Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Polish national Piotr Lobodzinski and Australian Suzanne Walsham took home the winner's trophies at the annual Taipei 101 Run Up on Saturday for a second year in a row. Lobodzinski finished with a time of 10:46.12 in the men's category, while Walsham clocked 13:12.96 in the women's event at the 2019 Taipei 101 Run Up race.
The two athletes were the reigning champions. However, neither broke the record for running from the first to the 91st floor, set by Australian Paul Crake in the men's event with 10:29.32 and the women's race by Austrian Andrea Mayr with 12:38.85, both in 2005.
Taipei 101 has held an annual stair-climbing race since 2005 and is one of the world's most difficult climbing challenges. To finish the race, participants must climb 2,046 stairs, or 390 meters, to the 91st floor of the tallest building in Taiwan.
According to organizers, this year the event welcomed more than 5,100 athletes from Taiwan and overseas, of which 68 percent were male and 32 percent female and a majority 20-40 years old.
According to Taipei 101 Chairman Chang Hsueh-shun (張學舜), the Taipei 101 Run Up event is one of the Towerrunning Tour Races hosted by the Towerrunning World Association (TWA), the international governing body for the sport of stair running.
The iconic building will host the Towerrunning World Championships again in 2020, a formidable achievement for Taipei 101 and Taiwan, Chang said. The world championships were last held in Taipei in 2018.
Reference at: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aall/201905040014.aspx
