Winning medals and hearts

The first to tackle the staircase of the Rondo 1 office building were the fire-fighters – 61 two-person teams (male, female and mixed) climbed 37 floors of the building in full gear, including masks and breathing apparatus. They were closely followed by the largest group of runners – the amateurs, who reached the top without any major problems.

The rivalry between the professional runners, which started with an elimination run, stirred up the most excitement. While the contest was finely balanced in the male competition, Anna Ficner, last year’s winner of the race, outclassed her rivals in the women’s elimination run – finishing with a 30-second advantage over the second best at the finishing line. In the final run, it was the Polish masters – Piotr Łobodziński and Anna Ficner – who were in control the situation, finishing as the winners of their respective categories. For both it was their third triumph in the seven-year history of the competition. “The greatest difficulty was the starting time – 8:30 pm. It is not easy to wait around in suspense all day long,” admitted Piotr Łobodziński. “This was reflected in the competitors’ times, which were slightly weaker than a year ago when we ran before noon.”

Five days after reaching the top of Rondo 1, Piotr Łobodziński participated in the annual run to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and won it for the third time in a row. He covered the route to its uppermost viewing terrace, which involved climbing 1,665 steps, in 7 minutes 45 seconds. In June Piotr will participate in the Towerrunning World Cup, which takes place in Guangzhou, China, where the challenge he faces is the 450m Canton Tower. He will also be defending his champion’s title – at the previous World Cup, which took place in Doha (Qatar) two years ago, his rivals did not stand a chance. “All I can say is that the Run to the Top of Rondo 1 is a world-class competition,” insisted our champion. “The organisation, timing and service – everything was, as usual, top quality.”

The separate VIP category included Sylwia Nowak, Edyta Litwiniuk, Grzegorz Łapanowski and Jacek ‘Expedyt’ Domański. Children from SOS Children’s Villages in Kraśnik also took part in the run for the seventh time. Last year they complained that they were only allowed to run to the fifth floor, so this year organisers extended their distance to the 10th floor. “The run is a unique event for us, not only because we are its beneficiaries, but it is also an extremely exciting event in the children’s lives,” claimed Beata Nurkan of the SOS Children’s Villages association. “They wait for this competition all year and try to qualify to participate – one child from each home in the children’s village in Kraśnik takes part, so it is a great reward for them,” she added.

Thanks to the participants and organisers of the Run to the Top of Rondo 1, it was possible to raise almost PLN 29,000 this year for the SOS Children’s Villages association, bringing the total for all seven races that have so far taken place up to almost PLN 200,000.

The eighth Run to the Top of Rondo 1 will take place in a year’s time and Eurobuild’s readers cannot miss it – make sure you are among the runners, the supporters or the sponsors. All three, preferably!

Best times

Women’s race: 1. Anna Ficner (POL) – 04:40.70; 2. Dominika Stelmach (POL) – 05:06.10; 3. Zuzana Krchová (CZE) – 05:10.44; 4. Ewelina Pisarek (POL) – 05:11.07; 5. Lenka Švábíková (CZE) – 05:13.28

Men’s race: 1. Piotr Łobodziński (POL) – 03:34.09; 2. Tomáš Čelko (SVK) – 03:38.17; 3. Christian Riedl (GER) – 03:39.83; 4. Štefan Štefina (SVK) – 03:48.38; 5. Tomáš Maceček (CZE) – 03:48.65