Icelandic, Chinese Runners Prevail In Taiping Heat To Win 2025 Malaysia Ultra-trail By UTMB

TAIPING, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- Iceland's Kristjan Chapman and China's Jiang Weng Li emerged as the men's and women's champions of the 2025 Malaysia Ultra-Trail by Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) here, which attracted nearly 3,000 runners from 64 countries.

The race, which was flagged off at Esplanade Taiping, saw the runners navigating through lush jungle, including the iconic Lake Gardens, before finishing at Jalan Kota.

Kristjan completed the men's MY100 category in 11 hours, 39 minutes and 29 seconds (11:39:29s), beating China's Bai Xing Zhi (11:51:52s) and Japan's Kanta Mizutani (12:14:56s).

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In the women's category, Jiang demonstrated extraordinary endurance when she won the 100-km event in 14:38:44s - just one week after winning the ultra race in Italy.

Japan's Ayaka Takimoto was second in 15:27:10s, while Jiang's compatriot, Liu Wen Jing, was third in 15:54:37s.

Kristjan admitted that winning on his debut was unexpected, especially when facing an experienced runner like Xing Zhi, who led for most of the race.

“There were times when I was ahead, then he was ahead. Towards the end of the race, we both started to experience cramps. But when he stopped to tie his shoelaces on the last climb, I knew it was the best chance for me to pull away,” he said.

The 34-year-old runner also admitted that the change in weather from -10 degrees Celsius in Iceland to the hot, humid temperatures in Taiping was a major challenge for him.

“The change from the extreme cold (Iceland) to the hot and humid (Taiping) was challenging. I have adapted to some extent, but the humidity still has an effect,” Kristjan said.

Meanwhile, Jiang, who hails from Chongqing, explained that the tropical weather was a big challenge to her because her body had not yet fully recovered from the previous race in Italy.

“I almost suffered a heat stroke on the last climb and had to rest for almost half an hour. But the most important thing for me was to finish the race safely,” she said.

She started the race at a fast pace but slowed down after eight hours due to loss of energy and chafing (skin rubbing on clothing).

“I didn’t think I could run two 100km races in a week. If I come back next year, I will prepare more thoroughly and try to record a faster time,” she said.

Tournament organiser and race director Ewegene Tan, who first established the race as the Malaysian Mountain Trail Festival in 2018 before upgrading it under the auspices of UTMB World Series, said the competition recorded a significant 36 per cent increase in foreign participants compared to 29 per cent last year.

He said the main factor behind the increase in participation was the implementation of stricter safety measures, which allowed all participants to finish the UTMB World Series race (Finals in Chamonix, France, in August 2026) without serious injury.

“We are optimistic that the number of foreign participants will continue to increase in the future with a total target of 4,000 to 5,000 runners, thus helping to promote Taiping as a tourist destination,” he said.

-- BERNAMA