Yes, 15th August is a significant day in Sandakan as we remember those who perished during the Second World War and on the death march route and also those who perished in the districts surrounding Sandakan. There will be an official ceremony on the 15th August at the memorial gardens and all competitors will have an opportunity to attend the function and to be a part of the ceremony.

None. The whole point of doing the remembrance run is to remember those who lost their lives during the Second World War during tragic times. All finishers of the event will receive a finishers medal at the end of the event and will be the first batch of runners ever to complete a full ultra marathon of 200 Kilometers in Malaysia. The genuine reasons for doing the ultra marathon is really to experience what great difficulty people who were weak, ill and physically incapable of achieving what you will achieve over the 5 days endured over 60 years ago and to see a part of Sabah you would otherwise not have an opportunity to see.

No, but it would certainly be to your benefit to have some experience from previous races. The true test really boils down to how physically and mentally fit and prepared you are ahead of the event and how much of a consistent and steady pace you keep over the 5 days. There are some long sections (day 1 and day 5) that warrant a steady pace and a calm mind to complete the race and it sometimes boils down to having the experience necessary to accomplish this. But we won't be setting minimum standards for competitors. If you believe you are able to complete the 200 kilometers and are able and ready, by all means, sign up.

No. But there will be 1-2 locations we will be camping at for at least 2 nights so you may do your own washing and leave your clothes to dry during the day whilst you are out competing so bring some small packets of laundry detergent if you wish.

You need to refer to the mandatory kit section for the list of items to be carried on you whilst racing. As for the rest of your bags and gear, we will move your bags from camp site to camp site for you.

Meals will be cooked fresh for breakfast, lunch (on day's competitors have a shorter section and expect to be done by lunch time) and dinner by local cooks with the main staple diet being Asian foods such as rice, noodles, vegetables, chicken or beef dishes, potatoes, egg dishes and fresh fish throughout the event. Competitors may elect to bring their own freeze dried western foods if they so wish and hot water will be made available for them to re-heat their foods.

Having done the actual route himself in 2006, the race director has elected to isolate certain sections he feels are unnneccessary because of the heavy vehicle traffic and changes that have transpired over the last 66 years since the end of the second world war. The routes he has put together are part and parcel of the actual death march route together with the actual team that did the ground work in 2005-2006 with the Sabah Society to re-trace the tragic route and does not alter from the fact the point of the ultra marathon is to have some what of an appreciation and understanding of what transpired on the route, what transpired during the occupation and the level of difficulty and extreme conditions many had to endure during extremely difficult and tragic times.

Basic accomodations for the most part with 1-2 locations requiring understanding and the co-operation of competitors because of the absolutely basic standards in the village. Some of the areas we will be entering are extremely remote with minimal infrastructure and it will mean sleeping on mats on the floor in village halls with bucket water to bath with. Do not expect the 5 star luxury accomodations you may be used to in marathons in other countries.

Rain aside, some of the toughest, if not hottest sections in North Borneo with temperatures on certain day's exceeding 38 degree's celcius, especially with very little shade and cover. This adds to the difficulty of completing the 200 kilometers but is part and parcel of the whole experience of what transpired on the actual route in 1945.

Yes. The race course has been planned whereby on sections where the road section exceeds 5km, you will have an opportunity upon arriving at a designated check point to swap your trail shoes for road running shoes. We will transport your shoes to the check point from the starting point and then the trail shoes to the finish point of the day's race course.

Yes. Over the last 66 years, much of the actual route has been developed and primary jungles cleared so certain sections, if we are to remain true to the actual route between Ranau and Sandakan will include tar sealed road sections. The jungle sections are limited to avoid disturbing area's where there do exist animals such as sun bears, orang utans, deer and wild boar in their habitat. The remaining sections of the trail run sections will include open plantation roads, some with shade, others with limited amounts of shade on rolling hills.

Because of the remote locations and areas we will be covering, and the intent to preserve certain sections of the race course which run through class 1 forests (permits required), we feel 50 is a fair and comfortable number to manage. We also understand more does not always mean better.