‘Vertical marathon’ takes runners to 123rd floor of S. Korea’s tallest skyscraper

Runners participate in a vertical marathon held in the 123-floor Lotte World Tower in Seoul, South Korea May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Kwak Sung-Kyung

About 1,500 vertical runners from across the world raced up the 123 floors of the Lotte World Tower on Sunday (May 13), in a race to the top of the 555-meter-high building in the South Korean capital.

Along with amateur runners, which included a firefighter, a group of 24 professional stair runners ran up 2,917 steps for the Sky Run.

In the men's competition Piotr Lobodzinski from Poland won while Suzy Walsham from Australia took placed first in the women's race.

"I am really happy now because I improved my time and the place from last year. So really happy for the race," said Lobodzinski.

Walsham said she "felt pretty strong" the entire way up.

"Just mentally, you have to not look at the floors. So there's nothing worse looking at the floor [numbers] at the 60th, you know, halfway. So I just had to try and focus on each individual stair and my technique. And that got me to the top."

The Lotte World Tower, which is the tallest building in South Korea, hosted the race organized by the World Vertical Circuit for the second time.

The Vertical World Circuit will soon bring the runners to the Philippines, where they will race up the 250-meter-high, 59-storey Shangri-La at the Fort in Bonifacio Global City on July 8. — Reuters