NEW YORK, USA - German runner Thomas Dold on Tuesday bolted up 86 flights of stairs to win a race up New York's landmark Empire State Building in just over 10 minutes.

It was a fifth straight win in the oddball contest for the Stuttgart native, 25, who clocked a 10-minute, 16-second time in scaling the skyscraper's 1,576 steps.

In the women's competition, New Zealander Melissa Moon, 40, was first up the Art Deco tower famously climbed by King Kong on the silver screen.

This year, more than 200 people competed including two 18-year-olds and a 70-something American woman who made it to the top in 22 minutes 35 seconds.