Mountain runner Moon reaches for the stairs

ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post

UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS: Melissa Moon begins the defence of her world stair-racing title next weekend.

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Melissa Moon runs up stairs two at a time, often with weights on her ankles.

It's what makes her the queen of world stair-racing, a mantle that goes on the line again on Friday week in the Sydney Tower race (80 floors).

Wellington's former world champion mountain runner has already won the Empire State Building (86 floors, 1576 stairs) and Taipei 101 (101 storeys, 2048 stairs) events this year but Sydney has her on her toes.

"A girl came out of nowhere last year with thighs like tree trunks and blew everyone away," Moon said.

For all that, Sydney is only a "sprint" compared to what looms on the horizon.

The stair-racing community is abuzz with rumours of a new event – a race up the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building at 168 floors.

"It's owned by the sheiks so there could be good prizemoney."

However, money does not drive 40-year-old Moon. She got "zilch" for beating 80 women up the Empire State Building in February and said the $5000 winner-take-all prize in Sydney will only cover the year's costs.

"To be the first person up the Empire State Building was quite special.

"I'd always wanted that on my CV. When you are at a party and the conversation is going flat you can always say, `Guess what?"'

Moon has explored just about every running avenue and claims stair-racing is the hardest.

"Your heartrate gets up over 190 but you also develop a huge amount of lactic acid in your legs.

"Stairwells are not the nicest places to be.

"All you can hear is echoing of heavy breathing but you can't let your mind wander, otherwise you might trip up or take one step at a time."

In Wellington, Moon varies her training between Balaena Bay and the stairwells of the Majestic Tower in Boulcott St (28 floors), which she skips up and catches the lift down six times per training session.

"I have to do it before 7am or after 6pm so I'm not bumping into the office workers."

- © Fairfax NZ News