Posted: February 1, 2005

Running: Austrians Win Empire State Building Run-Up

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

NEW YORK (01-Feb) -- Austrians won today's Bank of America Empire State Building Run-Up, one by a huge margin and the other by a hair.

Andrea Mayr dominated the women's race and became the first woman in the 28-year history of the event to break 12 minutes. Despite running with a cast on her right forearm, the 25 year-old from Vienna bolted up the 1,576 steps to the 86th floor observatory in 11 minutes and 51 seconds, toppling the event women's record of 12:08 by Cindy Moll-Harris. Moll-Harris, a four-time Run-Up champion from Indianapolis, In., finished a distant second in 13:10.

The men's race was decided at the finish line on the outdoor observatory deck. Rudolph Reitberger from Julbach, Austria, the defending champion, emerged from the stairwell at about the same time as Thomas Dold, a German from Stuttgart. The two made the righthand turn out of the stairwell, then the second righthand turn to the short finish straight together. Dold lunged for the tape, and the two went down on the finish line. Officials from the New York Road Runners, the event organizers, declared Reitberger the winner. Both were timed in 10:24, about a minute off of Australian Paul Crake's event record.

Olympians Bernard Lagat, in town for Friday's Millrose Games, and Anthony Famiglietti, who lives in New York City, were on hand for both the start and finish.

Results:
28th Bank of America Empire State Building Run-Up 1576 steps

MEN - 
 1. Rudolf Reitberger, 33, AUT, 10:24
 2. Thomas Told, 20, GER, 10:24
 3. Dan Alterman, 24, ISR, 10:50
 4. Ran Alterman, 24, ISR, 11:00

WOMEN - 
 1. Andrea Mayr, 25, AUT, 11:51 CR
 2. Cindy Moll-Harris, 36, Indianapolis, In., 13:10
 3. Amy Fredericks, 38, Greenwich, Conn., 13:57
 4. Svetlana Bahmend, 28, ISR, 13:58