Winners of 20th Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon Men Open

Ricardo Mejia of Mexico retains his title for the Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon by beating more than 130 runners from 21 countires on Sunday. This win also enables him to take the crown of the 7-series Buff- Skyrunner World Series Federation For Sports At Altitude 2006, after collecting 400 points in all. 43-year old Ricardo had won the title (Mt Kinabalu Climbathon) on 2001 and 2005. The second place goes to a local runner, Mius Balinting, who is a mere 500m behind Ricardo on the asphalt road at home stretch. 37-year old Mius plants vegetables in his own small plot of land on the foot hill of Mt Kinabalu when not competing. Incidentally, Mius is the first local runner who comes closest to clinching the title after 10 years. The title was won by Guianus Salagan, (who is in 9th position this year), 10 years ago when there were not so many competitors from overseas. Another Sabahan, Safrey Sumping (a moutanin guide), wins the third position. The excellent performance by Mius and Safrey has spurred the local sports authority to sit up and starts to organise programs to revive the interests of this sport and to relive our past glory, hopefully. Below is a list of the top 10 of the event :

Position	Name	Country	Clocked
1	Ricardo Mejia	Mexico	2:50:52
2	Mius bin Balinting	Malaysia	2:51:44
3	Safrey Sumping	Malaysia	2:53:22
4	Tadao Yokoyama	Japan	2:54:02
5	Dapit Fulvio	Italy	2:54:43
6	Agusti Roc Amador	Spain	2:55:44
7	Marco Rusconi	Italy	2:56:08
8	Jessed Hemandex Gispert	Spain	2:58:23
9	Guianus Salagan	Malaysia	3:03:48
10	Madamin Ghun	Malaysia	3:04:37
11	Sapirin Sumping	Malaysia	3:04:54