Jason Dasey

Next time the lifts break down at your home or office, don't curse: taking the long way could be your first step towards a free trip to New York. Macau's Pedro Pinto Ribeiro stumbled upon stair-racing almost by accident six years ago. Today, he is one of Asia's top competitors having racked up fame and attractive prize money, including three all-expenses-paid trips to compete at the Wimbledon of the sport. The Empire State Building Run-Up is held every February in the historic skyscraper in Manhattan, once the world's tallest building. Two years ago, Ribeiro finished a career-best fourth and is now aiming for the chance to go back to New York in 2010. But first he has to win the Asian qualifier - this month's Vertical Marathon at the 73-storey Swissotel The Stamford in Singapore. And while Ribeiro, 36, won the Vertical Marathon in 2003, 2005 and 2006, he knows a fourth title will be tough because of the presence of Germany's Thomas Dold, the Roger Federer of stair-racing. After breaking the record at last year's Swissotel race, Dold, 25, went on to win the Empire State Building Run-Up for the fourth consecutive time. He took only 10 minutes and seven seconds to scale the 1,576 steps to the 86th floor observation deck. In the past two years, Dold has also won races in seven other cities, including Taipei, Sydney and Berlin. 'Getting the better of Thomas will be incredibly difficult: the guy is simply the best in the world,' says Ribeiro, who has never beaten the German. 'But on any given day, you simply don't know. I will just have to give my best and see what happens.' Depending on which list you refer to, Ribeiro was ranked as high as first and second in Asia earlier this year and on the fringes of the world's top 10. His ranking plummeted after being inactive for more than two months with an Achilles injury, but he's close to full fitness again, thanks to acupuncture. Ribeiro is probably better known as an endurance and adventure racer. Earlier this year, he won the Action Sprint Series in Hong Kong. Some of the longer races he competes in - such as the two-man Sabah Adventure Challenge that he won in April - can last up to 20 hours over three days. But for now he is focused on the lung-busting pain of stair-racing that leaves exponents with burning legs and an off-the-chart heartbeat. In 2003, after winning the first race he took part in, Ribeiro was hooked. 'I've always enjoyed uphill efforts, whether it was biking or running, so when I had the chance to do an event which is all uphill, like the Macau Tower Run, I didn't hesitate,' Ribeiro said. 'The fact that it was in my city definitely helped. I was immediately sold on the sport.' Rather than becoming a run-up specialist, Ribeiro continued his regular training routine but began incorporating stair sessions, increasing the intensity in the six to eight weeks leading up to big events. The wins and podium finishes kept coming. Seven months after the 2003 Macau Tower Run, he secured the first of two victories in Hong Kong's 2IFC Run-Up, followed by his inaugural title at Singapore's Vertical Marathon. 'To be honest, I was surprised to be good at these kinds of events,' Ribeiro said. 'I thought that stair races were suitable to a different breed of athlete.' In 18 stair races over six years, Ribeiro has six victories and has never placed outside the top 10. But with new rivals like Dold, who is unbeaten in his past nine major races and has only one defeat in 13, this niche sport is becoming more competitive. 'The sport is clearly growing and the number of races and participants has increased tremendously,' Ribeiro said. 'There's now an official world circuit with ranking points and the same guys are trying to establish the International Skyrunning Federation. Pun intended, the only way is up from now onwards.' The prize money is also improving - the winners of this year's Taipei 101 Run-up won US$4,800 each - but Ribeiro, who was born in Portugal but has spent 17 years in Macau, has kept his day job as an engineer for Macau's Electricity Company, partly to pay for his recent holidays, hiking at Nepal's Annapurna and a solo bike tour around Iceland. But injury permitting, Ribeiro will keep buying budget air and ferry tickets to compete in stair-races around Asia. This year, he has secured top-five finishes at the Kuala Lumpur Towerthon and Taipei 101 Run-Up and yesterday he competed in the Hong Chi Climbathon at Hong Kong's Central Plaza ahead of going for this fourth title at the Swissotel Vertical Marathon on November 22. That means lots of boring, repetitive and painful training in the stairwells of his 51-storey apartment in Taipa. And he must rarely take the lift in the 15-floor CEM Building where he works, right? 'Sorry to disappoint you, but if not during training I use the elevator like everybody else. Even when I'm training I take the lift to go down between repetitions. After all, because stairwells are normally dusty and poorly ventilated, how could I have anything against elevators?'