106@106 Celebrates Achievement as Malaysia’s Tallest Building Offers Tower Runners A Race To The Sky
- More than 106 participants join inaugural vertical tower run at world’s 6th tallest office building, extending the site’s commercial, tourist and architectural appeal into a broader base of fans.
- 106@106 offers glimpse at the first of several events that will align one of the world’s best designed and built commercial buildings with other world class activities and brands.
- Towerrunning is a lesser known sport in which Malaysia is well represented. Exchange 106 supports the soaring ambition of Malaysians in this sport that has the World No. 2 and Asia’s best, and the promotion of healthier lifestyles for all.
Kuala Lumpur, 8 December 2019 - The inaugural 106@106 vertical tower run covering 56 floors - 193 metres of stairs concluding at a height of 253 metres above sea level - at Malaysia’s tallest building, Exchange 106, kicked off this morning with over 106 participants taking part in the much-anticipated event. Organised by Mulia Property Development Sdn Bhd, the owner, developer and management of Exchange 106 with the support of Malaysia Towerrunning Association (MTA), the event was envisioned as being an example of how high-performance sports and the best buildings in the world were often reflections of similar values and aspirations for excellence.
“Exchange 106 is a celebration of what can be done when people set their minds towards accomplishing new things with excellence. A vertical tower run made perfect sense as we see ourselves being a hub for achievement of all sorts, in business, finance, innovation, and sports, and staying healthy.
The 106@106 was intended to be a symbolic invitational event for 106 participants celebrating the achievement of the official completion of the Exchange 106. The invitees were associates involved in the construction and completion of the tower. Word got out and things quickly burgeoned with requests for more and more participants. Being new to the sport, we were completely but very pleasantly taken aback by the enthusiasm. So, we created the special Prestige category to distinguish the organizations essential to our ongoing operations such as Bomba, TNB, IWK, PDRM, DBKL and the master developer, TRX City. Hence, we now have 148 runners,” said Patrick Honan, General Manager of Property Management of Exchange 106.
Participant Justin Low mentions, “This was certainly one of the more challenging vertical runs I have ever encountered so far. Exchange 106 is certainly up there with the other super skyscrapers I have visited although I have never seen one as well suited to an event like this as Exchange 106 is. I look forward to the full 106 floor challenge next year!”
Exchange 106 was recently awarded its Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) for the lower half of the building which is now open for occupation by tenants. The tallest building in the country, standing officially at 492 metres, it is the 6th tallest office building in the world. Participants who took part were faced with the daunting task of running 56 floors up, which measures 193m from the starting point at the Lobby. The race involved and average of 3 flights per floor with 1116 steel-based steps in total to the 56th floor.
Soh Wai Ching, who closed out the year at Number 2 in the Towerrunning World Association rankings said, “This is one of the best buildings in the world for towerrunning. I have run more than 50 buildings in the world including Shanghai Tower, CTF Finance Centre, the Eiffel Tower, KL Tower, this is one of the best. The stairs are well ventilated, non-slip and have larger landing surface on each step, able to fit in the whole foot at one time, therefore enable the runner to exert full force to run up”.
As a seasoned towerrunner, Soh further commented, “The rectangular shaped stairwell with a space in the middle also provides a visual for the participant to chase each other even though each of them is being flagged off individually. This makes the race a challenging one. I have raced so many other buildings, there's none at the moment that allows us to have a great view on how far the participants in front and behind us are. With that, participants can push their limits to chase the one in front and give their best effort for the race.
Towards A Healthier Lifestyle
“The participant response for this first event was certainly beyond our initial expectations and very encouraging. Many of the participants are already road runners or fitness practitioners of some form. This has the added benefit of supporting local government efforts towards encouraging Malaysians to keep fit whilst promoting a healthy lifestyle, and allowing us to further support the development of this city as a key business, innovation, lifestyle and financial hub in the region,” explained Honan.
The concept of tower runs or “Vertical Running”, as it is known amongst enthusiasts, has been around as long as there have been towers, with races up the famed Eiffel Tower recorded as far back as 1905. Modern tower running has seen a boom over the past 20 years, with world championships now taking place, where runners accumulate points for running up certain towers across the Towerrunning tour as fast as they can. Towerrunning is not only a safer sport than normal running, but it also instills strong self-belief, discipline and consistency.
Local towerrunners are supported by the Malaysia Towerrunning Association (MTA) which became officially operational since 23 August 2019 under the Sports Development Act 1997 and is affiliated with the Towerrunning World Association. Towerrunning is considered an extremely affordable, safe and efficient exercise and sport.
MTA vice-president Ravinder Singh shared, “MTA does not only represent the competitors. We support anyone of the general public who wants to keep healthy in an efficient and economical way. Towerrunning is ideal for modern urban life. We live in condominiums, work in office buildings, all of which are accessible and free. It is rain free, traffic free, haze free. MTA’s mission is to educate Malaysia on the benefits of towerrunning and are looking to build a community of both elite and casual runners”. Prior to the race, the teams from Exchange 106 and MTA worked hand in hand with the relevant parties in ensuring all safety and technical aspects were looked into and successfully implemented.
Not Just a Premium Postcode
“During early meetings with the MTA, we realized how much our aspirations were aligned. Both were unknown two years ago, both shot to within the best in the world in a short span of 2-3 years, both are currently in the process of educating the world around them, not only about being the best at what they do, but just about maintaining a philosophy of giving the best of ourselves.” says Honan
According to Ravindrer, “We found the management of Exchange 106 to be extremely receptive to the sport because we shared a passion for doing something well. With us, it is towerrunning, with them, it was about providing the best that they can, whether it was housekeeping, technicians, security, customer service. We found that they always provided the best that they could. Certainly, the stairs in Exchange 106 is among the best that we have had the pleasure of experiencing.
Designed at the heart of the newest financial and business hub in Southeast Asia, Exchange 106, an integral part of the Tun Razak Exchange development, Exchange 106 continues to carve its place among the best in the world with the support of towerrunning, joining the likes of Taipei 101, the Empire State Building and Shanghai Tower.
