Taipei 101 has won the right to host the Towerrunning World Championships in May, and it will be only the second time a world championship has been held in the sport, a spokesman for the Taipei landmark said.
The skyscraper is to hold the event on May 5, and will be an excellent test for the world’s top stair runners, said Michael Liu (劉家豪), the spokesman for Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓), which operates the building.
The first Towerrunning World Championships were held in the Qatari capital, Doha, in 2015, Liu said.
Sixty elite stair runners from around the world and 100 Taiwanese athletes are expected to compete in Taipei, he said.
Taipei 101 has held an annual stair-climbing race since 2005, and with 91 floors, 2,046 stairs and a height of 390m, it has emerged as one of the world’s most difficult climbing challenges.
Prior to that, there had been several run-ups for charities organized by private companies and non-profit organizations in Taipei.
After Taipei 101 joined the World Federation of Great Towers in 2014, the annual Taipei 101 Run-Up event has been included as a Towerrunning Tour Race hosted by the Towerrunning World Association (TWA), the international governing body for the sport.
The building last year hosted the TWA’s Asian and Oceanian Towerrunning Championship, attracting more than 4,500 runners, Liu said.
While the Towerrunning World Championships race is open only to invitees, Taipei 101 is organizing a separate race for 4,000 non-runners, he said.
Registration for the amateur event is scheduled to open in April, he said.
The fastest times ever recorded in the Taipei 101 Run-Up came in the inaugural race on Nov. 4, 2005.
Paul Crake of Australia set the men’s record at 10 minutes and 29 seconds, while Austria’s Andrea Mayr set the women’s record at 12 minutes and 38 seconds, Taipei 101 officials said.
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