ATHLETE

Soh Wai Ching

My Journey in Sports

Hi, I’m Soh Wai Ching, a professional athlete specializing in towerrunning (stair climbing). I’m the youngest in my family. My love for competition started early—I began playing chess at the age of six and enjoyed it a lot.

When I was 13 (in Form 1), I took part in my school’s cross-country event at SMK Ideal Heights. It was just a once-a-year thing at first, but soon, I started joining my sister in road running competitions in Kuala Lumpur.

I still loved playing chess, but at 18 (in 2012), I shifted my focus to long-distance running. Because of my passion for the sport, I decided to pursue Sports Science (majoring in Exercise Science) at the University of Malaya (UM). Getting into UM was a big deal for me—I was excited to apply what I learned to my training.

While studying, I ran almost every week in races ranging from 5km to 25km. I also represented my university in multiple competitions, including SUKMUM (UM Inter-College Games), MASUM (Inter-University Games), SUKIPT (Institution of Higher Learning Games), SIPMA (Inter-Malaysian Educational Institution Sports Games), BIG (Biennial Intervarsity Games), and AUG (ASEAN University Games).

I’ve always looked up to Sir Mo Farah (Great Britain) and admired how he won double gold in the 5000m and 10000m events. Inspired by him, I set my own goal—to win both events at MASUM 2018. And I did it! I won double gold in the 5000m and 10000m races in my final year.

During my time at UM, I had the honor of representing Malaysia twice at the ASEAN University Games—AUG 2016 in Singapore and AUG 2018 in Myanmar. In 2016, I was the fastest Malaysian in the 10000m, and in 2018, I was the second-fastest in both the 5000m and 10000m. One of my biggest dreams back then was to challenge Malaysia’s national records: 14:06.84 min for the 5000m and 29:30.19 min for the 10000m, both set by Ramachandran Murusamy in 1994.

Discovering Towerrunning

At 23 (in 2017), my journey took a new turn when my friend Jeffrey Ross challenged me to join the KL Tower International Towerthon Challenge. I accepted the challenge and decided to use my sports science knowledge to train for it. I studied the sport’s unique demands and created my own training plan—training at a 20-floors condominium repeatedly.

A day before the race, I discovered that towerrunning had a global ranking system (www.towerrunning.com) and many competitions worldwide. I told myself, “If I win tomorrow, I’ll start competing internationally and challenge the world’s best.”

After a month of training, I raced in the KL Tower International Towerthon Challenge on May 14, 2017, and became the Best Malaysian in the event. That was my turning point. I knew I had the potential to compete at the highest level, so I started traveling and racing internationally by using the prize money I won from the races and also the PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund).

Becoming World No. 1

My goal was to reach World No. 1 within three years, but the pandemic in March 2020 put things on hold—the world rankings were frozen. As soon as they resumed in April 2022, I climbed to the top spot. It took me almost five years instead of three, but I still achieved my dream.

Becoming World Champion

Other than achieving the World No. 1 Rank in the sport, another biggest dream is to achieve the World Champion.

The 1st Edition of Towerrunning World Championship happened at Doha in 2015. I have missed it as I started towerrunning sport in 2017.

I was glad to take part in the 2nd Edition of World Championship at Taipei in 2018 and I achieved my goal of 10th Overall placing.

After the 2nd Edition of World Championship, I told myself that in the upcoming Edition, I am going to win the World Champion title.

As the pandemic hits in March 2020, the World Championships was then postponed to 2022 and once again it was postponed to 2024.

On 4th May 2024, the World Championship finally happened. I was the favourite to win based on my Ranking as the World No. 1 Towerrunner at that time and achieving 100% Winning Rate from Jan 2025 coming to May 2025.

In the World Championship setting, we have to run up two times the building. First round will be the full course up to 91 Floors, 2046 Steps, 391m Elevation Gain. With less than 1 hour break, we than have to run up the Second round up to 59 Floors, 1340 Steps, 256m Elevation Gain.

The World Champion will be determined by the total cumulation time of both rounds.

From the Round 1, I was the first to start and I clocked a time of 11 min 35.6 seconds. As soon as I crossed the finishing line, I quickly look at the split time from my watch, hoping that Ryoji Watanabe (World No. 2 at that time) to cross the finishing line later than 30 seconds as our interval starting time was 30 seconds. He then crossed the finishing line at 26 seconds and from that point I knew I was 4 seconds behind him.

In the Round 2, I started off fast and maintain a higher average pace all the way, sprinted the last few floors up to the finishing line at 59th Floor and clocked a time of 7 min 01 sec.

30 seconds countdown began.

After 30 seconds, I need another 5 seconds more as I was lying on the floor, counting down to it hoping that Ryoji Watanabe will not be coming out to cross the finishing line.

