Torre Glòries challenges 400 runners with its 500-step vertical race

Torre Glòries will be the setting for a unique vertical race. The challenge: climb 30 storeys and 500 steps. Four hundred elite athletes and amateurs will take part. The event is part of the Tower Running Tour 2026. Find out what the competition and its history will be like.

Next Saturday, 17 January, Torre Glòries will become the epicentre of urban sport with a vertical race that promises high excitement. A total of 400 runners, professionals and amateurs alike, will take on the challenge of climbing 30 storeys and 500 steps in the shortest possible time.

The CUPRA Barcelona Tower Running Challenge 2026 will start at 17:00 and will be the first scoring event of the Tower Running Tour 2026, an international circuit that takes in 35 skyscrapers across several continents. The grand final will take place at Shanghai Tower, where participants will have to climb 3,398 steps, a figure five times the Barcelona challenge.

The phenomenon of vertical races is not new. The first competition of this kind was held in 1905 at the Torre Eiffel, with 283 participants. Since then, landmark buildings such as the Empire State Building and SkyRise Chicago have hosted similar events, establishing this format as an essential fixture for lovers of extreme challenges.