Borneo International Marathon Explained

Bgcolour:lightblue
Date:May
Location:Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Type:Road
Distance:Marathon, Half marathon, 10K run
Est:2008
Record:Men's: 2:25:00 (2008)
Sammy Kiptoo
Women's: 3:00:05 (2015)
Azusa Nojiri

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]

Route

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]

Winners

This list of winners below only applies to Full Marathon (42 km) only.
Key:

EditionYearMen's winnerNationalityTime (h:m:s)Women's winnerNationalityTime (h:m:s)
1st2008Sammy Kiptoo2:25:00Fridah Lodepa3:18:04
2nd2009Johnson Tarus2:31:00Cecilia Wangui3:05:59
3rd2010Peter Keter2:38:00Tagami Mai3:23:28
4th2011Moses Kiptoo2:31:19Susan Chepkwony3:34:09
5th2012Fabian-Osmond Daimon2:48:09Claire Walton3:35:38
6th2013Collins Kimosop2:35:21Kona Liau3:38:27
7th2014John Njihia2:46:41Kona Liau3:44:59
8th2015Safrey Sumping3:12:28Azusa Nojiri3:00:05
9th2016Noel Tillor2:48:10Ting Yu3:52:43
10th2017Kentaro Masuda2:58:23Azusa Nojiri3:02:50
11th2018Jeorge Andrade2:54:14Nicci Chapman3:34:05
12th2019Safree Sabdin2:49:44Linda Then Yee3:46:17
2020cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic
2021
2022
13th2023Lê Văn Tuấn2:42:49Nguyễn Thị Đường3:16:41
14th2024Trịnh Đình An2:50:11Nông Thị Chang3:14:08

References

  1. Web site: Marathon List for 2008. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS). 12 April 2020.
  2. Web site: Borneo Marathon holds huge tourism potential for Sabah. Daily Express. Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment of Sabah. 18 August 2008. 22 January 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20110727151758/http://kepkas.sabah.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=392:borneo-marathon-holds-huge-tourism-potential-for-sabah&catid=1:latest-news. 27 July 2011. dead.
  3. Web site: Borneo International Marathon cancelled, refunds underway. Tee. Kenneth. The Malay Mail. 9 April 2020. 12 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200412015250/https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/04/09/borneo-international-marathon-cancelled-refunds-underway/1855016. 12 April 2020. live.
  4. Web site: Borneo International Marathon 2012: concurred and conquered . https://web.archive.org/web/20120512064706/http://arminbaniaz.com/2012/05/borneo-international-marathon-2012.html . dead . 12 May 2012 . 7 May 2012 . Stay Tune... . Armin Baniaz . Pahamin . 3 May 2019 .
  5. Web site: Race Route. Borneo Marathon. 12 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20151127092626/http://borneomarathon.com/race-route/. 27 November 2015. dead.

External links