Tahura Trail Running in Bandung a big hit

The first official points scoring race of the 2016 Asia Trail Master series, Ultra Trail Hong Kong, is still one month away, but last weekend in Bandung, Indonesia, we already had a magnificent warm up with the Tahura Trail, a 2017 Candidate Race. The 4th edition of the event was a big hit with over 2000 participants taking part in the several races!

Contrary to the previous editions, organiser Agung Adijana, who also does mountainbiking events every year, introduced a proper 42k marathon distance to the programme. The response from the running community was very positive, with a trail course that offered quite a lot of variety and colour. Runners also remarked the many aid stations and the generally positive atmosphere, especially in light of last week's shocking occurrences in nearby Jakarta.

The men's winning time of 4:02:57 indicates that the marathon is not a walk in the park. Champion is local star Abdoullah Mitiche, who is known as a triathlete and aiming to qualify for the IronMan World Championship race in Kona, Hawai this year. Mitiche had an advantage of over one minute to second place Margono Margono.

The women's champion was Cassidy Jones, who enjoyed a bigger margin over her nearest competitors to grab victory in 4:54:25.