Dunkin bags 6th place in Kinabalu Trail Run

SHE may have again failed to finish first in her favorite Mt. Kota Kinabalu International Trail Run last Oct. 14 in Malaysia, but duplicating her best achievement in 2006 became the icing on the cake for Merlita Arias Dunkin.

Finishing at sixth place again out of 100 runners from 29 countries in her eighth time of joining the event made all the hard work worth it for Dunkin.

“I never slipped, slid and struggled. I owe it to my experience,” said Dunkin.

After suffering wounds and bruises from landing on the wrong foot the last time, she completed the race this year injury-free despite the muddy and slippery route.

The only complaint she had was her struggle with the uphill route, saying that she never had enough training for it.

The race this year had a lot of changes, including an increased distance of 23K, the longest distance to date. They also had a new route, which traversed the rocky mountain instead of going through the summit.

Dunkin said that the level of difficulty is still the same, except that the new route didn’t go as high as the previous editions.

The race will also cap her major achievements for this year, which saw her sweeping the Columbia Eco Trail series and winning the 50K All-Women Ultra Marathon.

She will rest before she prepares for yet another grueling challenge in the 50K Ultra Trail in Hong Kong this March and the 100K North Face race in Baguio in April next year.