Entries open for Shanghai Tower women's vertical marathon
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. (middle), vice president of the International Olympic Committee, attended the launch ceremony of the Shanghai Tower Women's Vertical Marathon.
The world's first and highest vertical running race for women will be held next month in Shanghai.
The Shanghai Tower Women's Vertical Marathon will take place on June 23, Olympic Day, at Shanghai Tower, which is China's tallest and the world's third tallest building, with a height 632 meters.
The race has the maximum field size of 500 runners, and they will climb from the 79th to 119th floor, ascending a height of more than 250 meters.
Qualifier registration has opened at the building's website (https://www.shanghaitower.com/) and its WeChat (SHTower).
As the "women's category" of the Shanghai Tower Vertical Marathon, which was launched in 2017, the female race is designed to promote gender parity, according to Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., vice president of the International Olympic Committee.
"We, in the international Olympic community, have been fighting for many years to get to equality between men and women in all sport competitions," he said.
"The city's love for sports and its proficiency in organizing events makes this possible," he said.
As ambassador for the Shanghai Tower Vertical Marathon, he took part in his first vertical marathon in 2018.
