Retired Fox Chapel attorney Harrison Lauer is at the top of his game — literally.
A long-time runner, Lauer hung up his shoes after a knee injury in 2020 but decided it was a detour, not a full stop.
The 68-year-old turned to stair climbing, or tower running, which while widely unfamiliar to many, has catapulted in popularity among elite athletes since making its U.S. debut at the Empire State Building in 1978.
An ultimate cardio workout, the sport challenges runners to ascend man-made structures, most notably the staircases of some of the world’s tallest buildings — the Willis Tower in Chicago, Eiffel Tower in Paris and CN Tower in Toronto.
Climbers dash hundreds of feet into the air, reaching dizzying heights in less time than it takes to watch a quarter of football.
“A longtime college friend of mine told me he had raced up the John Hancock Tower in Boston. I thought maybe I can do that,” said Lauer, a Fox Chapel councilman and member of the Fox Chapel Area Rotary.
“I found that the sport was a good fit for me. I had been running distance races and before that competing in tennis and paddle tennis — all of these sports required lots of endurance.”
It’s been a quick trip for Lauer to the top of his new sport.
In the four years since he began climbing, Lauer has ranked as high as second in the country for his age group.
In 2025, he finished third best in the nation in his age bracket, according to Towerrunning USA.
Lauer found the low impact of scaling stairs was kinder to his knees than pounding pavement.
He dug in, practicing several times a week at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere at 535 feet.
“We’re blessed that the cathedral is open to the public,” Lauer said.
On any given day, the stairwells to the cathedral’s 36th floor — the highest publicly accessible point — provide the perfect weatherproof training facility for many athletes across the city, he said.
Lauer takes the steps two at a time.
“It’s all about training,” he said. “It’s tough enough if you are ready, but if you’re not, you will be gasping before you know it.”
Since 2022, he has competed in 17 races that have found him scrambling to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building and the 105th floor of the Willis Tower.
Sometimes it’s nerves that propel him.
“You stand on the ground and look up at the 104 floors of One World Trade Center, and you kind of think, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ ” Lauer said, laughing.
“With each taller building, I get butterflies.”
Looking back, his foray began with a relatively low climb — 26 floors inside Gateway Tower in Newark, N.J. He swept the competition, taking first place in his age bracket and landing fourth overall.
Next up was Penn 1, a New York office building that climbs 55 floors into the Manhattan sky. Since then, races have taken him to the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, Empire State Building in New York and right here close to home, at One Oxford Centre in Pittsburgh.
Lauer participates in the annual Fight for Air Climb at the Downtown building, sponsored by the American Lung Association of Western PA.
“Harrison is very competitive, but he’s also great with the camaraderie of it all,” said Steve Gillis, association development director.
“There are lung cancer survivors there and firefighters who come out in full gear. Once you’re halfway up, your lungs are burning, but Harrison is always there to support the other climbers.”
The event marks its 20th year on March 28 with hundreds of participants expected to scale 836 stairs up 42 flights.
Lauer finished second at the climb in 2024, beating all but one of the younger climbers.
His speed has earned him a reputation with leaders in the niche sport.
“Harrison is known to me for years as one of the fastest age-group athletes (60-plus) in the USA,” said Michael Reichetzeder, president of Towerrunning World Association.
His group provides a global ranking, evaluating worldwide stair races. Reichetzeder said Lauer placed 24th — an impressive second in his age group — at the prominent Empire State Building Run Up last year.
Most major cities across the country host a stair-climbing competition these days. There are hundreds more worldwide, sending athletes to the Eiffel Tower and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which reaches 160 floors.
Most double as fundraisers.
The Tunnel to Towers race, which recognizes the sacrifice of 9/11 heroes, is held at One World Observatory. Last year, Lauer completed the 104 floors in 18 minutes, 32 seconds.
As for how much longer he intends to compete, Lauer said that remains to be determined.
“A 100-story building looks taller every year,” he said.