Event in Sabah
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The Most Beautiful Thing (TMBT) Ultra-Trail Marathon
Sports
Date : 14 - 15 Sep 2024
Venue : Kota Belud and Ranau Districts
Website : https://borneoultra.com/tmbt1/
Event Descriptions :
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 with the 30k and 50k categories finishing at the viewpoint to Mt. Kinabalu at the township of Pekan Nabalu. The 109k 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.
Race Categories
DISTANCE CATEGORIES
The 12th version of the TMBT Ultra-Trail® Marathon will tentatively have the following distance categories:
109 km
50 km
30 km
37 km night challenge
12 km
7.5 km fun/family run
The 109, 50, 30 and 12 km categories start on Saturday morning at Kg. Lingkubang, Kota Belud. The 37 km night challenge starts Saturday night at midnight at "Perkasa" hotel at Kundasang (the halfway and finish station for the 109 km). The 7.5 km loop starts Sunday morning from the finish area for the 109 km at "Perkasa". The 7.5 and 12 km categories are designed to allow newcomers to experience the thrills of trail running with the 7.5 km category characterized as a "fun" or "family" run which is not meant to be competitive. All finishers of the 7.5 km run will receive a finisher medal, but there will not be trophies or podium recognition for the individual categories except for the youth category. The 30 km, 37 km night challenge and 50 km categories are designed for intermediate trail runners while the full 109 km category is catering for experienced trail runners.
The 7.5 km course may be entered as a stand-alone race or as an "add-on" race to one of the other race categories at a discounted rate (please refer to registrations). The 7.5 km race is intended to give people a chance to experience a small section of the second half of the 100 km course. Although short, it has significant elevation loss and gain, and should not be underestimated. There are no age restrictions for children accompanied by a parent or guardian, and we will have a special category for accompanied youth (12 years or younger) for this distance category. Maps and race course stats are shown under "Route Profile".
The 12 km, 30 km, 50 km and 109 km race courses start at the same location, Kg. Lingkubang in Kota Belud District along the Kadamaian river. The different categories will be staggered in time to reduce congestion - please refer to Itinerary.
The 2024 routes are tentatively very similar to the 2023 routes. We are working on further extending the new trail section of the "100 km" route to avoid the 3km highway section. Amendments to the 12, 30, 50 and 100k routes to avoid congestion at hanging bridges between W1 and W2 introduced in 2023 worked well and will be repeated. Amendment to the 37k night challenge and 100 km routes before W10 to avoid a slippery forest section will likely also be maintained depending on the trail conditions closer to the race. Any last-minute course amendments for safety reasons will be conveyed before the start of the race.