A 1250-foot run sure doesn't sound so tough -- it's just a bit under a quarter-mile -- until you make the race completely vertical, up 86 floors of stairs. And that's exactly what the Empire State Building Run-Up does, asking competitors to climb the 1,576 steps to the finish line on the roof, and for the seventh straight year, no one was faster than Germany's Thomas Dold Wednesday night.
"Well, the good thing is that I've done better than all the others," said the 27-year-old Dold, who completed his last three run-ups in 10 minutes and 10 seconds or less.
He said he didn't know why the finish was "so exhausting" this year because he's "really fit" and compares training techniques with other runners.
Dold, 27 (really hoping his nickname is "The StairMaster"), was the top finisher in the 35th running of the race, crossing the tape in 10 minutes, 28 seconds. This year it was held at night for the first-time ever, and was expected to raise around $475,000 for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Melissa Moon of New Zealand took home the women's title, her second career title (2010).
Chrissie Wellington, the British Ironman triathlete and one of the world's most dominant athletes, decided to enter the race Wednesday morning and finished third in her first-ever attempt, just 36 seconds behind Moon.
After the jump, some video of the event.