Some say it’s the first ever, some say it’s the first in more than 20 years. So I guess the last time was not too successful…

And apparently, it’s the only marathon to be organised in Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world.

The inaugural Borneo International Marathon (BIM) was on 12th October 2008 in the middle of Kota Kinabalu City.

The full results were made available on the 14th of October; some observations when going thru the list:

- Only 6 people broke the 3-hour barrier for the full marathon.

- The 10 or so Kenyans placed among the top places in all the events they participated in. Disney mentioned that they ran so fast that even his auto-focus servo couldn’t keep up. The top 4 placings in the full marathon - open category were all by Kenyans - the top 2 (Sammy Kiprop Kiptoo and Geoffrey Kiprotich Birgen) were timed at truly world-class times, around 2:25. I guess one can say that they run faster running a marathon than the normal guy running one round of the Likas Stadium jogging track. Even elite marathon runner Mark Williams (England), who finished 6th, timed a relatively distant 2:43.

- Some of the familiar names in Sabahan cross-country and Kinabalu Climbathon events also took part, and their times suggested that while they are supremely fit, they faced tough opposition, and need to be specialists in this event in order to place higher in future, eg:
(i) Ahmadul Tahir finished 12th in Full Marathon (Open), at 3:50, about 90 minutes behind the winner!
(ii) Duanis Indam finished 3rd in Full Marathon (Veteran), at 3:26
(iii) Yusop Tungkob finished 3rd in Full Marathon (Veteran), at 3:31
(iv) Mius Balanting finished 5th in Half Marathon (Open), at 1:31. The winner was Wilson Kibogo (Kenya) in 1:11.
(v) Safrey Sumping finished 6th in the same event above, at 1:32.
(vi) Guianus Salagan won the Half Marathon (Veteran) at 1:22.
(vii) Kuyun Sidau finished 12th in the same event above, at 1:45. He was famous at my alma mater for being the man to beat in long-distance running.

- Dr Helen Lasimbang clocked 5:35 in Full Marathon - Veteran. Not bad at all Dr!

- Kenny Sia, arguably Malaysia’s most well-known blogger competed in the half marathon - open category and finished 107th out of 160, in 2:42. The slowest finisher in his category was Emennial Fung in 3:46. The event was won by who else but a Kenyan, Wilson Kibogo in 1:11. Malaysian M Ramadass did the nation proud by breaking Kenya’s domination by finishing 2nd in 1:13, beating another Kenyan Micah Kiprotich to 3rd, who did 1:18.

- Jenap Said, the “Catwoman of Marathons” (I wonder how she can bear the heat running in that bodysuit) finished 11th in her category (half marathon - veteran), at 2:25.

- Chan Meng Hui, 78 of Singapore, was the oldest participant and took part in the full marathon, but I could not see his name in the results, perhaps he did not finish the race.

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