With her third placing in the 22nd Mount Kinabulu International Climbathon on August 24th, Namban’s own Yuri Kanbara just keeps racking up the impressive achievements.
Yuri finished the 21 km in 3:37:02, a 15 minute improvement over her 2007 time. If 3:37 does not sound very impressive for a half marathon, consider that the course rises 1600 m vertically in just 8.5 km, starting at an altitude of 1,866 m and rising to over 4000 m. And it is not a one-way race; after scaling the summit, the runners must then make a quad-breaking descent to a finish point slightly lower than the start. According to Sabah Tourism, the average climber takes two days to make the same journey!