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Dold wins second Taipei 101 run-up

An exhausted Thomas Dold from Germany, center, is supported by officials after he recaptured his title in the annual Taipei 101 run-up yesterday. Dold took 11 minutes, 5 seconds to run up the 91 floors and 2,046 steps of the 508m skyscraper. PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES

Thomas Dold from Germany re-captured his title in the annual Taipei 101 Run-up yesterday, as Australian Suzy Walsham took the title in the women’s category.

Dold, 24, took 11 minutes, 5 seconds to run up the 91 floors and 2,046 steps of the 508m skyscraper, 10 seconds faster than Italian Marco De Gasperi who came second.

In the women’s division, Walsham completed the race in 14 minutes, 20 second, followed by Taiwanese Lee Hsiao-yu (李筱瑜) who was 1 minute, 5 seconds slower.

The winner in the men’s and women’s division each won NT$200,000.

Dold, a winner in many skyscraper run-ups, was excited about his win, which he hopes will help him launch an athletics-related career.

“I won the Empire State Building run-up in February, becoming the four-time winner, and now I have won the Taipei 101 run-up, my second win in the Taipei 101 race,” he said. “That is a great pleasure, because Taipei 101 is the highest completed building in the world. Next Sunday, I will attend the Run2Sky Europe Run-up in Messeturm, Frankfurt, and hope to get a good result.”

Dold is scheduled to graduate from a Stuttgart University in June and plans to enter into the athletics business.

A dozen foreign skyscraper runners and thousands of Taiwanese took part in the run-up.

Opened on Jan. 1, 2004, Taipei 101 surpassed Malaysia’s Petronas Twin Towers on three of the four criteria specified by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat — structural height 508m, rooftop height 448m and habitable floor height 438m.

Sears Tower in Chicago still keeps the world record for pinnacle height with a 85m spire which stands at 527m. Taipei 101, with a 60m spire, is 508m.
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