World Cup 2009: Final Standings - Endergebnis Welt Cup 2009

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December: Summary

The World Cup year ended in the United States; the traditional WAMU race in Seattle was taken by Jesse Berg and Kourtney Dexter.

Now the premier Towerrunning World Cup is over and it´s time for a first short summary:

We evaluated 115 races in 21 different countries. In the final standings 533 athletes with 40 or more points from 35 countries are listed. Among the Top10 ( both genders ) there are athletes from nine nations with Germany and United States 5, Italy 3, Mexico 2,.... Within the Top30 the United States are leading with 21 athlethes followed by Germany ( 10 ) and Italy ( 6 ). In this list 14 nations are ranked ! There have been 23 male athletes finishing 5 or more times in the Top30 and 14 female athletes finishing 4 or more times in the Top30. More about 2009 and a preview for 2010 soon on this site !

November: Final season highlights

Fifteen races in nine different countries, among the seven US events five were benefitting the American Lung Association. The first ever race in Slovakia was staged and won by Tomas Celko. An absolute highlight was the first Sky Rise Chicago on the 15th which proved to be a worthy successor to the legendary Go Vertical. The name of the tower is Willis now, but the staircase still has 2109 stairs and the winner was Germany´s Matthias Jahn defeating home champions Terry Purcell and Jesse Berg. Many other top racers participated too. Fastest Lady as usual Cindy Harris beating Jennifer Carder. The traditional race in Milwaukee four days later saw Jesse Berg the fastest climber followed by Tim vanOrden and Hal Carlson and Bridget Carlson with the 7th time overall taking the female crown. On sunday 22nd stair action concentrated on Australasia with the long Eureka Climb in Melbourne and the classic Vertical Marathon in Singapore. There our World Cup winners Suzy Walsham and Thomas Dold with clear victories secured their tickets for next year´s Empire State Building Run Up.

October: Last outdoor races of the year

The stairsprinters Roland Wegner and Raphael Schumacher were the fastest at the classical race to the top of Augsburg´s Perlachturm. One race each was held in Australia, Spain, Poland and Hongkong. Two races were in Austria, a premiere at Vienna´s most famous outdoor staircase and a sprint in Judenburg with Martin Krempl scoring his second win of the year. The second German sprint race of the month in Kassel saw Raphael Schumacher beat Enrico Gäbe. Last but not least to North America: in Toronto nearly 12000 climbers stepped up the CN Tower whereas in the US at the popular scenic outdoor race over the stairs of Bisbee with Bridget Carlson a well known climber was the fastest Lady.

September: 19 featured races

September saw a lot of stair action with five races in Germany, four throughout the US, three in Austria, one each in Spain´s two big cities and five others on four continents !
Some of them were exclusively for Firefighters like Auckland, Madrid, Düsseldorf and Portland and of course in September there was rememberance to 9/11. Remarkably too an untimed charity event for cancer research - a 24 hour climb in a stadium in Montreal with virtual worldwide participation.
The traditional Vertical Marathon in Bangkok showed us a new kind of result list ....
In Austria´s three races especially on the men´s side there was strong competition - the internationally proven experienced racers have younger successors now like Norbert Lechner the Linz winner who a week later unfortunately hurt himself by a fall in Hall. Praha was the location of the Czech Run Up Series final, overall winner Slovak Tomas Celko beating Czech Pavel Holec and Poland´s Tomasz Klisz. The common thing in two of the German races - Rotenburg and the traditional Perlachturmlauf - was the winning duo of Roland Wegner and Raphael Schumacher. These two athletes seem to be superior in stairsprinting ! Good sports too after the summer break in the states with Terry Purcell holding back Javier Santiago and Jesse Berg in Los Angeles. Surprising female winner triathlete Erika Aklufi beating Michelle Blessing and Veronica Stocker.

August: Summer slump

Three terrible weeks without a race til August 21 ( okay they have winter there ) in Sydney. Fastest of the day once again our sport´s number one Thomas Dold beating Marc Bourne and Scott McTaggart. 10th overall and fastest Lady mountain runner Vanessa Haverd followed by Angela Leadbeatter ( faster than at her 2000 win ). Completing the podium pre race favourite Suzy Walsham.
Later this month an untypical race in the NBA arena of Auburn Hills ( USA ) and two local races in Germany.

