Shelter's Vertical Rush joins elite tower-running circuit
Howard Lake | 19 January 2011 | News
Vertical Rush, Shelter’s fundraising run up the City of London’s first skyscraper, has become part of the Vertical World Circuit, the ‘Formula One’ of the tower-running world.
Other towers in the circuit include the first ever tower-running event, the Empire State Building Run-Up in New York, and the Tapei 101 in Taiwan, which was until recently the world’s tallest building.
Vertical Rush challenges participants to run up the 920 steps and 42 floors of Tower 42, the former NatWest tower. This year’s event, the third time it has been run, takes place on 3 March 2011.
Channel 4 News anchorman and renowned British journalist Jon Snow will be one of those taking part. He said: “I am calling on people up and down the country to join me when I leave the buzz of the news room and attempt to triumph over the soaring heights of Tower 42”. Shelter was the first charity he became involved with.
Louise Parkes, Shelter’s Director of Fundraising, said: “Following the award-winning success of last year’s Vertical Rush, we are setting our sights high for this year’s event which we hope to be the best yet.”
Vertical Rush sees groups of chip-timed runners, who compete individually or in teams, setting off in hourly slots to set their personal bests. Last year’s event attracted more than 900 runners who raised over £195,910 for Shelter. Vertical Rush 2011 is expected to attract 1,200 runners who will be aiming to raise more than £180,000.
www.shelter.org.uk/verticalrush
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.