A pair of Daily News runners didn’t stand a chance against new vertical marathon master Mark Bourne in Wednesday’s Empire State Building Run-up.
Bourne, 29, of Australia won the race up the 1,576 steps of the iconic midtown tower with a time of 10 minutes, 12 seconds.
German extreme athlete Thomas Dold, victor in the previous seven races, surprisingly dropped out before the contest even began. It was not immediately clear why Dold, 28, decided not to compete in the event sponsored by the New York Road Runners Club.
The women’s champ was Suzy Walsham, 39, of Singapore, who captured a record fourth straight win with a time of 12 minutes, 5 seconds.
“I feel absolutely fantastic, but that’s probably because I won,” said the triumphant Walsham. “Winning is really special.”
Bourne agreed.
“This is a landmark and coming out on top and seeing the whole city lit up is amazing,” Bourne said.
He added that it was disappointing that Dold didn’t run.
“It’s a shame. He’s a great competitor,” said Bourne.
Finishing behind Bourne, way behind him, were Daily Newsers Lauren Johnston and Nicole Lyn Pesce.
Johnston, an experienced marathon runner, did clock a time of 21 minutes, 1 second, but was nudged out by talk-show maven Kelly Ripa at the 86th floor observation deck finish line.
“By floor 60 my lungs were burning,” said Johnston. “The panoramic view of the city at the top is stunning and would have taken my breath away if I had any left.”
Johnston said she passed a woman around the 70th floor was who was literally crawling up the stairs.
Pesce, who finished way back in the pack of 700 runners with a time of 28 minutes, joked that the “elevator ride down was a dream.”
Ripa — co-host of ABC’s “Live with Kelly and Michael” — said her strategy was to take it “slow and steady.” She finished with a time of 18 minutes, 16 seconds.
“It was grueling, brutal, but fun,” said Ripa, quipping that she only ran the race for the shiny finishers’ medal.
NY1 news anchor Pat Kiernan, who crossed the finish line in 21 minutes, 51 seconds, said his pace was more of a walk than a run.
The comment puzzled NY1 traffic reporter Jamie Shupak, who finish a second slower than Kiernan.
“The hardest part was keeping up with Pat Kiernan, whose legs are twice as long as mine,” Shupak said.
In the end, all the runners agreed the climb was worth it. The race raised about $500,000 for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and an additional $80,000 for the Road Runners’ Team for Kids charity.