RACE THE WORLD SPECIAL RACE THE WORLD SPECIAL RACE THE WORLD Reach for the sky
This month Race The World looks at the worldwide craze for tower running, and Fiona Bugler recalls the RF team triumph at Tower 42 in London!
London in 2009. In 2010 there were seven races held across the country: two in Liverpool (Vertical Rush at Radio City Tower and Liverpool Cathedral); Leeds (Tower Power Challenge); Portsmouth (Spinnaker Tower Challenge); and the three London events, Vertical Rush, Step Change and Twin Peak Challenge. Loads more are planned for 2011 and 2012, including the 1,512-step London Twin Peak Challenge on June 18th and the 560-step Spinnaker Tower Challenge on September 15th in Portsmouth. Speeding up a skyscraper is also a
T
worldwide phenomenon. In 2010 more than 7,000 runners from 30 countries took part in the Vertical World Circuit®, and the top 10 ranked men and women represented eleven nations. Events are taking place in some of the world’s tallest structures in 2011, including: ■ The world’s tallest building, Taipei 101 (Taipei), 91 floors ■ Tower 42 (London), 42 floors ■ Empire State Building (New York), 86 floors ■ Messelturm (Basel), 47 floors ■ Palazzo Lombardia (Milan), 39 floors ■ Park Inn Hotel (Berlin), 39 floors ■ Swissotel The Stamford (Singapore), 73 floors ■ Nestle Tower (Sao Paulo), 30 floors. In the past there have been races in Colombia, Kuala Lumpur, Chicago, Toronto and Melbourne. Usually, races take place on internal staircases of skyscrapers, but the term can cover any foot race which involves a course ascending a man-made structure.
The World Cup 36 ■ RUNNING FREE
Michael Reichetzeder, president of Towerrunning, is an enthusiast, and the brains behind
www.towerrunning.com. In 2009 Sebastian Wurster from Germany introduced the concept of the World Cup. “And since then Towerrunning is a two- person project,” says Reichetzeder.
ower running is a new craze that seems to be taking off! The story of tower running in the UK started in Liverpool at the Royal Liver building, but the real boom followed the introduction of the Vertical Rush in
With the World Cup came a new burst of enthusiasm amongst those wanting to scale new heights. Athletes began forming training groups and travelling to take part in tower runs, specialising in this unique form of running. This year the official World Cup final will be held in
Bogota, with invites being sent out to leading ‘ranked’ runners. Train for a tower
■ Practise running up stairs and on hills ■ Build strength with lunges and squats. Do lots of repetitions, and add some spring to your step with squat jumps and lunges with a lift-off jump in the middle ■ Strengthen arms – using the banister helps to propel you up. *If you’re trying to lose weight – try tower running. Research
published on
www.verticalrunning.org found that: “80 percent of energy consumed is directed towards transporting the mass upwards. In line with studies carried out with Geneva University in 1999 on uphill walking, stair climbing represents an ideal weightloss instrument for non-runners. In fact, compared to the same exercise on level ground, walking uphill consumes up to 10 times more calories.”*
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