The only way is up

"Iza is like wine - the older, the better." This was the commentary we heard on March 9th when Izabela Zatorska (one of the best mountain runners in the world) received the trophy for winning the Rondo 1 Run-up in the women's category. A second time winner, she will turn 51 this year. This year, the other participants who took their places on the podium were Dominika Wiśniewska-Ulfik and last year's winner Anna Ficner. The fourth place was taken by the fastest foreign participant - Lenka Švabíková of the Czech Republic). In the exciting men's struggle, Bartosz Świątkowski defeated the World Cup leader Piotr Łobodziński by just a split second and won the race for the second time. The third position was taken by German runner Christian Riedl, while the fourth to arrive at the finish line was last year's winner, Fabio Ruga from Italy, who completed the race before Stefan Stafina from Slovakia and Belgian runner Omar Bekkali. At the moment Polish runners are the world leaders in the Tower-running World Cup ranking, to which the Warsaw tower run-up was added last year. To add to the spectacle, firefighters in full gear weighing app. 18 kg and with gas masks on their faces also had a go at the tower's 836 stairs, which turned out to be quite a workout for them as they reached the finish line completely exhausted. "I ran out of puff on the 12th floor," said one of the runners just after the end of the race. There were 37 floors to climb and a distance of around 440 m (including app. 250 m on the stairs). Nearly 500 people entered the race, and their registration fees were donated by the organisers to the SOS Children's Villages charity foundation, which provides care to orphans and abandoned children. From the registration fees PLN 16,000 was added yo its bank account and another PLN 8,600 was raised thanks to the special guests - celebrities Paulina Sykut-Jeżyna, Waldemar Błaszczyk, Tomasz Sianecki and Marek Jóźwiak, who all climbed to the top of the building themselves. The event was organised by private equity company MGPA, which operates on the European and Asian markets and manages MGPA Europe Fund II - the owner of the Rondo 1.

"I am glad that this year we were able to support SOS Children's villages as well as place Rondo 1 in the elite Master's group of races, which includes, for example, the Empire State Building as well as many other iconic skyscrapers across the world. It's also fantastic that a new record was set and that again we could enjoy such a high turnout. My congratulations to all the runners and especially to the winners," declared Wojciech Smyk, an associate of MGPA Poland.