Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon

The Hall of fame of 21st Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon

The Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon is an international skyrunning competition held for the first time in 1987 (went international in 1988). It runs every year on Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, in October, within the Kinabalu Park, with the race part of the Skyrunner World Series. ^[1]

Background and history

The Kinabalu Climbathon has been held since 1987 and is well-known amongst the international mountain running community, especially since its inclusion in the annual International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) Skyrunner World Series race circuit in 2004. ^{[2] [3]} In its early years, the climbathon was only a fun race among the Sabah Parks staff before being expanded internationally. ^[4]

Winners

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Women's winner	Ref.
14th	2000	Jean Pellissier	Angela Mudge	[5] [6]
15th	2001	Ricardo Mejía	Anna Pichrtová	[7]
16th	2002	Agustí Roc	Anna Pichrtová	[7]
17th	2003	Marco De Gasperi	Danny Kuilin Gongot	[8] [9]
18th	2004	Bruno Brunod	Anna Pichrtová	[7] [10] [11]
19th	2005	Ricardo Mejía	Anna Pichrtová	[7] [12] [13]
20th	2006	Ricardo Mejía	Anna Pichrtová	[7] [13]
21st	2007	Kílian Jornet	Monica Ardid Ubed	[14]
22nd	2008	Agustí Roc	Corinne Favre	[15]
23rd	2009	Kílian Jornet	Emanuela Brizio	[16] [17]
24th	2010	Marco De Gasperi	Núria Picas	[18] [19] [20]
25th	2011	Kílian Jornet	Danny Kuilin Gongot	[9] [21] [22]
26th	2012	Kílian Jornet	Emelie Forsberg	[23] [24]
27th	2013	Daved Simpat	Ruth Croft	[25] [26]
28th	2014	Dai Matsumoto	Ruth Croft	[26] [27] [28]
	2015	not held
29th	2016	Safrey Sumping	Sandi Menchi Catlona Abahan	[29]
30th	2017	Safrey Sumping	Sandi Menchi Catlona Abahan	[30] [31]
	2018	not held
	2019
	2020
	2021
	2022
	2023
31st	2024	Walter Herman	Sandi Menchi Catlona Abahan	[32] [33] [34]
32nd	2025	Ghiano Gianluca	Anastasia Rubtsova Yurievna	[35] [36] [37]

