Borneo International Marathon

Borneo International Marathon
Date May
Location Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Event type Road
Distance Marathon, Half marathon, 10K run
Established 2008
Course records Men's: 2:25:00 (2008)
Sammy Kiptoo
Women's: 3:00:05 (2015)
Azusa Nojiri
Official site Borneo International Marathon

The Borneo International Marathon is a marathon held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia. The inaugural race was held on 12 October 2008. This is the first marathon in the state for over 20 years.

The Borneo International Marathon was started by four friends and runners: Andrew Voon, Christopher Nielsen, Urs Weisskop and Simon Amos.

The heat that runners face in Borneo is the biggest challenge in this event and water stations are critical to ensuring that runners avoid collapse. Volunteers provide drinks, energy foods and marshalling along the route and watch for runners who may be suffering from the effects of the heat.

After 2 years the directors team began to shrink. Urs and Christopher left Sabah for work and Simon eventually became unable to dedicate the time and money to make the event happen. Andrew Voon continued until he died in June 2011 while running at his local park.

The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants receiving refunds minus a 7% administration fee.

Route

The original route took runners past the University of Malaysia Sabah and 1Borneo Hypermall on the first leg of the full marathon then back past Jalan Istiadat and through the city out to Tanjung Aru before turning round to return to the sports stadium. The new route enters the university campus and introduces some tricky hills to the hill-averse distance runners making the marathon one of the toughest in Asia.

Winners

This list of winners below only applies to Full Marathon (42 km) only.
Key:   Course record

Edition Year Men's winner Nationality Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Nationality Time (h:m:s)
1st 2008 Sammy Kiptoo Kenya 2:25:00 Fridah Lodepa Kenya 3:18:04
2nd 2009 Johnson Tarus Kenya 2:31:00 Cecilia Wangui Kenya 3:05:59
3rd 2010 Peter Keter Kenya 2:38:00 Tagami Mai Japan 3:23:28
4th 2011 Moses Kiptoo Kenya 2:31:19 Susan Chepkwony Kenya 3:34:09
5th 2012 Fabian-Osmond Daimon Malaysia 2:48:09 Claire Walton Great Britain 3:35:38
6th 2013 Collins Kimosop Kenya 2:35:21 Kona Liau Malaysia 3:38:27
7th 2014 John Njihia Kenya 2:46:41 Kona Liau Malaysia 3:44:59
8th 2015 Safrey Sumping Malaysia 3:12:28 Azusa Nojiri Japan 3:00:05
9th 2016 Noel Tillor Philippines 2:48:10 Ting Yu China 3:52:43
10th 2017 Kentaro Masuda Japan 2:58:23 Azusa Nojiri Japan 3:02:50
11th 2018 Jeorge Andrade Philippines 2:54:14 Nicci Chapman Great Britain 3:34:05
12th 2019 Safree Sabdin Malaysia 2:49:44 Linda Then Yee Malaysia 3:46:17
2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic