Tower runner won’t stop racing to the top

Soh Wai Ching is the best in the world at what he does, but the athlete seems to spend as much time drumming up support for his chosen sport of tower running as he does racing up the stairs.

Mind you, he’s the top-ranked chap in the world, who just picked up his third consecutive title at The Empire State Building Run-Up (ESBRU) in New York in October.

Interestingly, tower running is only done in the upwards direction and most competitions use a timing method to determine the order in which runners finish a competition.

Soon to be 30, Soh dropped by the Malaysiakini office to talk about his passion.

“I was born in 1994. My dad is a taxi driver and my mom's a housewife. I am the youngest in the family, although we are close in age as my siblings are 34, 33 and 30,” began Soh, whose partner Jennifer Chan is Malaysia’s top-ranked female tower runner.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science from Universiti Malaya and was previously a regular flat circuit long-distance runner.

“In 2017, my friend challenged me to do this tower run. I accepted his offer, and I applied what I had learned. I came up with a programme to train at my friend's apartment which was nearly 20 floors high and within walking distance of where I lived.

“I trained hard, and I got second overall in my first race and this sparked the fire to take up tower running competitions.

“There are tons of competitions around the world, in the US, China and a lot even in Europe as well. I wanted to see how far I could go, and I ended up being the top tower runner in the world!” he said.

Unusually, Soh sports a haircut modelled on the DC superhero Flash, known for his lightning speed.

“It’s a trademark pre-competition ritual to shape my hair like Flash. I will always do that to tell myself that I'm the fastest man alive climbing up the stairs,” he revealed.

He conceded that certain physical qualities are assets in tower running.

“There's no one fixed size that guarantees you will do well, but of course, you must be slim because when you climb the stairs you are running against gravity. So the heavier you are, the more energy you have to expend to pull your body weight upwards.

“Muscle to weight ratio is very important, and it’s important to have enough muscles in your lower leg part and your upper leg, but upper body strength is not as important.

“I am 1.65m and the shorter you are, the more stability you can achieve., but there is a former world number one who is 1.84m tall. So it's not fixed but roughly 1.65-1.70m will be optimal,” he said.

Soh explained that even the size of one’s feet can play a role.

“My feet are 25.5cm and if you understand the architecture of the stairs, they are usually 26-28cm per step. If you can fully land on that step, you can exert more force through the quadriceps which is one of the bigger muscles and also the glutes, which is more efficient.

Racing against the clock

So how does it feel to race against the clock rather than a direct opponent?

“There are two formats for tower running. One is the time trial where individuals are flagged off with a gap of 30 or maybe 15 seconds and the other is a mass-start.

“They have an elite category and an open category, so for example, for the Empire State Building run-up, they will just do a mass-start with 20 elite runners starting together.

“So they know whoever crosses the line first will be the winner, and that is spectator-friendly.

“With the time trials, we will put in cameras throughout the stairs and we livestream that feed online and viewers can know the time of each athlete when they pass certain checkpoints. This is the best we can do to make it spectator-friendly,” said Soh.

Malaysian Towerrunning Association president Ravinder Singh said that the beauty of the sport is that anybody can do it.

“The skill level is basic and you can pick up the skills and techniques very fast. It doesn’t involve expensive equipment and you are doing it indoors so the weather is not a factor.

Singh emphasised that even though tower running challenges the heart, there has never been an emergency because all participants are monitored.

“We tell them if you are not experienced, the goal is to finish, it’s not about how fast you are. Because even if you are walking flat compared to walking uphill, the latter is much more difficult.

“So when you go up, go at half the speed otherwise you will burn out. So we have not had an incident even though I'm sure many people just try the first time without training.

“In overseas competition, they have a blood pressure and heart rate check right before the start to make sure you are healthy. Also to ensure the safety of all the participants on every 10 floors of the competition, there will be a first aider there to stand by and they all will have walkie-talkies to connect to the bottom. Also, there is an ambulance on standby,” said Singh.

Landmark moments

Soh said the most exciting moment for him was the Empire State Building Run-Up because it dates back to 1976 and has been held annually.

“I started in 2019 and I got second place and then in 2021 when the race came back after the pandemic, I became the first Asian winner of this competition. This is the most historical and prestigious event for us, because it's happened in the world's most famous building, and now I’ve won it three times consecutively,” he said.

He said mental sharpness is necessary beyond physical stamina because it is an event that might seem claustrophobic and repetitive to those who are unfamiliar with the sport.

“Throughout the climb, it is all about giving it everything you have. One good thing is that because we are being flagged off individually, we have no time to care about what others are doing. Whether they are doing well or not. You have to constantly exert the force to move upwards until you cross the finishing line and make sure you collapse.

“That's how the sport taught me to be patient and maintain an optimal speed that you know you can hold on to the finishing line. I feel that I carry the whole Malaysian spirit with me and I wanted to prove to the world that Malaysia can be a world champion in anything,” said Soh, who has often had to rely on private sponsorship and prize money to keep going.

“Make sure you become the best version of yourself first, and then only you will outshine the rest. People think I'm a national athlete because I bring the Malaysian flag when I compete around the world, but honestly, I'm not at this point.

“I hope I can one day be included in the National Sports Council programme so that I would benefit like the national athletes under the programme. I would like to see my sport one day be in the Olympics or Asian Games or Commonwealth Games,” he said.

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