Climbathon revisited 30 years later!
Published on: Sunday, November 12, 2017
IN 1986, I was the sole journalist or the only one interested covering a purely local mountain race. In 1987, I was again the sole journalist covering the first Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon.In 2017, the clutter of jostling paparazzi at the finish line totally shoved me out for a decent picture of the winners.
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But 30 years later, Datuk Dr Tengku Zainal Adlin reminded me how profoundly far the race has come.Four times, he drummed into my head, the Skyrunner World Series had taken their elite men and women runners to compete their finals at the Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon, including their 2011 Skyrunner SuperCup – a climatic "Champion of Champions" battle among the best of skyrunners in the world.Epic raceWhat does that show?
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World class! Adlin pounded home. "It shows Kinabalu Climbathon is world class, not only the toughest but also the highest mountain race in the world!" asserted Adlin, current Chairman of Sabah Parks Board of Trustees.
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Others have used the word "epic", meaning astronomic, to describe the climbathon which involves 2,300 metres of vertical climb – far exceeding the minimum 1,000m criteria which Skyrunner World Series has set for its Vertical climb race discipline. For Sabah which has few world recognised reputation, this means a lot.The motive that started it all Thirty years have passed, few people know the climbathon's humble beginning, which started with a completely different motive.That motive is assured rescue. It's an open secret that climbers had fallen, lost and even died at the summit.When that happens, the search and rescue responsibility falls squarely on Kinabalu Parks authority. Even one night stranded in the summit can potentially freeze a victim to death.Only immediate and the fastest response makes rescue sense.One can imagine how this heavy burden of responsibility haunted parks officials of yesteryears. Wanted: A Rapid Reaction Rescue Squad. Eric Wong, the former Kinabalu Parks Warden, said that was the sole starting idea – to recruit and select a core squad of rapid rescue personnel.Although the park had a raft of good rangers, they still needed to know which were the ones who could race to the summit at breakneck speed to assure delivery.The imperative to have a ready rapid reaction rescue squad at a moment's notice sparked the idea of organising an in-house race to identify who should compose the squad. From an in-house race to a world raceBut one idea led to another. In-house race done, then someone, not sure who, suggested: Why not turn the in-house race into an open race? That year was 1986, when the Kinabalu mountain race was opened to all Malaysians, or people living in Malaysia. Active adventure tourism player of the day, Danny Chew, nick-named 'Jungle King', believed the historic first open Mt Kinabalu race (not called climbathon yet), should get the best publicity it deserved. I remember Danny picked me up with gusto at 5am to drive to the park to cover the event – the one and only old Sabah Times journalist at the scene and nippy ranger Alim Buin won the massive Sabah Tourism Promotion Board Championship Shield nearly half his size! The idea of taking it to the world started here At a lookout pondok probably 6,000ft overlooking the Kiau valley, I remember then Tourism and Environmental Development Minister Datuk Tan Kit Sher, deputy Parks Director Francis Liew and maybe Parks Director Datuk Lamri was there, too, discussing and mooting the idea of taking the race even a step further – turning the open race into an international race to promote Sabah! Remember, Sabah of the 1980s was but a near total obscurity and tourism was hardly an industry so they were talking about how to put Sabah on the world map. This core group of decision makers knew their asset – Mt Kinabalu is rated the 20th highest mountain in the world by topographic prominence – a world status much superior than just claiming it's the tallest mountain in Malaysia or the second highest mountain in Southeast Asia. Sure enough, they acted on that idea and 1987 marked the beginning of the Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon and this year celebrated its 30th anniversary, all because the pioneers who acted on their idea. Tributes to the unsung pioneers from MasidiSo on the 30th anniversary of the climbathon, what tributes should Sabah pay to its unsung pioneers to recognise their founding contribution, I asked current Culture, Tourism and Environment Minister, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun. He said: "I think this is one of the biggest things ever happened to Mt Kinabalu, which obviously by itself is an iconic brand, but adding value to it… obviously the climbathon is doing that. "As I say, Sabah has become more well known because international participants from all over the world come to compete, they go back to talk about it and indirectly they become our spokes persons. That's the biggest benefits Sabah has gained from the climbathon," Masidi said. "Having said that, I must thank and pay tribute to those who came out with the first idea, those who were the first runners who were actually the staff of Kinabalu Park themselves. I think they had a vision and that vision has become a reality and year after year, the climbathon has become better and better." On the other hand, he said: "If we look at it purely in terms of tourism, it may not have the desired effect because the number of participants is limited but if it is looked at as a big promotion for Sabah I think the climbathon has achieved its goal." Looking backwards to move forwardBut as Danish philosopher, Soreen Kierkegaard, has said: "Life must be lived forward but can only be understood backwards."What then is the way forward for the Climbathon?"To me, the way forward is basically to become better but if you talk bout distance there is nothing much we can do given its height is fixed at 4095m and you cannot increase or decrease that," Masidi said. Ideas to move forward are limitless, he said.One forward thinking idea could be expanding the number of races to specialised groups, because Mt Kinabalu has its limits, he said. In fact, the 30h climbathon had to be cut short to just from Kinabalu Park headquarters to Panar Laban at 11,000ft instead of destination Low's Peak, because strong winds and driving sleets hit the mountain on Oct 15 – the day of the race. Hence the worse the climate change becomes, there may be more such uncertainties and cancellations to the peak in the years ahead.No outright cancellation come what storms But irrespective of how stormy race days may be, the show must go on, as was the case on Oct 15, when outright cancellation was not entertained, Masidi said. "It goes to show that safety is our overriding consideration but at the end of the day, the international participants are all eager to run, if we say totally cancelled, I can't imagine the disappointment. If you look at the prize money (RM8,000, 1st prize), it's very little, so it's not the money people are interested in, just participating is a win in itself," he said. "Like marathons, some people go all over the world to run but they know they cannot win yet they are so compulsive because being there is already a win!" Gabriel Sinit was the man: Park Director As an insider, current Director of Sabah Parks, Dr Jamili Nais, pinned down the first climbathon pioneer specifically to Gabriel Sinit – former chief of rangers. Because of a park related operation, Gabriel brought together the park rangers to test ther stamina and organised the first in-house mountain race.""So we have the climbathon today because people like Gabriel started it," Jamili noted.Playing host to Super world final: Adlin "Of course, this is a tribute to the pioneer who started it simply because it is very challenging. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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