KUNDASANG: It was an all-foreign affair in the men's Open of the 19th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon Championship that ended Sunday. All the top 10 finishers were foreign athletes, with Recardo Mejia of Mexico emerging champion with a time of 2:41.41s
The win is Mejia's second title. He first won the event in 2001 then followed up with second placings in 2003 and 2004.
The 42-year-old runner pocketed US$4,500 and a 24-carat gold pendant for being the first athlete to reach the summit with a time of 1:38.45s. From then on it was a close race from second to fifth positions with runners going head-to-head all the way.
In second place was Italian Dapit Fulvio with a time of 2:48.18s followed by 2000 champion Jean Pellisier who clocked 2:49.57s while the fourth and fifth finishers were Neido Jose Guiller of Venezuela and Simon Booth of Great Britain with a time of 2:52.38s and 2:52.50s.
Mejia when met after the race said that he had no problem in running up or down the 4,095.2 metre-high Mount Kinabalu.
"The only thing that matters to me during my run was winning the race," he said with a grin.
Describing himself an old person, Mejia said everything was excellent?I did not encounter anything that could spoil my run."
"It feels good to win after a long and tiring run," he said, adding that he is satisfied with the time he clocked.
"What's important is becoming the champion," he added. Mejia revealed his next race would be the Mexico 10km race next month.
Dapit Fulvio said coming second behind Mejia was good enough for the Italian who won US$4,000 for his effort.
Fulvio described Mejia as a runner from another planet.
"I was aiming and pushing myself to win the first place but it was hard," he said.
"Mejia is really fast and strong³t was hard to overtake him right from the start to the finishing line," he said.
"I had no problems with the race except it was too steep when running up the mountain," he said, adding that the race was perfect with its beautiful weather.
A total of 125 runners from Malaysia, Italy, Great Britain, Mexico, Spain, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Thailand took part in the yearly championship, which was flagged off by Environment, Cultural and Tourism Assistant Minister Datuk Karim Bujang.
The race is also accredited as the finale of the 2005 World Skyrunning Championship circuit under the Federation of Sports At Altitude.
Courtesy of Daily Express
No comments:
Post a Comment