SuperCup star line-up

A star studded line-up is preparing for the Skyrunner® SuperCup which will award the “champion of champions” title to the winners of the 25th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon on October 22 and 23 in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.   Ready to take on the challenge are skyrunning giants Marco De Gasperi, course record holder and  Kilian Jornet, 2007 and 2009 winner.  Italian De Gasperi set the record here last year, bettering his own time set six years earlier:  2h33’56” for the 21 km round trip and summiting Mount Kinabalu’s 4,095m in a mere 1h35’29”.  Other top names include Spain’s Luis  Hernando, recently crowned 2011 Skyrunner® World Series champion;  Japan’s Toru Miyahara, 2011 Mount Fuji winner;   Britain’s Ricky Lightfoot and Malaysian Safrey Sumping.  Potential podium contenders in the women’s field are New Zealander Anna Frost, second here last year;  Russian Zhanna Vokueva (ranked 14th);  American Brandy Erholtz, two times winner of the Pikes Peak Marathon, (ranked 16th);  Japan’s Naomi Ochiaki (second on Mount Fuji);and evergreen local runner, Danny Gongot.   In celebrating 25 years of the Climbathon, the ISF has awarded the new biannual Skyrunner® SuperCup title to this long time favourite skyrunning venue.  The extraordinary race up and down Mount Kinabalu’s 4,095m boasts a gruelling vertical climb of 2,300m over just eight and a half kilometres.  Last year, as the final of the 2010 Skyrunner® World Series, 669 runners from 40 countries took part. The race slogan, “Are you tough enough?” is the question many of the participants will be asking themselves next weekend.