RANAU: Sabahan Milton Amat is glad that he could defend his title in The Most Beautiful Thing (TMBT) Ultra-Trail Marathon for the third time, winning the event in 2017 and 2019.
The 40-year-old farmer from Kundasang near here completed the 109km race, beating Japanese Hisashi Kitamura.
TMBT is Malaysia's oldest Ultra-TrailĀ®Marathon which took place in 2011.
After putting its 10th anniversary on hold for two years due to Covid-19 pandemic, TMBT made a comeback yesterday.
Milton said he had never stopped training despite the pandemic.
Nevertheless, he described the race which was held at the base of Mount Kinabalu as difficult.
"This time, they have made some changes including the single trail at Kampung Kiau in Kota Belud which was very steep and slippery.
"The scorching weather especially at Mesilau with the highest elevation of 1,850m made the run more challenging.
"After running over 70km, I started to feel the fatigue and become sleepy. My mind was thinking of getting a good and long rest.
"However, when the competitors were approaching me, I continued and sped up," said Milton, who started running at 6am with an average pace of about 8 mins/km.
Russian Yakov Kozlov won third place for the 109-km men category.
For the women category, the top three winners are Siet Fah Lim, Sally Yap and Izzah Hazirah Abdul Malek.
The 10th TMBT has five categories- 109km, 50km, 30km, 37km night challenge, 12km and 7.5km.
The 109km, 50km, 30km and 12km categories began from Kampung Lingkubang in Kota Belud.
The TMBT is a qualifying and point-earning event to race in international and national championships.