By Olivia Miwil - February 25, 2022 @ 4:22pm
KOTA KINABALU: Adelinah Lintanga is likely to be the first Sabahan to conquer the world's tallest mountain in May.
The 37-year-old from Kota Belud expressed her confidence that she would be able to complete the quest together with Malaysian two-time solo Everest summitter Ravichandran Tharumalingam and Sarawakian Fazilah Shahren.
"In terms of preparation, I have participated in several events including the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in which I won second place for the 84 kilometres.
"Basically I am ready physically and mentally, although I do have some fear over the altitude that is up to 8,000 metres above sea level and the cold.
"However, I am ready and confident as it is also my dream to return there after my run in Nepal in 2017," said the ultra marathoner who has been active in running since 2015.
Adelinah, also known as Narna, took part in the 2017 Royal Penguin Ultra Marathon with another two fellow Sabahans who are her elder sister Jassica and Sapirin Sumpung who ran 60 kilometres at the altitude of 6,000 metres above sea level.
She was speaking to reporters after a press conference on the 2022 Everest Expeditions "Journey to the top by Sabahan" event.
Ravi, 56, said of all aspirants who sent their resume to be part of the expedition, he believed that Adelinah was the perfect candidate despite being younger than the ideal age of 40-years-old and above.
He said the age of 40 was used a benchmark of someone with a mature mental resilience in withstanding the harsh conditions such as competing with others, sleeping on snow or using the moving toilet due to strong winds for 60 days.
"In terms of selection, it took about six months to shortlist, but the most outstanding was Narna who had been at an altitude of 5,000 metres (in Nepal) and could run comfortably at the rate of 170 heartbeats per minute.
"Other than that, after the movement control order was lifted, she has been running a distance of at least 50 kilometres," he said, adding he was also in Nepal when the Malaysian team was running for the marathon in 2017.
The mountaineer said Sabah was his second home as he has been climbing there, and he also recommends climbers to do their last altitude training at Mount Kinabalu before going for higher mountains elsewhere.
For that, it would be right to bring a representative from Sabah to scale Everest under the expedition that coincides with the national "Malaysian family" policy.
Ravi added that it costs about USD40,000 (RM168,040) per climber which also covers two training sessions at the mountain, oxygen tanks and local guides among others throughout their two-month journey.
"Unlike solo climbing, conquering the mountain in groups with sherpas and supporting teams will help to minimise the necessary risks.
"We are hoping the Sabah government and the people of Sabah will give their support to this cause," he added.
Present at the event were Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan and sponsor Malaysia Pro Wrestling founder Datin Maria Abdullah.
Comments
Post a Comment