The bright sunshine on Sunday afternoon helped fire up the 300 runners who took part in a grueling climb up the stairs of China Central Television Tower, but, despite their best efforts, the record time was not beaten.
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Runners race to climb the China Central Television Tower on Sunday. [China Daily] |
The participants, who ranged in age from 16 to 55, included 14 specially invited former champions of similar annual climbing contests, which have been held at seven other famous towers including Taipei 101 (also known as the Taipei Financial Center) and Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower.
On Sunday, each runner was required to run two laps around the base of the tower before beginning the ascent of its 1,597 stairs to the 225-meter sightseeing floor.
Liu Jianhai, a professional athlete from Tianjin, who won an earlier climb up Tianjin's television tower, got to the top of the tower first, clocking a time of 10:03 minutes.
It was not quite good enough to beat last year's 9:51 recorded by Wang Jiandong, a bus driver from Hebei province. If anyone had broken the record, they would have been awarded a 10,000-yuan prize.
While no one won the big reward, many of the runners felt like winners for simply making it to the top.
Kong Dequan, 48, a senior security guard from Shanghai, noted that the real reason why so many people enjoy such events is that they get to take part with others from different backgrounds and different parts of the country who all have the same goal - to run for pleasure and health.
Kong, who was third runner-up during the climb up the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower, said he always hopes to set a new personal best.
When he heard he had done so, he was full of pride.
"They told me I was seventh among all the ordinary contestants," he told METRO. "That's enough. I'm very content with the result."
Obviously, pride motivates many runners to push themselves to their limits.
Li Shiao-yu, from Taiwan, the only female in the group of invited former champions, finished seventh in the former champion category after clocking 12:10.
Li told China Daily that her most proud moment came when she won the Taipei 101 climbing contest in 2008 with a time that was a little more than 14 minutes.
"I was also the first person from Taiwan to attend the triathlon in Hawaii in early October," she said.
In addition to providing a platform for professional athletes to sharpen their skills and ordinary runners to improve their health, Zhao Yudong, manager of the Central Tower Co Ltd, said he hopes the event will come to symbolize a new lifestyle.
"There are many similar races around the world that are very competitive and trendy," Zhao said. "We want to make it a symbol of a healthy and low-carbon lifestyle among city dwellers."
The event, which has been held annually since 1995 has seen more than 15,000 runners take part.
It has attracted an increasing number of co-organizers, including Amway China, which has now been involved for four years.
"Hopefully, through this event, we will be able to encourage more Chinese people to spend each day of their lives in a healthy way," said Audie Wong, president of the company.
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