By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: For Daniel Hasulyo, encountering Sabah's wildlife, including a baby shark and a ray, while competing in the inaugural Borneo International Stand-up Paddle (SUP) Marathon was an added bonus.
The 35-year-old, a multiple-time SUP world champion, said he was delighted to see marine species, monkeys and birds around him while competing in the solo 42km category around the islands off Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.
It was his first time in Sabah, and he is scheduled to compete in a surfing contest in Bali in the coming days.
"Coming from Hungary, which is a landlocked country, I truly enjoy spending time in nature and in the ocean because of the environment and the wildlife.
"When you have reefs and clean water, sharks are a sign of a healthy ecosystem. It would be bad if they weren't around," said the category winner, who finished in 5 hours and 15 minutes.
Daniel was speaking to the New Straits Times during the prize-giving ceremony at a resort here.
Although he has been training professionally in SUP for a decade and once completed 200km on flat water over five days, the greatest challenge in today's race was the extreme weather.
"The conditions today are open water, so it's always challenging because of the wind, currents and the heat, as we're very close to the equator.
"Normally, I would use maybe two or three litres of liquid and drink another six litres at each checkpoint," said the elite endurance athlete, adding that small waves had also helped his race.
In the overall 42km solo category, Kenta Yamada and Shuma Goko, both from Japan, finished second in 5 hours and 15 minutes and third in 5 hours and 32 minutes, respectively.
In the overall 21km solo category, Yoann Martin from France finished first with a time of 2:49:50, followed by Indonesia's Jaeman Simamora (2:55:15) and France's Ronan Jezequel (3:05:25).
Yesterday, the event also featured relay categories at the same venue.
The total prize money for all categories is US$23,250 (RM91,233).
Present at the event were Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Jafry Ariffin, Sabah Parks director Maklarin Lakim, Sabah Tourism Board chief executive officer Julinus Jimit, Kota Kinabalu City Hall deputy director-general (operations) Robert Lipon, event director Benjamin Golimbi, and race director Nick Boura.
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