KOTA BELUD: Elite runners from Sabah have earned their well-deserved race points to qualify for the final Asia Trail Master Championship season.
Despite the scorching weather yesterday, Milton Amat from Kundasang defended his title for the second consecutive year in the 110km category at the two-day Kadamaian Adventure Race 2024.
The 42-year-old farmer finished in 16:45:59, one hour and four minutes ahead of another elite Sabahan veteran runner, Justin Giam, at the finishing point at Kampung Tambatuon here.
Third place in the overall men's 110km category went to Haziq Asyraf, who finished in 17:54:54.
In the overall women's 110km category, the top three places were all won by Sabahans.
Housewife Rejlen James, 35, from Manggatal finished at 20:30:31; Adelinah Lintanga from here clocked 21 hours and 44 minutes; while Dazaree Joannes, also from here, arrived about two minutes later.
First place in the 60km overall men's category went to Wilsen Singgin, followed by Oswald Maikol and Yasbie Ismail. In the women's category, the top three places were Shamiera Auther, Lolitah Lintanga, and Lynda Marylyn.
This year, the ATM has implemented a "best of four" system where a runner's best four race results will count towards their points total before the ATM Championship final race on Sept 14.
During the final race, held around the world heritage site of Mount Kinabalu near here, only the five male and five female runners with the most points will qualify to represent their country.
Meanwhile, the two-day KAR event, which began at 5 am on Saturday, also featured 35km and 12km categories.
The event organizer presented a grandmaster honorary certificate to Masafumi Yamamoto. To achieve grandmaster recognition, participants must complete six different races of at least 70km or 4,500 height metres within a period of two years.