Kota Kinabalu: The Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon in its 29th edition is set to resume after a year hiatus at Malaysia's first Unesco World Heritage Site on Sunday at 7am, October 16, at Kinabalu Park, Kundasang.Only the summit race of 26km for elite men and women will be staged this year which will be flagged off by Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.So far, 109 runners from 15 countries, namely United States of America, Mexico, Spain, Great Britain, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, Kenya, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, France, Brunei and Malaysia have already confirmed their participation.
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In a press conference held on Thursday, Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said there will be a new route for this year's race."Following the earthquake last year, some of the previous trails were badly affected but with the concerted effort between Sabah Parks and mountain rangers we are able to use a new trail which is more challenging to race to the summit this year.
"There will be a cut-off time of 2 hours and 50 minutes for men and 3 hours and 20 minutes for women to reach the summit."This is for safety measures and those who do not make it on time will be stopped by our sweeper team who will slowly come down from the peak."
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He said the Ministry is targeting only 120 entries and denied that the Climbathon is losing its appeal."We have limited our entries to only 120 this year. It is a conscious decision made by us to try out the new route and it doesn't indicate that the event is coming to an end.
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"In fact we have been successful for the past 29 years so I don't see any reason for it to discontinue. There may be some changes in format to cater for the needs of the day, and for this year we decided to stage it for invitation only."Pang also said there is equal prize money for both men and women with the champion getting RM8,000, runner-up RM6,000 and RM4,000 for the third place winner.
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Closing date for registration is September 30. Supporting documents (i.e endorsements by sports and athletic associations, participation records of previous high altitude running events etc.) are required for proof of qualification. For further information contact Winceslaus Gerald Autine, Organising Secretary, Sri Pelancongan Sabah Sdn Bhd at +6088232121, email [email protected], or visit the website www.climbathon.my.
