Thomas Dold, pictured here in 2008, now has five consecutive Empire State Building Run-up victories (© New York Road Runners)
New York City, UCA — Thomas Dold of Germany and Suzy Walsham of Australia defended their titles at the 31st annual NYRR Empire State Building Run-Up.
Dold, 23, of Stuttgart, finished in 10 minutes, 8 seconds, notching his third consecutive victory. Rickey Gates of Boulder, CO, finished second in 10:16. Walsham, 34, who lives in Singapore, defended her 2007 title by finishing in 12 minutes, 44 seconds, nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Cindy Moll-Harris (13:33) of Indianapolis.
“At this moment, I’m feeling so tired, but I’ll feel good soon,” said Dold after his win. “It’s always a really hard fight, especially at the start. Then you leave the other runners behind and you hope you don’t see them again, and you just focus and don’t think about anything except the victory.”
"It was really hard to pass the women in the race ahead of ours," Dold continued. "Starting at the 30th floor I had to pass three and four and five of them at a time. Normally this is not so much of a problem. I am a little bit disappointed in the time, but I will feel good about it tonight. The feeling of being the best European stair runner of all time is a good feeling."
“It was fantastic to win such a famous race again this year,” said Walsham, who bettered her 2007 winning time of 13:12 despite a calf strain two weeks ago that had limited her training. “I nearly didn’t come, but I did a stair session on Friday and it felt okay. Today it was fine.” Walsham is an accomplished track runner who finished sixth in the mile and reached the semifinals of the 800 meters at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
"Last year I was new, and I let everyone go at the start. I didn’t get a good position going through the door, and I didn’t go out very fast—I was way back in the pack. This year I got a much better position and I was the first going into the stairs. I led the whole race but the second place girl was right behind me for the first 30 floors and that probably made me go a whole lot faster. The last 20 stories were really hard."
The race to the top of New York’s tallest and most famous building climbs 86 flights (1,576 steps) from the concourse level to the 86th floor observation deck. Held annually since 1978, the Run-Up is a New York Road Runners event with an invitational field of athletes from around the world. This year’s race had 215 finishers (156 men and 59 women).
Sarah Hunninghake for the IAAF
Results -
MEN -
1. Thomas Dold, Stuttgart, Germany, 10:08
2. Rickey Gates, Boulder, CO, 10:16
3. Matthias Jahn, Julbach, Germany, 10:56
4. Scott McTaggert, Canberra, Australia, 11:30
5. Fu-Cai Chen, China, 11:32
6. Jesse Berg, Chicago, IL, 11:41
7. Marco Gasperi, Bormio, Italy, 11:46
8. Markus Zahlbruckner, Leonding, Austria, 11:47
9. Daniel Casper, Northfield, MN, 12:00
10. Christopher Schmidt, Chicago, IL, 12:16
WOMEN -
1. Suzy Walsham, Sydney, Australia, 12:44
2. Cindy Moll-Harris, Indianapolis, IN, 13:33
3. Fiona Bayly, New York, NY, 13:57
4. Caroline Gaynor, New York, NY, 14:35
5. Stacy Creamer, New York, NY, 14:37
6. Bridget Carlson, Aurora, IL, 14:38
7. Gordon Bakoulis, New York, NY, 14:52
8. Erica Ruge, Rhinebeck, NY, 15:01
9. Emily Kindlon, Brooklyn, NY, 15:08
10. Tina Marie Poulin, New York, NY, 15:21