Ulju Trail Nine Peaks calls mountain runners to Korea

This weekend we have the second South Korean points race event on the ATM calendar in Uljusan. Ulju Trail 9 Peaks and Ulju Trail 5 Peaks are genuine mountain races engulfed in beautiful autumn colours. It makes for a wonderful trail experience, but also a very challenging one. The 9 Peaks race is 121 km with an elevation gain of well over 9000 hm. Even the 45km medium distance race has a whopping 3500 hm.

Korean runners are not often seen in the rest of Asia, and the number of trail events in the country is also quite modest then one would expect with so many quality distance runners around. It makes UTNP an event to look forward to with great interest. Looking at the start list of the longest race category, we see the name of Kim Jisu stand out among the local race favourites. Second in Korea 50k earlier this year, Jisu tends to be even more competitive on the longer distances. Last year, he also scored a second place in Seoul 100. Jisu will face some fast and well-experienced runners from Singapore as well, including Deric Lau, Trung Nguyen and Lem Chee Ng. Lau scored two Top 10 placings in ATM this season so far, in Dalat and Sierra Madre. Trung Nguyen had a very good VMM race last month ending in a fourth place. The question is can he sustain that level of effort for another 50km. The women’s 125km appears wide open with Singapore-based Chech Paulina Svoboda an established international name on the start list. Svoboda was running together with Shindy Patricia for over 50km in the very technical Cuc Phuong race in Vietnam before dropping out, but since then she has been very active.

On the 45km start list, the familiar name of last year’s winner Kim Jisub stands out. Question is how well he has recovered from an injury that plagued him for most of the year, even to the extent he has not been able to score any ATM points yet. Jisub won’t get the victory on a silver platter in any case, because there’s other competitors with a pedigree. Byeungwon Park is always solid on the medium distance, and so is Ko Minchul - second behind Jisub last year, and third in Korea 50k last April. Then there’s Hong Kong-based Australian David Longo, who has just scored second in Dark 45 behind Onifa. Longo can set himself up for the ATM Championship Final once again (last year he was 10th). Boyoung Jan and Gyesook Lee are among the favourites in the women’s 45km. Lee won last year’s Nine Peaks, but now doing the Five Peaks.

Stay tuned throughout Friday and Saturday on our Facebook and Instagram channels for updates from the races in Uljusan