Philadelphia’s Rocky Steps Become a Timed Sprint Challenge

A timed sprint up Philadelphia’s famous Rocky steps will invite participants to test how quickly they can climb all 72 stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 7. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and is hosted by the Philadelphia Visitor Center as part of the movie’s 50th-anniversary celebration.

The challenge is to finish in under 12 seconds. Runners who beat 11.7 seconds qualify for a Rocky Shop prize and a $15 honeygrow gift certificate. Everyone who reaches the top receives a commemorative sweatband and finisher’s certificate, while the fastest runner wins a package including a film-replica Italian Stallion robe, Flyers Rocky Night tickets, Sylvester Stallone’s memoir and a $100 honeygrow gift certificate.

The event will also feature an Orange Toss Sprint across the museum’s outdoor plaza, food samples from honeygrow and merchandise at the Rocky Shop. Registration is available online, and spectators and families are encouraged to watch from the plaza’s open area and the lower landing of the steps.

The staircase became closely associated with the 1976 film through Rocky Balboa’s run to the top. Cinematographer Garrett Brown, who created the Steadicam first used in the movie, said the moving camera gave the sequence a sense of energy that a conventional shot might not have captured.