To the mountain we go.

It's that time of the year again.

Yep, I'm off to the Mt. Kinabalu International Climbathon for my fourth consecutive year. FYI, my company is the main organiser of this annual mountain race and if i had to pick a favourite event each year, this would be it.

The Climbathon sees some of the top mountain runners from around the world race up and down Mount Kinabalu. And while we mortal beings take a leisurely 2 days to complete the trek, these crazy...I mean, super-fit people... take less than three HOURS. Wowee.

This is Anna Pichrtova, from the Czech Republic. She won last year's Women's Open category and is the current record holder. She also won the overall champion title for the Buff Skyrunners championship (The Climbathon is one of the 8 races held in this series, in which runners have to compete at various mountain races around the world). Oh and did i mention she's a long distance Olympic runner?

So what makes the Climbathon the best event to organise? Well, the pre-preparation stuff in the office is a bitch though - press releases, e-mail correspondence, packing press kits bla bla bla. One big yawn-fest. But it's the event itself that I enjoy.

And you get to meet all the top world mountain runners. My personal favourite is Ricardo Mejia from Mexico - I even got his autopraph! He doesn't have the physical form of the European runners but he still emerged champion last year. Hooray for the underdogs!

There's also the whole bonding and chilling with your colleagues. Late night supper, beer drinking sessions and just having a good laugh. The one 'tradition' that amazes me is how we can pull through a late night and still wake up at 4:30am everyday. And when I say late night, I mean hitting the sack at 2:30am and getting up two hours later. The trick is to take an afternoon nap after the event ends after lunch time. And then the day repeats, heh heh. Yeah, we mess up our body clocks but it's all good.

Me and my colleagues at last year's gig. Let's hope this is year is bigger and better!

I'm off to Kundasang till the weekend. More pix and stories when I get back. Why not check out the action yourself? The Climbathon will take place at the Kinabalu Park on the 25th and 26th of August. See you there!