As soon as the time passed 35 seconds, I knew deep down in my heart that I won it! Ryoji came out at 38 seconds after me crossing the finishing line.

It was the best moment of my life at that point of time as I finally achieved my highest dream of becoming the World Champion other than being the World No. 1.

I would like to thank each and everyone of you for the support ever since I started doing towerrunning sport!

The upcoming goals for me are to:
1. Attempting Guinness World Record
2. Breaking / Setting Course Records of the competitions that I am going to take part
3. Promote the towerrunning sport, becoming the spokesperson of it and actively push it to the highest level, making it known to everyone!
4. Last but not least, to build and nurture a group of upcoming towerrunners from Malaysia to continue the legacy and ensuring Malaysia continue to dominate the sport!

The journey has been incredible so far, and I’m excited for what’s ahead!

Profile

My Greatest Achievements

Empire State Building Run-Up & Major Wins

The Empire State Building Run-Up (ESBRU) is one of the longest-running stair races, held every year since 1978. In 2021, I became the first Asian winner by winning the 43rd edition of the race. I defended my title in 2022, remaining the only Asian winner and winning it for two years in a row.

In 2023, I won again, making it three straight victories at ESBRU!

Beating the Former World No. 1

In 2020, just before the pandemic, I achieved a big personal goal—defeating Piotr Lobodzinski (former World No. 1 towerrunner from Poland) at the Vertical Run Almas Tower. I finished two seconds ahead with a time of 7:59 minutes, climbing 70 floors, 1,450 steps, and 245 meters.

This win meant a lot to me because, back in 2017, at the Beijing Vertical Run, I lost to him by a huge margin. After that race, I set a goal: to reach his level and beat him within three years. I’m proud that I achieved this just before the pandemic hit.

Guinness World Record During the Pandemic

With no races happening during the pandemic, I decided to go for a Guinness World Record. On November 18, 2020, I attempted the record for “Greatest vertical height stair climbing in one hour (Male)” at Four Seasons Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

It took me three months to get building approvals, train, and work with the National Sports Institute (ISN) to apply sports science to my preparation. I also invited journalists, held press conferences, and secured sponsors.

On November 18, 2020, I successfully broke the record and became an official Guinness World Record holder! My achievement was featured on the front page of The Star, Malaysia’s most widely read English newspaper. I’m grateful for this journey and for the support of my mentor, Mr. Ravinder Singh, who helped me through the entire process.

Winning Streak & Recent Achievements

From December 2020 to May 2022, I won 19 consecutive races. This streak ended when I placed second at Bieg Na Szczyt 2022 (Towerrunning European Championship) in Poland. However, I bounced back and kept winning.

In March 2023, I improved my time at Bieg Na Szczyt 2023, from 7:36 minutes to 7:24 minutes, and won the race.

I extended my winning streak to 21 races before another loss at the Australia 108 Stair Challenge in May 2023. Since then, I have kept winning and continue competing at the highest level.

4x Overall Champions at the US Towerrunning National Championship (2022 – 2025)

In Feb 2022, I first took part in the US Towerrunning National Championship at the Strat Tower, Las Vegas, Nevada. I was so glad to win the Overall Champion position with a time of 6 min 57 sec but not breaking the course record – 6 min 46 sec by Alexis Trujillo from Mexico.

In Feb 2023, I then went back again and this round, I managed to win it and broke the course record for a split seconds from 6 min 46.34 sec to 6 min 46.07 sec.

In Feb 2024, for the third time in a row, this year, I got the World No. 2 at that time – Ryoji Watanabe joining me. We both clocked a time of 6 min 43 seconds but I managed to outrun him with 0.08 seconds (6 min 42.72 sec vs 6 min 42.80 sec) and making it a three-peat.

In Feb 2025, this year the US Towerrunning National Championship moved to the Hustle Chicago at the John Hancock Tower. I went and took part in it. It was my first attempt for this competition.

The goal was to attempt for the course record 9 min 24 sec by Sproule Love from US in 2013.

In the end, I won it with a time of 9 min 55 sec, the only Sub 10 min finisher of the day. I was also interviewed by the NBC Chicago and here’s the link: https://www.nbcchicago.com/top-videos-home/hustle-chicago-stair-climb-winner-promises-even-better-time-next-year/3680813/

3x Overall Champions at the Malaysia Towerrunning National Championship (2022 – 2024)

The Top Tower Run – Komtar Penang – 68 Floors, 1381 Steps, 249m EG – 7 min 18.9 sec CR
MBPJ Tower Run – MBPJ Tower – 25 Floors, 552 Steps, 85m EG – 1 min 57.5 sec CR
NCT 6000ft Run Up – Wyndham Ion Majestic Hotel – 50 Floors, 1052 Steps, 168m EG – 5 min 48.1 sec CR