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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn the Men’s Elite field are Daniel Antonioli of Italy, world No. 7; Alex Oberbacher of Italy, No. 11; Shoma Otagiri of Japan, No. 18; and Luis Ovalle Rodriguez of Chile, No. 33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Women’s Elite field are Svetlana Nurmukhametova of Russia, world No. 6; Vanja Cnops of Russia, No. 23; and June Villarroel of Spain, No. 33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also returning is Sandi Menchi Abahan of the Philippines, who won in 2024 and finished seventh last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sabah’s top challengers in the Men’s Elite are Oswald Maikol, 11th last year; Jude Maikol, 12th; and Sheron Sariman, 13th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Men’s Veteran category, defending champion Daved Simpat will face fellow Sabahans Raichin Sungkit, Safrey Sumping, Milton Amat, Tivel Peter Ramo and Pettry Osman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said World Series status had strengthened Sabah’s standing as a global adventure destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Climbathon represents the spirit of Sabah \u2014 challenging, resilient and connected to nature,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Its place in the World Series puts Mount Kinabalu alongside top mountain-running destinations on four continents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As one of the last races before the Grand Finale, this year’s event carries extra significance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the race would also boost tourism by bringing athletes, families and supporters to experience Sabah’s culture, communities and landscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The public is invited to the flag-off at 6.30am on Oct 18 at the Kinabalu Hall car park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Information: www.climbathon.com.my<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KOTA KINABALU: 6 October 2026 About 250 elite and experienced mountain runners from 12 countries will compete in the 33rd Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon on Oct 18. The ITRA-recognised race will have three categories: Men’s Elite, Women’s Elite and Men’s Veteran. The Climbathon returns to the Merrell Skyrunner World Series for a second year. It…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot_20261006_192822_Drive.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}