Borneo TMBT Ultra Marathon is back!
As announced via social media last weekend, we are happy to confirm that Borneo TMBT Ultra Marathon returns to the Asia Trail Master Championship series after a 2-year-hiatus. The classic event near Kota Kinabalu in Sabah was the first ever ATM points race in Malaysia, and this year will offer 100K runners again with a chance to boost their 2018 championship points and their Grandmaster Quest. The event will be held on 1/2 September and also marks the beginning of a very busy September in ATM, with Hakuba Trails, Bandung Ultra 100, Vietnam Mountain Marathon and Ijen Trailrunning occupying the other weekend slots that month.
Race registration for Borneo TMBT Ultra Marathon is already open, and you better do not wait too long!
The event will stay loyal to its traditional courses of 100K, 50K and 25K and is a genuine test of physical and mental strength through the mountainous rainforest of Sabah on Borneo. Please note that only the 100K will offer ATM Championship and Grandmaster Quest points.
The TMBT is Malaysia's oldest Ultra-Trail® Marathon with the inaugural race held in 2011. The acronym stands for "The Most Beautiful Thing", and makes reference to the iconic Mount Kinabalu, which at 4,100 m is one of Southeast Asia's highest peaks and a world heritage site. The TMBT course is set over the ridges and in the river valleys around the base of Mt. Kinabalu, with the highest elevation on the race course just under 2000m.
The event takes runners from the quaint native villages at the foothills on the western side of Mount Kinabalu towards the southern side of the mountain. The 100k category continues around the base of Mount Kinabalu and to the South-Eastern ridges of the mountain to finish in the village of Kundasang.
The routes are challenging but beautiful and give runners an opportunity to experience remote villages and follow village trails through a varied landscape of forest and cultivated areas. Trails pass paddy fields and climb steep ridges clad in pineapples with amazing views to Mt. Kinabalu and over the surrounding ridges and valleys which are often shrouded in clouds. The routes cross numerous streams with refreshing water on a hot day, while most larger rivers are crossed via hanging, bamboo or log bridges. Part of the trails follow the old heritage trails that used to be a part of the old buffalo trading routes linking villagers from Kota Belud to Bundu Tuhan.
The race has a reputation for being challenging to complete with a combination of steep terrain and technical trail sections, and the weather, usually hot in the first part of the day and with a good chance of tropical showers in the afternoon, often add to the challenge.
