Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew (middle) sending off Team 2 of the SAR-HAT at Timpohon Gate, Mount Kinabalu entrance for the training at Panar Laban on Tuesday (June 6).
KOTA KINABALU: There are plans to have the iconic Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon, last held six years ago, to make a comeback as soon as next year, says Datuk Christina Liew.
The state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister said she is hopeful that it would be revived after Sabah Parks completed working out the re-opening of the route used for the race.
She said this after flagging off the simulation training programme for the second team of the 30-member Search and Rescue High Altitude Team (SAR-HAT) at Timpohon Gate, the entrance of Mount Kinabalu, in Kundasang on Tuesday (June 6).
Team 1 had left for the training location at Panar Laban on Monday (June 5).
"Today, I am happy to announce that we are going to resume the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon which was stopped in 2017.
"Hopefully, we can make it happen by next year after Sabah Parks (under the state Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry) has made the necessary preparations to re-open the Climbathon route," Liew said.
According to her, the race would be part of a series of international events to be hosted by her ministry to take Sabah tourism to the next level.
Liew added that among others in the pipeline were an international golf tournament and Miss World Malaysia pageant which the ministry had agreed to support.
The Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon was an international skyrunning competition held every October since 1987, where it was one of the legs of the Skyrunner World Series until 2010.
After three decades of promoting South-East Asia's highest peak, Climbathon was discontinued as it was believed the objective of promoting the mountain had been achieved.
The last event held in 2017 marked its 30th inception with 116 local and global runners participating from 18 countries.
