On March 9th, during the tower running race Rondo 1 Run-up in Warsaw, Bartosz Świątkowski defeated the World Cup leader Piotr Łobodziński by less than 3 seconds. This is his second victory in this competition. The winner in women's category was, also for the second time, Izabela Zatorska. Almost 500 competitors from all over Europe took part in the race.
The elimination round results were crucial for gaining a good starting position. Bartek Świątkowski, who reached the finish line in 3 minutes 34 seconds, was the fastest runner; Piotr Łobodziński and Christian Riedel from Germany also reached the podium. Right behind them was last year's winner, Fabio Ruga from Italy, who beat Stefan Stafina from Slovakia and Omar Bekkali from Belgium.
Poles hold the highest positions in the Towerrunning World Cup ranking as well, the leader being Łobodziński, followed by Świątkowski. They reached these positions mainly thanks to their excellent performance during last week's race in Basel, when Łobodziński and Świątkowski were the first and the second on the finish line.
In women's category, Izabela Zatorska. Turned out to be the strongest competitor. Dominika Wśniewska-Ulfik was second, and last year's winner Annie Ficner was third. On the fourth position was Lenka Svabikowa from the Czech Republic.
Towerrunning races are not only sport but also charity events. The organisers donated 16.000 PLN, raised from registration fees (which was minimum 30 PLN), to Stowarzyszenie SOS Wioski Dziecięce (SOS Children's Villages). Additional 8.600 PLN was collected thanks to special guests invited to participate in the race. These were: Paulina Sykut-Jeżyna, Waldemar Błaszczyk, Tomasz Sianecki and Marek Jóźwiak.
Rondo 1 Run-up is one of the Masters Races, an important stage of the Towerrunning World Cup. The event was initiated by MGPA, a private equity firm in charge of MGPA Europe Fund II, the owner of the office block Rondo 1. The building, in which the race took place, is 192 metres high. The competitors had to run up 836 steps, 37 floors and the distance of ca. 440 metres, including 250 metres up the stairs.