Tower running

Tower running is a sport which involves running up tall man-made structures. Usually the races take place on the internal staircases of skyscrapers, but the term can cover any foot race which involves a course that ascends a man-made structure.

Tower running races often take place at the world's tallest structures, including Taipei 101 (Taipei), Menara Tower (Kuala Lumpur), Willis Tower (Chicago), CN Tower (Toronto), Eiffel Tower (Paris), Eureka Tower (Melbourne), Swissôtel (Singapore), Tower 42 (London), the Empire State Building (New York), the Bitexco Financial Tower (Ho Chi Minh City), and the Torre Colpatria (Bogotá). Races are held in either time trial or mass-start format and attract elite athletes from various sports, often with large sums of prize money.

The results of more than 160 races on all continents are evaluated each year for the Towerrunning World Cup. The most important – about 15 so called "Masters Races" – have a predefined factor of 1.5 to 4, whereas all other races are given 0.5 or 1 depending on the class and internationality of the participants.

2015 saw the inaugural World Championship in Doha, Qatar, with Andrea Mayr (AUT) and Piotr Łobodziński (POL) crowned champions. The 2018 World Championship was held on 5 May at Taipei 101 in Taiwan. Piotr Łobodziński (POL) retained his title, while Suzy Walsham (AUS) won the women's title. The planned 2020 World Towerrunning Championship event at Taipei 101 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was provisionally rescheduled for 2021.