He's conquered the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver. Now he's ready to conquer the Big Apple.
Shaun Stephens-Whale from Roberts Creek is off to New York next Tuesday to compete in the Empire State Building Run Up.
The 17-year-old is possibly the youngest to compete at the prestigious event, which is an invitational event based on the athlete's past staircase performance.
Only the best-of-the-best are invited. Last year only 99 men and 55 women competed in the 30-year-old event. Normally dominated by eastern Europeans and Australians, the record set by Paul Crake of Australia at nine minutes, 33 second is by far the fastest, and Crake is the only runner to crack the 10-minute barrier.
Shaun is excited for the challenge.
"It's going to be a different experience for me. I've never been to New York, so I'm not quite sure what to expect. I hope to do well," he said.
Training for an event such as this is a challenge. Let's face it, it's hard to duplicate running up 1,576 stairs and 86 floors in your home town, but Shaun is doing his best.
"I'm cross-training on the bike, because it's more like stair climbing than running. I'm also running up and down my own stairs 100 times and my dad is timing me," he said. "Training on my own stairs has worked for me in the past for the Sheraton stair climb, so I figured it would work well for this event too."
Shaun's has also been road running, weight training and snowshoe racing.
Following the New York event, Shaun will take part in his fourth B.C. Lung Association Climb the Wall event in Vancouver on Feb. 18.
Shaun has the record for the event of four minutes, 17 seconds.
"This will probably be the last time I do this event. I figure next year I'll be pretty busy with university and other events. I want to go out on top and finish high again. I think I can do it really fast. Around four minutes or under is my goal," he said.
