PETALING JAYA: After completing his fourth straight tower run win in nine days in the United States on Oct 8, energetic Malaysian tower runner Soh Wai Ching has set a new course record for the inaugural “RNLI Tower Run” in London, the United Kingdom’s tallest stair climb competition, on Saturday.
The 28-year-old took only six minutes and 52 seconds to cross 1,436 steps and set the course record, in the 244m, 56-floor tower at 22 Bishopsgate, a commercial skyscraper in London’s financial district.
“I went into the stairway by running up the first three floors. It was a nice stairway with both sides of the handrail available, not so far away in terms of their distance. Therefore I was able to use both of it to pull myself upwards.
“The step height on the stairs were consistent all the way and I love the surface of the steps as they were made of non-slip rubber. Most of the floors had two flights of stairs, with 12 steps in each flight. Only one floor had four flights of stairs.”
Soh said he started to lose his “beat” from the 42nd floor, but he kept going as fast as he could.
“I kept digging in hard and did my best to use more of my hands on the rail to pull myself up the steps, as both my legs were getting heavier and heavier. After I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch right at it, I laid myself down on the floor to catch my breath and let my legs rest.”
Soh was two minutes and 21 seconds faster than Daniel Joyce, who came in second with a time of 9:12.
“At the finish line, I chatted with the tower run crew who asked me about my time and race experience. They were shocked to learn that I did 56 floors in seven minutes.
“I told them that I climbed between 200 and 300 floors a day as part of my training and with my background in Sports Science, specifically Exercise Science, I understand the sport well and crafted my own training programme for it, to achieve the best results.”
Soh participated in the race alongside his partner, Jennifer Chang, who finished the race at 36th position, clocking 12:41. It was her first-ever overseas tower run.
Next, both he and Chang will be competing in the “HCMC Sky Run” in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Oct 30.
