Milton Amat beats Kitamura in great dual in Bung Jagoi

The first ATM Candidate Race in Sarawak on the Malaysian side of Borneo delivered a great classic dual between Hisashi Kitamura and Milton Amat. On paper, the Jagoi Heritage Trail Run of 50km and 1250 hm looked ideal for the Japanese to assert his characteristics as a runner, but Sabah’s Milton Amat turned out not have any issues at all with the set pace and almost made his victory look easy by outgunning Kitamura in the final technical descent to the finish line. A significant psychological victory for Amat, or should we say ‘blow’ for Kitamura, in light of the upcoming Borneo TMBT Ultra 100 - one of the highlights of the ATM Championship season, and a race Kitamura has targettedr to win after a narrow defeat by the same Milton Amat in 2019.

The Jagoi 50k race was not a first edition, but the first time the competitive field was robust. The local organisers and local village community were also delighted to see some of ATM’s top stars taking part in their race - even though no points were up for grabs as it was a candidate race. It rained heavily the afternoon and evening before the race, which turned some of the trail sections muddy and more technical than previously anticipated. Ireland’s Malachy Kirwan - still relatively new at trail running - was struggling with the conditions and in the end had no answer to the pace set by Kitamura from the start. The Karate Kit was quick out of the blocks and tried to put pressure on Milton Amat straightaway. However, the Sabahan remained visibly relaxed and had no issue letting his classic trail rival go in front by 20-30 seconds. For about 20km they were joined by a third runner, in fact. Mark Steacy, also from Ireland and residing in Kuching, was the surprise of the day. Eventually Steacy had to slow down a bit, and saw Wilsen Singgin still catching him and overtaking him in that final descent for third place. Nevertheless, a great new name who will also compete at TMBT 100. Up front, Kitamura felt it coming at the last aid station before going up the longest and toughest hillclimb. Amat was still right on his tail (see video on facebook). Amat took over towards the summit and used his technical downhill superiority to win the race.

The women’s race was dominated by local hero Sally Yap and Sabah’s Mailin Salungin. Both runners stayed side-by-side all race and decided not to sprint it out for the overall win (both won their respective age groups). Afterwards, Salungin was all praise for the youngster Sally Yap, who is one of the new names in Malaysia post-covid. After winning BUTM 100, she will also try to score TMBT 100 in three weeks’ time, and in so doing secure her spot for Team Malaysia at the ATM Championship Final in Philippines on 17 December. An impressive third place in Jagoi went to Grandmaster Siokhar Lim, who was coming very close to the lead duo on the final hillclimb. 50k and 1250 hm are peanuts numbers for Siokhar, who typically excels in the long and tough mountains ultras, but yesterday she showed her general running pace has increased, too. Celeste Teo, third at MMTF 2021, also looked solid in taking fourth place yesterday.

You can replay the race of the leaders via our ATM DTA platform here: (laptop/desktop required)

On our Facebook page, you can find several videos and photos of the race, too.