Vertical Stair Racing, Milano Written on February 7, 2010, by Tim.

That’s not what Anna and myself were thinking the morning of the races!

Anna, Ricky and myself travelled to Milano for the 1st stair race in the World Vertical Sprint series. There were 2 races the Pirelli building 31 floors, 710 steps, elevation 127m – Altra Sede building 39 floors, 866 steps, elevation 161m. The women’s race was a mass start, where the 10 fastest women would get to run up the Altra Sede building and the men’s race was run in different heats, where the top 30 fastest men would run in the next race.

Luckily for us, our hotel was situated directly opposite the Pirelli building, so we had a fantastic view 2 days before the race!Friday evening was spent running through the freezing cold streets of Milan trying to find a park and then dining out at a very nice Italian restaurant.

After a brief wander through the freezing cold streets of Milan on Saturday morning, we attended a photo shoot in the afternoon and a recce of the 2 buildings – it was soooooo cold!

Saturday evening was spent chatting and socialising at the evening meal with some of the other elite athletes, including last year’s World Stair racing champion, Thomas Dold!

Race day arrived after a sleepless night, due to the excitement and nervousness of what was to come! Anna and I decided to do an extended warm up to what we would do for one of our normal races – this included “laps” outside the Central Station in Milan with “fast” strides…we were prepared!!!

The first race was at the Pirelli buidling. It seemed like we were kept on the start line in the freezing cold for hours – we had to pose for numerous cameras and listen to the President introduce us all and then we were off – faster than a rocket! I remember trying to keep up with 4 women who were in front of them and then catching them at the foot of the stairs. You literally had to run underneath their arms, as they were using the handrail to pull themselves up….after battling passed the women, I found myself in 2nd position, trying to run so hard, lungs burning, heavy breathing…all good fun (I’m sure….) – then Anna flew passed me and we pulled each other on – legs felt like jelly on the flat run in to the finish – Daniela Vassalli 1st 4.40(Italy), Anna 2nd 4.55, me 3rd 5.00, Tina Gomez (Spain) 4th 5.07 – my lungs have not hurt so much before and the best thing was, we had qualified for the 2nd race…..

After a nice gentle run, we wandered over to the Altra Sede building to begin round 2 warm up….Anna and myself were really buzzing and we had so much adrenalin rushing through our bodies for the next race. This was more of a time trial, as the fastest women of race 1 set off last and the slowest set off 1st, each with a 30 second gap before the next woman set off. I managed to set off very fast, not sure how, and then run my fastest up each stair….by the finish my lungs and legs were burning and it was good to see Anna finish the same as I was feeling….the results were the same as the 1st race, Daniella 1st 5.17, Anna 2nd 5.28, me 3rd 5.45, Tina 4th 5.55.

Overall Anna finished 2nd and I finished 3rd……I can safely say I really enjoyed my first experience of Stair running and I shall definately be doing another one soon!

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