thinkSPAIN Logo
  • Property for Sale
  • To Rent
  • Holidays
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • News
    • € EUR
    • £ GBP
    • $ USD
    • ARS
    • AUD
    • BRL
    • CAD
    • CHF
    • CLP
    • CNY
    • COP
    • CZK
    • DKK
    • HKD
    • ISK
    • JPY
    • MXN
    • NOK
    • NZD
    • PLN
    • RUB
    • SEK
    • SGD
    • TRY
    • ZAR
    • Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter
    • Give website feedback or report an issue
    • Professionals/Advertiser Login
    • Advertise your Property on thinkSPAIN
    • Sell your property with an estate agent
    • Add your Business to the Directory
    • Advertising with thinkSPAIN
    • List a job vacancy on thinkSPAIN
  • 0
  • 0
    • By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.

      Looking for the Professionals/Advertiser Login?
      Sign in with Google Sign in with Apple Sign in with Facebook
      or

      Don't have an account?  

      • Follow us:

Sign up

By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Sign in with Google Sign in with Apple Sign in with Facebook
or

Already have a thinkSPAIN account? Sign in

Sign in/Register

By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Sign in with Google Sign in with Apple Sign in with Facebook
or

Don't have an account?

Forgot your password?

Subscribe to our Newsletter

By submitting this form, you confirm that you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Feedback is welcome

By submitting this form, you confirm that you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
thinkSPAIN Logo

'Toledo Turbo' wins 56-storey tower race: 'Practice run' for his 68th world record

 

'Toledo Turbo' wins 56-storey tower race: 'Practice run' for his 68th world record

ThinkSPAIN Team 24/05/2022

SPAIN'S world-famous 'Recordman' has surpassed even his own expectations – not content with having more entries in the Guinness Book of Records than anyone else in the country, Dr Christian López has just won a race to the top of the nation's fourth-tallest building.

Since we introduced Christian to our readers in November 2020 to help him celebrate his 40th world record, he has upped his total by nearly 75% in those 18 months, now hitting 67.

Dr Christian López with his well-deserved trophy for the fastest run up 1,320 steps (this photo and the next from @tribunadetoledo on Twitter)

The sports instructor and motivational speaker from Cabañas de Sagra (Toledo province), now 34, only needs to smash one more record, and he'll have two for every year of his life.

This time, though, he was not even trying to pocket another entry – Christian's sprint up 1,320 stairs in under eight minutes was merely a training exercise for further record-breaking.

Madrid's Torre Emperador, at 230 metres (754 feet) tall and with 56 floors – completed in 2007 and joined by three more tower blocks the following year in the complex now known as Las Cuatro Torres – was briefly Spain's highest building until the PwC Tower (236 metres), the CEPSA Tower (248 metres) and the Torre de Cristal or 'Glass Tower' (249 metres) knocked it off its throne one by one.

At the moment, the Torre de Cristal is Spain's highest building, although the country's highest structure is a 60-year-old radio-transmitter mast in Guardamar del Segura, southern Alicante province.

Christian himself described the Emperador Tower race as 'daunting', or at least, 'worthy of respect' – more so than one of Spain's best-known skyscraper marathons, up the 186-metre, 54-floor Gran Hotel Bali in Benidorm, which is a 'mere' 924 stairs.

In fact, the Gran Hotel Bali race was the first major fitness test Christian put himself to as a very young man, coming 18th out of over 100 competitors.

A vertical shot of Christian against the Torre Emperador, to put its colossal size into perspective

He had made this his goal as part of his lifelong mission to look after his physical health following a diagnosis of Type I diabetes when he was 12.

Given that this is the tallest building he has run up to date, Christian needed to adjust his blood-sugar levels very carefully to ensure he would be able to perform.

With a PhD in Sports Science – his thesis was on treating obesity through diet and exercise – Christian's studies have provided him with additional specialist knowledge on managing his own condition, and his glucose-level fine-tuning meant the stair-run 'hardly involved any effort', according to an interview he gave to provincial newspaper La Tribuna de Toledo.

One of the best parts of joining in the Torre Emperador 'vertical marathon' – along with winning it, of course – was the splendid view across the whole of Spain's biggest city once he hit the top.

“I had great fun overtaking so many other runners,” Christian says, “but it was a real luxury, getting to the finishing line and having these privileged views over Madrid at my feet.”

Christian might have left the rest of Spain standing in terms of number of world records, but he has no plans to stop collecting them – Granddad Ernesto wouldn't let him give up his ongoing quest.

A very young Christian was badly affected by the loss of his beloved relative, who had always urged his little grandson to inject courage into everything he did; every Guinness Book of Records entry Christian has achieved, all 67 to date, has been in his grandfather's memory.

The next training race Granddad Ernesto will be accompanying Christian on in spirit is next Saturday, June 4, also in Spain's capital.

Although the Moncloa Lighthouse run will 'only' involve 26 storeys, or fewer than half the number of the Gran Hotel Bali or the Emperador Tower, it is speed test rather than endurance-based.

“It'll be a much more explosive race, so I'll need to get a good rhythm and speed going right from the start,” explains Christian. 

This is set to be another practice in Christian's quest to break his next world record – for the fastest staircase ascent.

With the current track history of the 'Toledo Turbo' in mind, we're not nervous on Christian's behalf – his upwardly-mobile record count does not look likely to slacken its frenetic pace for a while yet.

Related Topics

  • Sport

You may also be interested in ...

  • Property for sale in Madrid
  • Property for rent in Madrid
  • Businesses & Services in Madrid
  • Property for sale in Toledo
  • Businesses & Services in Toledo
Advertisement
Advertisement

More News & Information

Princess of Asturias Award winners: Meryl Streep, Mary's Meals, Haruki Marukami...
Culture 25/10/2023
Princess of Asturias Award winners: Meryl Streep, Mary's Meals, Haruki Marukami...

A HOLLYWOOD legend joining folk-dancers from Asturias and showing off her fancy footwork in the street is not a scene your average Oviedo resident witnesses during his or her weekly shop. Even though their northern...

View
FIFA World Cup 2030: The road ahead for host nation Spain revealed
Sport 15/10/2023
FIFA World Cup 2030: The road ahead for host nation Spain revealed

FOOTBALL fans have plenty of time to plan their trip to Spain for the 2030 FIFA men's World Cup, and almost any destination in the country should be within easy travelling distance of a stadium – a shortlist of 15...

View
Where to watch the Vuelta this weekend
Sport 01/09/2023
Where to watch the Vuelta this weekend

NOW into its seventh stage and a new calendar month, Spain's version of the Tour de France concludes its only incursion into coastal towns on Sunday,

View
'Campeonas' pay tribute to 'our shining stars' as they make bittersweet history
Sport 22/08/2023
'Campeonas' pay tribute to 'our shining stars' as they make bittersweet history

SPAIN'S national women's football team is recovering from a night-long street party attended by over 20,000, which started almost as soon as they had landed after their gruelling 24-hour journey from Australia,...

View
Advertisement
  1. Spain
  2. Madrid region/province
  3. Madrid city
  4. 'Toledo Turbo' wins 56-storey tower race: 'Practice run' for his 68th world record

Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. More information