Harsh weather conditions on the day of the Climbathon proved not to be a hindrance to the participants as they eagerly did warm-up exercises around Kinabalu Park as early as 5.30AM before flagging off at 7AM. However, due to such weather conditions, the initial race route up to the summit was changed to Panalaban, shortening the route from 26 kilometres to 21 kilometres.

Participants warming up before the race

YB Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun prepares to flag off the race

Amazing Borneo's in-house mountain guide, Safrey Sumping makes us proud once again by defending his title as champion of the 30th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon in the Elite Men's category.

Safrey crossing the finishing line

Competing against 115 participants, two of whom also our in-house mountain guides, Jinus Lianty and Ananias Makim, Safrey clocked-in his win at 2:18:28.

Amazing Borneo's in-house mountain guides

From left: Jinus Lianty, Safrey Sumping, Ananias Makim

Only 1 minute and 9 seconds behind, Lel Kipchirchir from Kenya crossed the finishing line in second place at 2:20:22, followed by Daved Simpat from Malaysia in third place at 2:20:42.

Elite Men's category winners

From left: Lel Kipchirchir, Safrey Sumping, Daved Simpat

Pose of a champ!

It was an exhilirating wait for the results as it was informed that Safrey was far behind on the way up, but quickly caught up to everyone ahead of him on the way down before finally emerging victorious as he crossed the finishing line.

Congralutions to all participants for completing the race route!

For more information on this year's Climbathon, visit MountKinabalu.com