Aussie wins his 4th Empire State climb

About 160 people raced up the 86 flgihts of stairs to the Empire State's observation deck

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Australian Paul Crake has won the Empire State Building Run-up for the fourth consecutive time.

Crake completed the race up what is once again New York City's tallest building in 9 minutes, 40 seconds, three seconds short of his record time of last year.

Kerstin Harbich, 27, from Germany, took first place among women with a time of 12 minutes, 46 seconds.

Crake, 25, said he considered it important that he return for this year's race after the September 11 attacks on the city.

"For me to come here and do this race and see all the people that showed up -- it just goes to show that people have confidence to get back on with life," he said.

"I'm quite amazed how New Yorkers have managed to get back into some sort of normal life, and go on, and have confidence."

Crake finished well ahead of second-place Rudolf Reiberger of Austria, who made the climb in 10 minutes, 36 seconds.

Roughly 160 people from 10 countries climbed the 86 flights of stairs, 1,576 steps, from the lobby to the observation deck.