Out of breath after slogging up the final five flights to your apartment?
Try running up 91 floors -- 2,046 steps -- in just over 10 minutes, which is exactly what the men's winner of the 2005 Taipei 101 Run-Up did at the Taipei 101 skyscraper yesterday.
The event attracted 16 renowned skyscraper runners from around the world and 85 local challengers.
PHOTO: JEROME FAVRE, AP
Paul Crake from Australia -- the current record holder at the Empire State Building Run-Up in New York -- finished first in the men's group with a blistering time of 10:29:32.
Crake is also the only person to run up the 86 flights -- 1,576 steps -- of the Empire State Building in under 10 minutes.
Andrea Mayr from Austria -- the female record holder of the 2004-2005 Empire State Building Run-Up -- finished with a time of 12:38:85 to become the women's champion.
The two were awarded first-place prize money of US$5,900. Elite runners were also given US$2,950 for participating.
A total of 1,001 other runners took part in the "self-challenge" group.
It was the first time a race has been held inside Taipei 101 since it was opened to the public in November 2003.
Registration for the race was available via the Internet, and the 1,102 slots were filled in just 11 hours.
Taiwan's oldest marathon runner, 89-year-old Peng Hung-nian, also had a go, as did the nation's first blind marathon runner, Chang Wen-yen (
Adding a bit of levity to the event was Hsueh Ching-kuang, who ran all the way up the building backwards.
Taipei deputy mayors King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) and Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川) also took part in the activity.
Taipei 101 president Lin Hung-ming (林鴻明) said that money collected from registration fees will be donated to the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee to assist Taiwanese athletes with their preparations for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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