Hengqin tower run to fight TB in rural Yunnan

Three-hundred runners will race to the top of the 158-m Hengqin Headquarters Tower during the 1st Zhuhai Hengqin Vertical Race, which will be held for charity on Nov 25, announced the organizer at a press conference on Oct 28.

Zhuhai Heyi Experience Culture Development Co, the organizer, said that the competition will accept registrations beginning Nov 5. Age limits for runners in health status are set between 18 and 65. There will be 200 runners for men's individual competitions and 100 for women's individual. Athletes will face a grueling 700 steps up the 33-story tower.

Cui Jiawei, the executive director of the event, said that vertical runs are a skyscraper stair-climbing contest that originated in 1978 at the Empire State Building and has gone popular ever since with emerging high rises across the world. Similar events have been held in the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Tower, Taipei 101 Building, and Canton Tower in Guangzhou.

Press conference [Photo courtesy nanfangplus]

The Zhuhai Hengqin Vertical Race has joined the Towerrunning World Association, meaning that champions of the Zhuhai event will achieve TWA 40 ranking points at top. Zhuhai is expected to be permanent host city of the race while high-rises such as the Zhuhai Tower will be future venues, Cui added.

All the entry fees, excluding necessary expenses, will be donated for the preventive treatment of tuberculosis in the poverty-stricken mountain areas in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, according to the organizer.