More than 200 Kazan residents take part in first race up skyscraper stairs

(Kazan, KZN.RU, November 17, by Zilya Gayfi) More than 200 people took part in the first race up a skyscraper stairs, held in one of Kazan's tallest building – the "Lazurnoe Nebo” residential complex, said Sergey Mironov, chairman of the Children and Youth Affairs Committee of the Kazan Executive Committee, describing the unusual sports event and its winners.

The "Vertical Race" was launched in New York in 1978, when several hundred participants decided to climb the 1,576 steps of the legendary Empire State Building. Since then, similar events have been held annually in major cities of more than 150 countries.

According to Sergei Mironov, a fairly large number of people took part in the event: more than 200 participants dashed up the 742 steps of 74 flights of stairs to climb to the 37th floor of the building.

«Women were the first to start the climb, and the winner was the youngest participant – 16-year-old Anna Ivanova. The Dementyev Aviation and Technical College student reached the 37th floor in five minutes and 14 seconds. In the men's race, the runner-up was only a fraction of a second behind the winner. Kirill Dyatlov, a student of School No.1, proved to be the fastest and hardiest, covering the distance in four minutes and six seconds. Twenty finalists received prizes from the sponsors. We hope that this event becomes a tradition, which will involve more and more people," said Sergey Mironov.

Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin said that Kazan successfully adopts world traditions. "We keep growing thanks to such events. This is very important as it is aimed at promoting sports and a healthy lifestyle," said the head of the city.