July: International

Although summer ( on the northern hemisphere ) traditionally is a time with not too many races the summer of 09 saw five of them in five countries on three continents !
At the Torre Mayor in Mexico City the local heroes Sandra Nunez and Javier Santiago once again demonstrated their superiority.
After many top places the Stäffeleslauf in Germany´s Bad Wildbad saw the first overall win for Christian Riedl actually ranked as No. 2 in the World Cup.
In Poland - a country with a great tradition in stairing - former world class climber Jaroslaw Lazarowicz was behind the new race in Bielawa und placed 5th. Winners Anna Ficner and surprisingly Damian Ziemianin who beat Czech Pavel Holec currently ranked 6th in the World Cup and Piotr Holly.
Next in Austria at the 11th Treppencup on Partenen´s Europatreppe Germany´s Marie-Fee Breyer climbed to No. 3 in the World Cup. She nearly beat the course record with a convincing win in a long distance race; Mountainbiker Hermann Amann defended his title.
Finally there was a new race at a known location - the Golden Towerthon at Kuala Lumpur´s Menara Tower. While at March´s Towerthon there is an 800m uphill run before the climb this race started in the staircase. The idea behind is to promote a more healthy lifestyle for the ageing population. With Philip Ronoh and Lydia Rutto both winners were from Kenya - when will we finally have a climb in Africa ?

June: Half time

The month started with the final race of Run2Sky in Berlin at the Park Inn Hotel on Alexanderplatz near the TV Tower. Again Thomas Dold was invincible beating Tomas Celko and Christian Riedl. A very narrow win had Daniela Vasalli over Katrin Trauth, third Marie-Fee Breyer.Overall winners of the premiere Run2Sky series of four races the initiator Thomas Dold and young talent Marie Fee Breyer.
The traditional Kyffhäuser race as one for the 7th time by Rene Manthee again beating Enrico Gäbe. Lady´s winner Rene´s sister Dana Manthee.
On this 6th of June the world´s longest stairway was raced too at the Niesenbahn in Switzerland - fastest lady Brigitte Witschi beating Claudia Riem whereas Roland Salzmann missed a sub1 time by three minutes.
And the very same day saw the first stair race in a historical building in the United States. A very strong elite field climbed the Bennington Monument Convincing winner Lorie Boots Black followed by young Emily Curley and with the same time Amy Beth Kessinger. The male winner was Jean Francois Harvey from Canada beating Jesse Berg and the race mentor Tim VanOrden. Most elites climbed twice.
One day later down under in Perth Neil Berry and Alison O´Toole were the fastest climbers at Central Park.
At Olomouc on June 13 Viktor Novotny defeated Tomas Celko and Pavel Holec in the final race.
June ended with three local races with different background in Germany in the towns of Leipzig, Hannover and Münster.

May: Lots of action all over the world

At the famous stair ultra in Radebeul, Germany 20 climbers virtually conquered the Mt. Everest. In a dramatic men´s race home boy Heiko Lätsch reached the top in under 17 hours - the only lady reaching the top within the 24 hour time limit was Susan Bateman from UAE.
A week later still in Germany at Stuttgart´s TV tower nobody was faster than Thomas Dold and Anette Hartmann. This was the second race of the new Run2Sky series with many international starters.
Midmonth we had two climbs in Texas - Houston and Dallas and a race in gambling city Reno. In Houston it was all Mexico with Javier Santiago and Sandra Nunez dominating.
On the 17th some of the world´s best climbers came to Taipei - at the famous Taipei 101 the winning couple was the same as in New York in february. Fastest lady Suzy Walsham taking the lead in the World Cup from Cindy Harris; in the men´s race another time Thomas Dold was faster at the top than Marco de Gasperi.
Back in Europe on the 21st there was the first race of the Czech Run Up Series in Ostrava. The men´s race saw three experienced climbers in front, Tomas Celko 5 seconds faster then Pavel Holec and another 5 behind Tomas Klisz. Fastest lady young Libuse Horackova.
On the 23rd we had the Firefighter Vertical Challenge at the highest building of the Southern hemisphere, Auckland´s famous Sky Tower - initiated and organized by Tony ( and Paula ) Scott.
The following sunday there was the highest European indoor climb at the MesseTurm in Frankfurt; on one side a charity event for arque, on the other side part of Run2Sky. There was a fantastic new race record by Thomas Dold - he needed just 6:36 for 1344 stairs and 222 meters altitude. Runner up and sub7 too Matthias Jahn who has won the first two editions of this race. Third on the podium Tomas Celko just three days after his Ostrava win. Two Germans in front at the Lady´s too - winner young Marie-Fee Breyer so taking the lead at Run2Sky followed by Anette Hartmann. Third Italian Cristina Bonacina - like Thomas Dold just one week after racing Taipei !
On May 29 there was another German win by Matthias Jahn at Dubai´s Vertical Marathon - fastest Lady Amanda Nimon Peters from Australia.
In the German town of Augsburg better known for the first race in a historical building ( Perlachturmlauf in October ) we had home wins by Fabian Böck and Christine Pußl.

April: Canada and USA

This is the traditional month for most of the Canadian races including thousands climbing Toronto´s CN Tower and the two competitions at Calgary Tower.
Remarkable Atlanta´s overall winners from the masters division Kim Chapman (49) and Meredith Nelson (41); Miami saw clear winners in Chad Kreiley and Elisabeth Rhodes. At L.A.s Climb California the fastest climbers were from far away - Colorado´s Michelle Blessing and the top three malesJesse Berg from Chicago, Mexico´s Javier Santiago and Raw Runner Tim van Orden travelling over from the East. In Albany we had a more than convincing victory for David Tromp and just one other male faster than Lorie Boots !

