Banyan Tree’s stairs of punishment
BANGKOK, 8 September, 2010 – It could be billed the world’s most boring marathon except once it is over runners can enjoy a breath taking panoramic view of Bangkok’s skyline.
As opposed to running for 42km in a horizontal fashion this quirky event demands you race vertically up 61 flights of stairs in a stuffy, cramped emergency stairwell. This is not an inspiring route guaranteed to have you humming the ditty from the classic runners’ movie, Chariots of Fire.
It is sheer hell floor-by-floor for hundreds of runners who will join the Banyan Tree Bangkok’s Vertical Marathon, 3 October.
By any measure, this is a beast of a climb and the only saving grace is that it will earn cash for some very important charities such as HIV Formula Feeding Fund organised by the Thai Red Cross. The run raised Bt400,000 in 2009.
So far, 555 runners have signed up for this punishing climb at a registration fee of Bt400 each. Advance registration closes 26 September.
The run starts at 0600, 3 October, in front of Banyan Tree Bangkok. Participants run or stagger all the way to the roof top restaurant Vertigo, a fitting name for the experience that awaits exhausted runners.
As for the time to beat, it stands at six minutes and 19 seconds, a record held by eight-time winner Boonchoo Jandacha from Thailand.
If this is a typical Bangkok hotel fire escape then participants will have to clamber over old bedding, piles of cigarette butts, broken furniture, styrofoam lunch boxes (sans incentivising dishes) and used condoms. High anxiety indeed.
But then if it IS typical, they won’t be able to open the doors……….