for the top 20 fastest men.
Tower Running UK 