With igus® to a greater height
Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, is well-known worldwide for its magnificent skyscraper: The Taipeh 101, which has been the tallest building in the world for six years that is until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010.
The 101 floors of the building, that comprise to give the building its name, reach a height of about 500 meters. No one would dare to trade the fastest elevator in the world for the stairs that total to over 2000. (The lift takes 40 seconds from ground level to the 89th floor). No one except Görge Heimann. Görge Heimann belongs to a sports elite who avoid elevators not due to claustrophobic reasons, yet due to the passion of running stairs. The teacher from cologne, has been participating in so called Tower-running for many years.
A jury measures the time for each runner that is running up a building. Görge is one of the fastest and therefore belongs to the top ten worldwide. This time he runs under the flag of igus®, while challenging his colleagues in the elite run of the Tower-running World Cup Grand Prix in Tapei. Two that belong to the world elite, each seeking for perfection, found together.
It took him only 12:46 minutes to run up the 2046 stairs (in comparison, the Cologne Cathedral has only 533 steps). The following picture was taken in the Tower-running Grand Prix in Las Vegas:
He followed the Australian Mark Bourne (10:54), who won Gold, on rank six.
While Görge needs a break once he arrives at the top of the buildings, igus® products can work day and night continuously without a break. No professional tower runner takes the same way down. To get down safely they rely on the elevator. igus® bearings not only ensure the smooth motion of elevator doors, but igus® e-chains also protect the cables that ensure the power supply.
For instance: The elevator cables hanging under this elevator car (Bonn, Germany) were exposed to constant air draughts caused by a forced-air system for the smoke alarm installation and this resulted in undesirable lateral motion. The combination of an igus® E2/000 E-Chain® and a sheet-metal duct now provides the necessary stability for the energy supply system.
Although Görges time was really limited due to his flight back the same evening, he didn’t want to leave Taipei without sitting in our iglidur® on tour car. While Görge tests his limits by climbing stairs, the car is doing the same by driving 100000 kilometres around the world instead.
