World No. 5 Soh Wai Ching wins Sibu Tower Run
SIBU: Preparation is key to facing challenges in any Tower Run race, says Soh Wai Ching who won the Men’s Open Category of Sibu Tower Run 2019 yesterday.
Soh. who is from Selayang in Selangor, clocked 20 min 56 secs.
“By winning this Sibu Tower Run improves my level of confidence for the next tower run which is the Paris Eiffel Tower Run. I will be representing Malaysia for the Elite Invitation of the event which will take place on this coming Wednesday night,” he said.
“I have prepared well for the event aiming to finish Top Five in the Paris Eiffel Tower Run. Last year I finished at No.9.”
Soh takes part in 25 to 30 tower run races a year.
“I am now ranking 5th in the world and Asia No.1. I am aiming for Top 3 in the world by end of 2019 and still remain Asia No.1,” he added.
“There are two big tower run races in May, one is Taipei 101 Tower Run, Taiwan and another one is Shenzen Tower Run, China. So, I aiming to improve my ranking at both tower run races and then my ranking will go up,” he said.
Soh also shared some tips for the Sibu Tower Run, where participants should just go casually for the first 5km, because there are 25 more floors waiting for them to complete.
“I heard a lot of people running too fast. We actually should maintain our phase, remember, do not start too fast, 28 floors is not long and is not short, it is considered moderate kind of distance. Thus, do not go too fast because you will not sustain it,”.
“Even myself, when I went into the staircase of this Sibu Tower Run, I just walk fast, I will not run because I knew this is 28 floors Wisma Sanyan tower,” he added.
Soh said, the participants will not be able run and finish the entire 28 floors by running fast the whole way.
“As preparation the participants can do training going upstairs and take the lift down, do not run down the stairs because it is quite dangerous. The stairs running is very beneficial for all ages of people as it builds our lower legs strength and so that we will have a better stability. To run upstairs the tower is very safe and we need not to worry even outside is raining.”
“The tallest tower that I had climbed is the Shanghai Tower where I got No.6 last year. It has 120 floors with a total of 3,398 steps and it is very challenging. It is five times the height of this Sibu Tower Run with its 627 steps,” he said.
For Women’s Open Category champion Viola Jepchirchir Kimeli from Kenya, it was her first time joining the Sibu Tower Run.
The jovial Viola, who clocked 26 min 8 secs, is determined to return next year to improve her time.
This third edition of the event, organised by the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) and Underground Runners Club of Sibu, attracted 253 runners both from abroad and throughout Malaysia.
The objective of Sibu Tower Run is to raise the profile of Sibu internationally.
SMC chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King, deputy chairperson Rogayah Jamain were present at the event.