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Photos, Video: Crazy People Once Again Run Up The Empire State Building

By

Garth Johnston

Published Feb 7, 2013

Modified Feb 7, 2013

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And they are off!

 

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By

Garth Johnston

Published Feb 7, 2013

Modified Feb 7, 2013

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Another year, another ~700 people go and make us feel incredibly lazy and unfit by running up 86 flights of stairs in the Empire State Building—1,576 steps!—for charity. And these people keep getting faster. This year 25 participants—three women and 22 men—managed to pull off the whole thing in under 13 minutes. That's up from 17 people last year!

Still, if it makes you feel better, once again Americans did not win the race to the top. Since Thomas Dold, who won the race seven years in a row, wasn't around, the top spots went to two folks from Down Under. Mark Bourne, 29, was the winning man with a time of 10 minutes and 12 seconds while Suzy Walsham, 39, clocked her fourth win with a time of 12 minutes and five seconds. For reference, last year's winning climbs were 10:10 (men) and 12:39 seconds (women). The record for the fastest to the top—which raises money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation—remains 9:33, a time that was achieved in 2003.

Want a sense of the "fun" of running up all those stairs? There is video!

And in case you were worried, it wasn't just pros doing the climbing. There were actually a number of runs last night including a "brokers run" and a "media run"—the latter which included NY1's Pat Kiernan and Jamie Shupak!

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