Melissa Moon. Photo / Ross Setford
When Melissa Moon says her recent race up the Empire State Building was one of the toughest things she has ever done, you tend to take notice.
As an athlete, Moon has always raced for the stars, constantly looking for the next gruelling challenge.
Twice a world mountain running champion, she also competed in the Blue Planet run, the 2007 event that involved a 95-day circumnavigation of the Northern Hemisphere. Well accustomed to intense physical and mental challenges, Moon has a new niche in pure pain and pleasure.
"The thing about stair racing is that physical fitness only takes you so far," says Moon. "It is your mind alone that will get you to the end. Usually by the 10th floor, your heart is pumping at 180 beats per minute.
"Your body is hurting and you have got to be together mentally-you can either give up or keep going. Sport is always about the mind but stair climbing seems to take that to another level."
On the surface, it is a bizarrely brutal sport. The confined stairwells are often dusty and sometimes dark. Apart from your own breathing, all you can hear are the sounds of pain and physical exertion below you, echoing through the chambers. The constant vertical hops also mean an instant, intense accumulation of lactic acid, with no flat periods that
allow it to dissipate.
"It seems like 13 minutes of hell," Moon, 42, says of this year's Empire State Building race. "But you have to lock yourself into a zone and concentrate on technique-that is the only way to get through it."
The Vertical World Circuit takes in nine skyscrapers across four continents, ranging in height from 105 metres to 448 metres (221m average). The tour is administered by the grandly named International Skyrunning Federation and features the 'Vertical Marathon' (Singapore), the 'Vertical Rush' (London), the 'Vertical Sprint' (Milan), as well as the granddaddy of them all, the simply monikered 'Tower Run Up', a race up 91 floors of the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan.
Moon was the 2010 Vertical World Circuit champion, winning the events in New York, Taiwan, Singapore and Sao Paulo. She had a less successful season last year, partly due to a race in Colombia that wiped her out for much of 2011.
"I accepted an invitation for a stair climb race in Bogota," explains Moon. "But Bogota is
at an altitude of almost 3000 metres and I didn't realise the toll it would take. By the fifth floor, I had nothing. I did an incredibly slow time and it took me so long to recover."
She wasn't in the right state to defend her New York title but this yearMoon was primed to run her favourite race.
Apart from distance running to build a base, she had trained at the Majestic Hotel, Wellington's highest building.
Just before departure, she competed one final time at the downtown venue, zipping up the 28 floors in a personal best time of 2m 31s.
On the morning of the New York race, she prepared with a few sprints up the four flights in her hotel, before concentrating on mental preparation for the rest of the day. There was some fierce competition among the elite runners, as the field included five-time winner Cindy Harris, four-time world ironwoman champion Chrissie Wellington and triple
New York winner Suzy Walsham. The oldest runner was a 78-year-old Frenchwoman.
The start was horrendous, with the 25 elite women jostling for position just a few metres away from the stairwell entrance. Moon made it to the stairs in second place and was in a leading group of five runners until the 40th floor. At that stage, two dropped away, including Harris.
The Kiwi was concentrating on pacing herself, trying not to notice the floor numbers. By the 50th floor,Wellington hit the wall, leaving Moon and the Australian Walsham in a battle to the finish.
Across the 86 storeys, there are just two switchbacks-level 20 and level 68 - both with corridors and water stations. Moon had planned to make her move on the 68th floor and had no time for hydration, instead just splashing water on her face as she put on a sprint. Walsham was left in the dust - literally - and Moon won in 12m 39s, significantly better than her 2010 finishing time of 13m 13s.
"I opened up 30 seconds on her in the last 20 floors-I was thrilled that my strategy worked out perfectly," recalls Moon. "It is one of the hardest and most exciting things I have done."
Being a professional stair racer is not lucrative - Moon paid US$100 ($125) to enter the Empire State Building race and a trophy was the only reward for her efforts, while the world champion receives a purse of US$3000 ($3659).
She relies on fundraising and sponsorship, has a successful massage business and a thriving career as a motivational speaker. While in New York, she did a session for KEA (Stephen Tindall's organisation that brings together Kiwi expatriates abroad), and has previously worked with a long list of clients including Icebreaker, the International Rugby Academy, Wellington Netball, Westpac Bank, Meridian Energy and KPMG.
Moon will make a partial return to the circuit this year. She will race in Taiwan next month and hopes to enter the events in Vietnam and Singapore later in 2012. "I can't wait for the next one," says Moon. "I feel better and better and who knows what is possible?"
Jakob Ingebrigtsen referred to his father as 'the accused' throughout the trial.