Fifth-time lucky for Favre

KUNDASANG: It was fifth time lucky for Favre Corinne from France when she won the women’s category of the TM 22nd Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon 2008 for the first time yesterday.

Favre, 38, won the world’s toughest mountain race with a time of 3:17.27s, which was also her fastest time so far and pocketed the top prize of US$4,500. She led the race from the start and was also the first to reach the summit with a time of 2:00.40s and received a gold pendant.

Local hopeful Danny Kuilin Gongot took second place in 3:26.14s and 2008 Mt Fuji champion Kambara Yuri from Japan finished third in 3:37.02s. Both of them respectively pocketed US$4,000 and US$3,500.

When met after the race, Favre attributed her win to the absence of record-holder Anna Pichtrova from the Czech Republic who holds the record in 3:06.54s which she created in 2004, as well as her year round preparations.

“Anna is very strong and I always finish in second place when she is around. My favourite part was when going down from the mountain because it involved a lot of technical skills,” she said.

Favre had thrice been playing second fiddle to Anna in 2002 during her debutante race, and 2004 and 2005.

“I had the confidence of winning and I am very happy as I also recorded a good time today, compared to three years ago where my best time was 3:28.00s,” she said.

Prior to the Climbathon, Favre who is a teacher and ski instructor said she had been doing a lot of racing and cross-country racing at the Alps, preparing for the gruelling race yesterday.

Danny, 42, who finished third last year said prior to the race she was aiming to finish among the top four.

The full-time farmer from Kg Nadau, Tamparuli who has been competing regularly for the past 10 years said she was in good form yesterday but she did not think of winning.

“I had my normal training this year, even though I had just competed at the Mt Fuji race recently. I went up the mountain twice during training,” she said.

“I am also happy to beat Kambara because she defeated me during the Mt Fuji race, so I settled the score” she said.

Meanwhile, former three-time men’s open champion and local hero Guainus Salagan, 42, switched to the men’s veteran open this year and won the title with a time of 3:12.48s.

“I had no problem with the race even though I trained for a short time. This was also the first time I took part in the veteran event,” said Guainus, who has been racing at the Climbathon for the last 20 years since 1988.

The second place also went to another local – Sarun Sadi in 3:19.14s, while the third place was clinched by Mitsuo Morioka from Japan in 3:21.28s. The top three runner’s respectively received RM1,000, RM800 and RM600.

The race that involved running up and down the mountain (4095.2m) covering a total distance of 21km for both the women’s and men’s veteran was flagged off by Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Ellron Alfred Angian at Timpohon Gate at 7am yesterday.

A total of 70 runners took part in the women’s open and 151 signed up for the men’s veteran category.