March: 24 races have been staged - among them 20 were within the USA

First to Europe: Though home of many elite climbers with Milano´s Vertical Sprint there is just one race in Italy - this year´s 3rd edition was won by Daniela Vasalli and Marco de Gasperi. We had two premier events, a sprint race in Essen, Germany and finally stair action in the UK with the 1st Vertical Rush with charity background in London´s Tower 42. Fastest climber Germany´s Matthias Jahn beating British mountain runner Andy Symonds and the experienced Austrian Rolf Majcen. Fastest Lady was Irish runner Caitriona Jennings.
At the Towerthon Challenge in Kuala Lumpur Malaysian females and Kenyan males dominated the stairs and we saw a return of Portugal´s Macao living Pedro Ribeiro.
Among the many US races were interesting newcomers like another race in New York to the top of Rockefeller Center, in Dallas the first Texan event and especially the first Climb Chicago. At this another spectacular event in the "Windy City" especially the longest variant including climbing all four Presidential Towers attracted many famous stair racers. With Christopher Schmidt and Jennifer Carder the athletes clocking the fastest fourth climb had the fastest overall time too beating strong competitors like Jesse Berg, Dave Shafron, Jean Francois Harvey, Eric Leninger, Hal and Bridget Carlson, Jennifer Glenn to name some. On the traditional side the Big Climb Seattle was held for the 23rd time. Like Chicago Seattle has already set a mark in stairing history ! And a promise for the future is 19 year old snow shoe racer and mountain runner Shaun Stevens-Whale from British Columbia who set a new record at the Big Climb. Fastest Lady home climber Kourtney Dexter.

February is towerrunning month

Traditionally on the first tuesday in February New York saw the most prestigious stairing event - the 32rd Annual Empire State Building Run Up. Selected runners from many different countries climbed the 1576 stairs from the lobby to the observation deck in 86th floor. Suzy Walsham and Thomas Dold defended their titles ( result ). While Germany´s Thomas Dold took the lead from the start into the stairwell to climb to a convincing fourth straight win over Marco de Gasperi and Rickey Gates the Lady´s race offered more drama. Suzy Walsham had to recover from a fall at the mass start but still managed to reach the top as first for her third straight win with runners up Daniela Vassalli and ESB Queen Cindy Harris. Italy not only had both runners up but the oldest male climber too - Piero Dettin a retired manager from Venice who has participated in many climbs around the world and still is faster than many much younger climbers.
Five days later Climb Oakbrook Terrace saw a strong elite field participating in the triple climb. While Jesse Berg clocked the fastest time of the day Eric Leninger was the convincing winner of the triple climb.These two, Krzysztof Bak and Dave Shafron were the only males faster then Jennifer Carder dominating the Lady´s race with the fastest three female times. Impressive five days after climbing ESB age group winner Hal Carlson.

Though most of this month´s races were staged in America there was action on the stairs in Europe too. The new Run2Sky-Europe series started in Switzerland with Basel´s Tower-Running on Feb 21. Local hero Gabriel Lombriser narrowingly defeated Thomas Dold and another fast German Christian Riedl. Fastest Lady in Basel was Claudia Riem from Lugano five seconds before young talent Marie-Fee Breyer . The Stratosphere Tower in famous gambling city Las Vegas saw the inaugural Scale the Strat with a qualifying climb on friday and the final climb on saturday. Three climbers dominated the event: Fastest in the final was Zach Schade followed by Eric Leninger and Mexican Javier Santiago who clocked the fastest qualifying time. Lady´s winner and 12th overall was local Courtney Swenson. On the same weekend half across the continent we saw Eric Leninger again. With two climbs up the Strat in his feet he still managed to climb to fourth place at the "Hustle" in Chicago - congratulations ! On the podium three very experienced climbers, winner Terry Purcell followed by Christopher Schmidt and Jesse Berg. Fastest Lady once again Cindy Harris who won by a seven second margin before Jennifer Carder. And she beat her husband James by 1:27 ! Elsewhere in the country Rickey Gates had a convincing win at "Run the Republic" in his home state.

Special mention to Chris Solarz - he won three climbs in February ! At Race up Boston Place, Wawa´s in Philadelphia and the new event in Providence no one was faster. And that after a record performance in the New York Subway system at the end of January when together with a friend he travelled all 468 stations within 22 hours and 51 minutes - Wow !

January - what happened ?

Traditionally the new year started in Germany with Berlin´s Towerrun and the Hochhauslauf in Leipzig. Followed by two other established events in the United States - the "Bop" in Indianapolis and "Step up for Kids" at Chicago´s AON Center. A new race in Minneapolis followed on January´s last day.