Borneo International Marathon | |
---|---|
Date | May |
Location | Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia |
Event type | Road |
Distance | Marathon, Half marathon, 10K run |
Established | 2008 |
Course records | Men's: 2:25:00 (2008) Sammy Kiptoo Women's: 3:00:05 (2015) Azusa Nojiri |
Official site | Borneo International Marathon |
The Borneo International Marathon is a marathon held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia. The inaugural race was held on 12 October 2008. [1] This is the first marathon in the state for over 20 years. [2]
The Borneo International Marathon was started by four friends and runners: Andrew Voon, Christopher Nielsen, Urs Weisskop and Simon Amos.
The heat that runners face in Borneo is the biggest challenge in this event and water stations are critical to ensuring that runners avoid collapse. Volunteers provide drinks, energy foods and marshalling along the route and watch for runners who may be suffering from the effects of the heat.
After 2 years the directors team began to shrink. Urs and Christopher left Sabah for work and Simon eventually became unable to dedicate the time and money to make the event happen. Andrew Voon continued until he died in June 2011 while running at his local park.
The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants receiving refunds minus a 7% administration fee. [3]
The original route [4] took runners past the University of Malaysia Sabah and 1Borneo Hypermall on the first leg of the full marathon then back past Jalan Istiadat and through the city out to Tanjung Aru before turning round to return to the sports stadium. The new route enters the university campus and introduces some tricky hills to the hill-averse distance runners making the marathon one of the toughest in Asia. [5]
This list of winners below only applies to Full Marathon (42 km) only.
Key: Course record
Sarawak is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in the region of East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, Kalimantan to the south, and Brunei in the north. The state capital, Kuching, is the largest city in Sarawak, the economic centre of the state, and the seat of the Sarawak state government. Other cities and towns in Sarawak include Miri, Sibu, and Bintulu. As of the 2020 Malaysia census, the population of Sarawak was 2.453 million. Sarawak has an equatorial climate with tropical rainforests and abundant animal and plant species. It has several prominent cave systems at Gunung Mulu National Park. Rajang River is the longest river in Malaysia; Bakun Dam, one of the largest dams in Southeast Asia, is located on one of its tributaries, the Balui River. Mount Murud is the highest point in the state. Sarawak is the only state of Malaysia with a Christian majority.
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