Brian Kuritzky took in the view for only a few seconds after racing up midtown Manhattan’s tallest building. The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. associate then returned to the lobby to run the 1,576 steps a second time.
Kuritzky raised $20,000 last night for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation by twice climbing the 1,050 feet (320 meters) from lobby to observation deck at the 36th annual Empire State Building Run-Up. It’s the second consecutive year Kuritzky was one of the event’s highest fundraisers after collecting $85,000 in donations in 2012.
“Fundraising gets harder and harder, and to try and keep it consistent you have to do something different and more creative,” Kuritzky, 26, said in an interview between trips. “Running twice is a way to get more people talking and garner a little more interest.”
The race, which began with 14 finishers in 1978, had 738 entrants ranging in age from 21 to 70 and representing 18 countries including Japan, Israel and Papua New Guinea. Organized by the New York Road Runners, the event raised about $600,000 for MMRF and other charities.
Mark Bourne won the men’s invitational with a time of 10 minutes, 12 seconds. Suzy Walsham won the elite women’s heat, her fourth title, in 12:05. Both winners are from Australia.
Kuritzky, whose mother died of breast cancer when he was 15, has run the New York City Marathon and a 140.6-mile (226- kilometer) Ironman-distance triathlon to raise money for cancer research, and last year competed in the RBC Decathlon, where he was the top fundraiser with more than $90,000 in pledges. He called last night’s double run the most intense race he’s done.
Second Run
After completing his first trip, he lay down for 10 minutes. After about an hour, he returned to the starting line for a second time.
“My lower back hurts and my lungs feel like they are popping out of my chest,” he said after finishing the second run.
Kuritzky, who played soccer for Cornell University in 2005- 07, said his original goal of running twice in a total of 28 minutes was determined after friends and colleagues thought his initial estimate of a half hour was too generous. He ran the first heat in 13:19, and the MMRF said that while it did not have his exact time on the second run, he did come in under his goal.