Dold & Walsham Hope to Be First in Race to the Sky

Posted February 4th, 2008 at 12:45 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Empire State Building Run-Up Thomas Dold NYRR Defending champions Thomas Dold of Germany and Suzy Walsham of Australia hope again to be the first to see daylight on the 86th floor observation deck of Manhattan’s tallest building when the 31st Empire State Run-Up is held here tomorrow morning.

Dold, a 22 year-old economics student from Stuttgart, is looking for his third victory in the unusual race up 1,576 steps which finishes outside on the building’s famous observation deck. Climbing two steps at a time, he won in both 2006 and 2007 and was second in 2005.

“There are no special tower running shoes,” said Dold, an accomplished mountain runner, at today’s New York Track Writers’s luncheon. He plans to wear a pair of road flats from his sponsor, Brooks.

Walsham, 34, an accountant who is stationed in Singapore, will be doing her second Run-Up after winning a trip to New York at another race in Asia. She is coming off of a calf injury and hasn’t been able to to do regular running for two weeks.

“I got injured about two weeks ago,” she said. “I thought I was in sub-4:00 (1500m) shape, but I haven’t run since two weeks ago.

Walsham is new to tower running (she’s only done three races), and is an accomplished track runner with 1500m personal best of 4:07.78. She was sixth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne over 1500m, and although she cannot do her regular running, she has been climbing stairs.

“I train in my stairwell in my condo,” she said, explaining that she lives on the fifth floor and goes up from there. “I do 12 stairs, catch the lift back down, then go back up.” She repeats this eight times.

The Run-Up was founded, and continues to be organized, by the New York Road Runners. The event records are 9 minutes and 33 seconds by Paul Crake of Australia in 2003, and 11:23 by Andrea Mayr of Austria in 2006. Sadly, Crake was severely injured in a cycling accident in November, 2006, and is partially paralyzed. The New York Road Runners donated $10,000 to the Paul Crake Appeal in 2007.

Over 200 participants from 23 states and 17 countries are expected to take part, spread into three heats, the Road Runners said.

Photo: Thomas Dold defending his title at the 30th annual NYRR Empire State Building Run-Up (Courtesy of New York Road Runners)

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