2,000 Runners Race Up Lausanne's Iconic Vortex Building in Switzerland

by WeWatch in General

The story

2,000 Runners Race Up Lausanne's Iconic Vortex Building in Switzerland

Around 2,000 runners took on one of Switzerland's quirkiest sporting events on October 16, 2025, racing up the interior ramp of the Vortex — the iconic circular building at the University of Lausanne.

The Vortex Race was created by a group of students and features a 2.8-kilometer continuous ramp that winds upward across eight floors, rising at a constant 1% incline all the way to the rooftop. Originally built to house athletes during the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, the Vortex building now serves as student housing on the Lausanne campus.

The event offered two race formats: the Classic version focusing entirely on the spiral ramp, and the Campus version featuring an additional outdoor segment for a total of around 7 kilometers. Wave starts, music, and student volunteers created a festive atmosphere, with DJs and food trucks adding to the celebrations.

What the sources say

Independent coverage in multiple languages confirms the key factual elements of the article. Several sources report that about 2,000 people ran up the interior ramp of the circular Vortex building at the University of Lausanne on October 16, 2025, in a student-organized event.[2][3][6][8][11][13] The ramp is described as a continuous, gently inclined path of roughly 2.7–2.8 km from bottom to top, inside a circular structure that now serves as student housing, originally built for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games.[9][10] Event and media sites confirm that there are two race formats: a shorter “Classic” course centered on the ramp (listed as 3 km, partly outside) and a longer “Campus” course of about 7 km including outdoor segments.[3][7] Multiple reports describe a festive atmosphere with music, DJs, food trucks, and wave starts, and note the 360-degree rooftop view over Lausanne and Lake Geneva for finishers.[1][5] Descriptions of the race as uniquely fun or “craziest” are consistent with media framing, though they are subjective rather than measurable rankings.[1][4][5] Overall, the main factual claims about the event’s date, location, format, building characteristics, and scale are well covered and consistent across sources.

Around 2,000 runners took part in a race up the interior ramp of the Vortex building at the University of Lausanne on October 16, 2025. (Backed by sources: Gotrail, Watson, Gotrail)
The race uses the continuous interior ramp of the circular Vortex building, which has a gentle incline and leads to the rooftop. (Backed by sources: Gotrail, Vortexrace, Sptiming)
The Vortex building was originally built to house athletes during the 2020 Youth Olympic Games and now serves as student housing. (Backed by sources: Vortexrace, Sptiming)
The event was created by a group of students. (Backed by sources: Watson, Gotrail, Vortexrace)
There are two race formats: a shorter ramp-focused race and a longer campus version of about 7 km. (Backed by sources: Watson, YouTube)
Finishers can enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view of Lausanne and Lake Geneva from the rooftop. (Backed by sources: CNN, Rtl)

Sources it was checked against

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