Nervous Safrey hopes to retain title
KOTA KINABALU: The 30th edition of the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon today will present a whole new challenge for Safrey Sumping.
And it is nothing similar to the 13 previous Climbathon races that he had competed in.
When the Climbathon is flagged off at the Kinabalu Park in Kundasang this morning, Safrey knows well that he would have bigger - and tougher - responsibility in chasing not only personal glory but more importantly that of the state and the country.
The reason - Safrey will compete as the defending Elite Men's champion for the first time in his Climbathon career.
"I am not going to lie, I do feel the pressure (as the defending champion)," he said when contacted after he underwent a fifth training at the Mount Kinabalu.
"Just a little bit though," he added with a laugh, "But not to the extent of affecting my preparation or hopefully my performance on race day.
"To be honest I still get nervous before the start of any race and not only in the Climbathon...it still happens despite having been competing for many years.
"I guess it is normal but I know I can handle the situation and be focussed in what I want to do...that is the most important thing."
Having said that, Safrey revealed that he is injury free and in good physical condition for his title defence.
To put weight to the claim, he even skipped the Royal Penguin Ultra Marathon at Everest Region the week before to focus on the Climbathon, although he said work commitments also prevented him from taking part in the former race.
"I've tried the course (running up and down Mount Kinabalu) five times and I feel okay.
"It's going to be hard with some good runners out there but I will keep trying to defend the Elite Men's title," said Safrey who is originally from Ranau.
For the record, the 34-year-old local favourite clinched the Elite Men's title in two hours twentyone minutes and thirty-three seconds (2:21.33s).
He edged highly talented youngster Wincentbert Latius who was timed at 2:22.58s and the unfortunate Kenyan, John Kiprorir Rutto, who settled for third in 2:28.23s after falling towards the end of the race when he was in the lead.
Wincentbert and Rutto will return and will join the likes of former winner Daved Simpat and Sapirin, the elder brother of Safrey, as among the strongest challengers to the latter's title.
The race last year, which was held after a one-year hiatus due to the deadly earthquake in Ranau in 2015, however was shortened as strong winds forced the section toward the summit cancelled due to safety reason.
The changes saw the race shortened to 20km, six kilometres shorter than the original distance.
However, Safrey preferred the Climbathon to cover the whole distance this time around weather permitting.
And he has a strong reason for that.
"The hardest part of the Climbathon is the summit section, to be exact after Laban Rata.
"But, it is also one section of the race that will give us the local runners, in particular, an advantage over foreign competitors.
"For me, it is a crucial section to open up advantage over other runners," said Safrey, who works as a Mount Kinabalu mountain guide.
A total of 129 runners from 19 countries have registered for the Climbathon. They are from Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Kenya, Thailand, South Africa, United States, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Out of the total runners, 105 of them will compete in the Elite Men's category while another 24 runners for the Elite Women's race.
Sandi Menchi Catlona of the Philippines too will return to defend her title so are Kenya's Jepchircher Kimeli and Perak's Tahira Najmunisaa Muhammad, who were second and third last year.
Sabah's hopes will rest on Danny Kuilin and Muidah Bolinting, who are former winners of the Climbathon, dubbed the 'World Toughest Mountain Race'.