Thomas Dold remains king of the stairs with 5th victory in Empire State Building Run 2010

February 5, 2010

It took Thomas Dold 10 minutes and 16 seconds to earn his record-tying fifth consecutive win in the Empire State Building Run-Up to the top of New York’s tallest building.

Grimacing as he lunged across the finish line on the 86th floor observation deck, the 25-year-old from Stuttgart (Germany) beat fellow German Matthias Jahn (10:56min) up the 1,576 steps by 40 seconds. “I’m so tired … It was quite hard,” Dold said. He is the third person to win the race five times. His only loss was a photo finish in his 2005 debut.

First women was Melissa Moon, 40, of Wellington (New Zealand) in 13 minutes 13 seconds. She finished panting, but smiling. “Oh, look at that view!” she said at the top.

The unorthodox race has been run 33 times since 1978. Competitors start in the lobby, where they take just a few strides before squeezing through a doorway and into a stairwell for the long climb.