The last race to Kinabalu mountain peak

This year marks 25th year of Mt Kinabalu Climbathon and it will be the final year runners will run up to the peak of 4,095m. Organisers changing the race route next year. Sad...

Two years ago, I tried but failed to scale the peak in given time of 2hr30min for Men Open category. I only managed just below km7. Peak is at km8.72
I was hoping the event will go on till I'm a veteran...hahaha! Cos then, i'll have another hour, yes, 3hrs30min to scale the peak. But no...it's now or never...
will try my very best but I doubt so...so just try to go as close as possible to the peak in that cut off time.

Believe it or not, I dislocated and fractured my finger in 2009 event. :P

http://crazytomatoman.blogspot.com/2009/11/kinabalu-climbathon-2009-day-3.html
http://crazytomatoman.blogspot.com/2009/10/kinabalu-climbathon-2009-day-1-2.html

It'll be a 50/50 work & play for me this time. Yes, work. One of the sponsors for this event. But I'm taking part...haha! Won't missed it!

An action packed event with so many elites...the leading world skyrunners.

Kilian Jornet...Marco de Gasperi...these 2 are among the best in the world. They will battle it out for the Super Cup.



Below are the sites for this event:
 http://climbathon.sabahtourism.com/2011/
http://www.skyrunning.com/index.php

Deemed the World’s Toughest Mountain Race, the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon is the ultimate challenge to take for those who are game enough to test their endurance by running up and down Mount Kinabalu for a total distance of 21 kilometres.
The first climbathon was inaugurated in 1987 when Sabah Parks decided to scout for people to be in the rapid rescue squad, who are a team of rangers who are able to bring down injured climbers in minimal time especially during times of bad weather or when helicopters are not available.
The participation for the climbathon was restricted to Malaysians only, until a year later when it was then opened for international participation. Starting 1995, the Sabah Tourism Board took over to organize this annual event.
The Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon is now very popular among the European mountain runners. The Climbathon Organising Committee has been working closely with the International Skyrunning Federation since 2004 to promote and expand professional mountain running together with the tourism destinations. Through the years, the Climbathon was a part of the Skyrunning World Series but this year it has become the Skyrunner Supercup.
Skyrunner® SuperCup
A new sports title has been introduced by the International Skyrunning Federation, where the world’s top skyrunners will contend for the prestigious Skyrunner® SuperCup.  The competition will be held every two years as the final event of the year in which the European Championships are held.
The title this year has been awarded to the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon in Borneo, Malaysia, which celebrates its 25th anniversary on October 22 and 23. 
This extraordinary 21 km race up and down the 4, 095m of Mount Kinabalu, boasts a gruelling vertical climb of 2,300m over a mere eight and a half kilometres.   Mount Kinabalu is South East Asia’s second tallest mountain and is set in the splendid tropical Kinabalu Park, a World Heritage site.
The world’s top athletes will participate, including the Championship winners, those of the Skyrunner® World Series and past Climbathon winners and record holders.  The outright male and female winners - the “champion of champions” - will be awarded the prestigious Skyrunner® SuperCup.

SuperCup star line-up

A star studded line-up is preparing for the Skyrunner® SuperCup which will award the “champion of champions” title to the winners of the 25th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon on October 22 and 23 in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Ready to take on the challenge are skyrunning giants Marco De Gasperi, course record holder and  Kilian Jornet, 2007 and 2009 winner.  Italian De Gasperi set the record here last year, bettering his own time set six years earlier:  2h33’56” for the 21 km round trip and summiting Mount Kinabalu’s 4,095m in a mere 1h35’29”. 

Other top names include Spain’s Luis  Hernando, recently crowned 2011 Skyrunner® World Series champion;  Japan’s Toru Miyahara, 2011 Mount Fuji winner;   Britain’s Ricky Lightfoot and Malaysian Safrey Sumping. 

Potential podium contenders in the women’s field are New Zealander Anna Frost, second here last year;  Russian Zhanna Vokueva (ranked 14th);  American Brandy Erholtz, two times winner of the Pikes Peak Marathon, (ranked 16th);  Japan’s Naomi Ochiaki (second on Mount Fuji);and evergreen local runner, Danny Gongot.

In celebrating 25 years of the Climbathon, the ISF has awarded the new biannual Skyrunner® SuperCup title to this long time favourite skyrunning venue.  The extraordinary race up and down Mount Kinabalu’s 4,095m boasts a gruelling vertical climb of 2,300m over just eight and a half kilometres.  Last year, as the final of the 2010 Skyrunner® World Series, 669 runners from 40 countries took part.

The race slogan, “Are you tough enough?” is the question many of the participants will be asking themselves next weekend.