High Heel Race Kicks Off in Moscow

By The Moscow Times

July 9, 2012

Despite crashing to the ground in a tangle of long legs, this woman doesn't lose her smile. Anton Belitsky

Several dozen women strapped on their high heels to compete in a foot-blistering race for the chance not only to earn glory, but to look glamorous while doing it.

But glamor was shoved to the wayside as participants reinforced their elegant footwear with sturdy tape and got serious about the competition, for which first place brought a whopping 100,000 rubles ($3,040) in shopping vouchers for clothing site Lamoda.ru.

The women sprinted four at a time, falling, crashing and crawling their way over the 50-meter course to the finish line.

The race on Tsvetnoi Bulvar in Moscow Saturday was already the sixth annual run put on by Glamour magazine. The rules for the race required the heels to have a length of no less than nine centimeters.

Besides scraping knees, guests were offered the chance to indulge in manicures and get makeup and hair done, and play games of badminton, table tennis and frisbee.

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