Dec 08, 2015 Two Australian athletes, Darren Wilson and Suzy Walsham recently took home the star prizes after winning the race up Hong Kong’s tallest building.
The race, which held at the International Commerce Centre, featured over 1600 athletes running up the 100 floors of the building.
The race also served as the last leg of the Vertical World Circuit, which spanned across eight cities from New York to Hong Kong. Athletes with the most accumulate points from the eight races around the world become champions in the Vertical World Circuit competition.
Darren Wilson, who beat favorite Piotr Lobodzinski from Poland, crossed the finishing line at 11 minutes 52 seconds.
Speaking after the race, Wilson, who only took part in two of the eight races this year, said he was surprised at his victory.
“I’m in shock, actually. I haven’t done as much racing this year, so training sessions in the stairs haven’t been as much. I’ve done lots more endurance training, and yeah, the bigger the building, it seems to pay off,”
Although, Lobodzinski’s 12 minutes 6 seconds finished earned him third place in the Hong Kong race, he however emerged winner of the 2015 Vertical World Circuit in the men’s category.
In the women’s Hong Kong category, Suzy Walsham finished the race in 14 minutes and 14 seconds, two minutes faster than China’s Gan Xue who came in second.
“I just really took it up, more as a bit of a hobby, to do something different and to challenge myself. And now I’ve become quite passionate about it. My mindset has changed when I visit a city. I find myself looking around, going, ‘Ah that would be a good building to run up. I wonder if they have a race there.’ So I think I’m going crazy as I get older,”
The victory was the fourth win for Walsham, who went on to say:
“I’m really thrilled to have won again, not only this race but the Vertical Circuit. It’s a really tough race, it’s a long run, I was hurling at half way, so it’s about focusing and finishing off the race,”