See also

• Skyrunner World Series

References

1. "NEW COURSE RECORDS AT MOUNT KINABALU CLIMBATHON: GHIANO AND RUBTSOVA CONQUER MALAYSIA'S ICONIC SKYRACE". Merrell Skyrunner World Series. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
2. "Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon - Background". climbathon.my. Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
3. Kler 2016, p. 118.
4. Kler 2016, p. 122.
5. Costa, Giancarlo (28 October 2023). "E' morto Jean Pellissier, lutto nel mondo degli sport di montagna" [Jean Pellissier has died, mourning the world of mountain sports]. runningpassion.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
6. "Sport Digest [Athletics]". The Herald (Glasgow). 27 September 1999. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
7. mtnath (17 May 2019). "Trail runners who run roads / Road runners who run trails". fjellvei. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
8. Lawless, Robbie (13 January 2014). "Of Mountains and Men: Marco De Gasperi". I•Run•Far. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
9. "Danny Kuilin, gana en el Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon" [Danny Kuilin, wins the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon]. Revista Trail (in Spanish). 2011. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
10. "18th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon". corsainmontagna.it. 3 October 2004. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
11. Čermák, Petr (4 April 2005). "Kde leží nejpřístupnější čtyřtisícovka na světě" [Where is the most accessible four-thousander in the world?]. iDNES.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
12. "Skyrunner - 2005 Champions Decided on Kinabalu". sleepmonsters.com. 6 October 2005. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
13. Pesenti, Giorgio (30 August 2011). "Ricardo Mejia, il mito dello skyrunning mondiale, correrà l'Aosta-Becca di Nona-Charvensod" [Ricardo Mejia, the legend of world skyrunning, will run the Aosta-Becca di Nona-Charvensod race]. runningpassion.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
14. "С ДНЕМ РОЖДЕНИЯ, КИЛИАН ДЖОРНЕТ!!!" [НAPPY BIRTHDAY KILIAN JORNET!!!]. trail-run.ru (in Russian). 27 October 2016. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
15. "Prize presentation for the first place winners of TM 22nd Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon 2008". 24 August 2008. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025– via Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Sabah.
16. "Burgada dari Sepanyol juara Climbathon dan Skyrunner World Series" [Burgada from Spain wins Climbathon and Skyrunner World Series] (in Malay). Bernama. 25 October 2009. Archived from the original on 23 June 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2025– via mStar.
17. "Intervista a Kilian Jornet Burgada" [Interview with Kilian Jornet Burgada]. asfalchi.it (in Italian). 10 November 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
18. "Gasperi Juara Climbaton Gunung Kinabalu" [Gasperi Wins Mount Kinabalu Climbing Championship] (in Malay). Bernama. 24 October 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025– via mStar.
19. "De Gasperi s'impone nella Kinabalu Climbathon nel Borneo malese" [De Gasperi wins the Kinabalu Climbathon in Malaysian Borneo]. corsainmontagna.it (in Italian). 25 October 2010. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
20. "Núria Picas pot ajudar Catalunya a guanyar el títol mundial, a Malàisia" [Núria Picas can help Catalonia win the world title in Malaysia]. regió7.cat (in Catalan). 23 October 2010. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
21. Costa, Giancarlo (24 October 2011). "Kinabalu Climbathon (Malesia): l'ultimo atto delle grandi sfide di skyrunning va a Kilian Jornet Burgada che supera nel finale Marco De Gasperi" [Kinabalu Climbathon (Malaysia): the final act of the great skyrunning challenges goes to Kilian Jornet Burgada who overtakes Marco De Gasperi in the finale]. runningpassion.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 6 December 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
22. Rainer Fong, Durie (23 October 2011). "Rubber tapper claims fourth title in challenging Mt Kinabalu race". The Star. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
23. "Kilian Jornet vence en el Kinabalu y se lleva su cuarta Copa del Mundo" [Kilian Jornet wins on Kinabalu and takes his fourth World Cup]. Carreras por montaña (in Spanish). 14 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
24. Costa, Giancarlo (16 October 2012). "Kilian Jornet Burgada e Emelie Forsberg incoronati Campioni del Mondo di Skyrunning alla Kinabalu Climbathon in Malesia" [Kilian Jornet Burgada and Emelie Forsberg crowned Skyrunning World Champions at the Kinabalu Climbathon in Malaysia]. runningpassion.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
25. Lo, Elaine (10 December 2019). "From Mountain Porter To Malaysia's Number One Ultra Runner". Running Malaysia. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
26. Horanyi, Eszter; Powell, Bryon (18 April 2024). "Ruth Croft: An Evolving Relationship with Running". I•Run•Far. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
27. "Japanese runner wins 28th International Mount Kinabalu Climbathon". Bernama. 18 October 2014. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025– via New Straits Times.
28. Goh, Roy (4 November 2014). "A race like no other". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
29. Laura (17 October 2016). "Amazing Borneo Mountain Guide grabs gold in 29th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon". Amazing Borneo. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
30. Junaidi, Willie Jude (15 October 2017). "Saffrey Sumping kekal juara" [Saffrey Sumping remains champion]. Berita Harian (in Malay). Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
31. "Filipina Sandi Abahan retains Elite Women's crown". The Borneo Post. 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025– via PressReader.
32. "Walter, Daved top Climbathon". Daily Express. 6 October 2024. Archived from the original on 6 October 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
33. "Porter Wins 31st Mount Kinabalu Climbathon". MountKinabalu.com. 7 October 2024. Archived from the original on 2 August 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
34. "CTE Alumna defends title in International Climbathon". University of the Cordilleras. 10 October 2024. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
35. Miwil, Olivia (19 October 2025). "Italian Ghiano Gianluca wins 32nd Mt Kinabalu international climbathon". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
36. Gomelsky, Vyacheslav (27 October 2025). "Приморская спортсменка одержала две победы подряд на этапах мировой серии скайраннинга" [A Primorsky athlete won two consecutive victories at the Skyrunning World Series stages]. sport25.pro (in Russian). Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
37. "Italian, Russian, and Sabahan Champions Shine at 32nd Mount Kinabalu Climbathon". MountKinabalu.com. 20 October 2025. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.

Bibliography

• Kler, Balvinder Kaur (2016). "The world's toughest mountain race: Key success factors of 25 years of the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon". International Journal of Event and Festival Management. 7 (2): 117–136. doi:10.1108/IJEFM-02-2016-0011 – via ResearchGate.

External links

Media related to Mount Kinabalu Climbathon at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website