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Stiletto-clad shoppers in dash for cash
Friday, 7 March, 2008
Stiletto Run, Amsterdam (Getty)
Dozens of super-keen shoppers have raced down Amsterdam's store-lined main street in high heels to win a $16,000 spending spree.
The third annual 350m 'Stiletto Run' along the Dutch city's PC Hooft thoroughfare attracted scores of young women willing to risk a sprained ankle and sore toes for the sake of a fast fashion buck.
With the motto 'Shopping is a Sport', the €10,000 race has already attracted imitators in Germany, Sweden, Poland and Russia.
Runners, who take part in preliminary heats in cities across the Netherlands and Belgium to secure a place in the final, must wear shoes with a minimum 9cm high heel.
'Shopping is a sport'
"At the start there was a lot of pushing, you really get elbowed over," said 18-year-old Fauve Stukje, who brought a group of supporters carrying a big pink sign to cheer her on.
Ms Stukje, who did not place in the top three, said she had come to regret her choice of footwear, with 10cm heels - a centimetre higher than necessary.
Tamamra Reuben, 25, from the town of Veenedaal, claimed first prize after running along the course as smoothly as had she been wearing sports shoes.
Asked what she would spend her winnings on, Ms Reuben was in no doubt: "Anything but high heels!"
Source: SBS staff and agencies
The third annual 350m 'Stiletto Run' along the Dutch city's PC Hooft thoroughfare attracted scores of young women willing to risk a sprained ankle and sore toes for the sake of a fast fashion buck.
With the motto 'Shopping is a Sport', the €10,000 race has already attracted imitators in Germany, Sweden, Poland and Russia.
Runners, who take part in preliminary heats in cities across the Netherlands and Belgium to secure a place in the final, must wear shoes with a minimum 9cm high heel.
'Shopping is a sport'
"At the start there was a lot of pushing, you really get elbowed over," said 18-year-old Fauve Stukje, who brought a group of supporters carrying a big pink sign to cheer her on.
Ms Stukje, who did not place in the top three, said she had come to regret her choice of footwear, with 10cm heels - a centimetre higher than necessary.
Tamamra Reuben, 25, from the town of Veenedaal, claimed first prize after running along the course as smoothly as had she been wearing sports shoes.
Asked what she would spend her winnings on, Ms Reuben was in no doubt: "Anything but high heels!"
Source: SBS staff and agencies
