Simpur Ultra puts Brunei back on ATM map

This weekend our attention finally again turns to Brunei, where on Sunday the inaugural edition of Simpur Ultra Run will take place - a new ATM Candidate Race. It’s been five years since the demise of the Beach Bunch Trail Challenge, and we are looking forward to getting to know many new runners. Covid mitigation efforts made it very hard still for Bruneian trail runners to travel and race in 2022, but things are looking good for the new season. And who else but local running legend Sefli Ahar features as the posterboy of the new event in and around the country capital Bandar Seri Begawan.

On the event programme we find a 50km main category and a 18km shorter distance. Sefli Ahar will go for the 50km that starts at midnight on Sunday, and which will be reported live on on our usual ATM channels. For those who may have forgotten, Sefli Ahar is a 6-time ATM points race winner in the early years 2016-2018, which is still a record for male trail runners he shares with John Ellis, Hisashi Kitamura and Milton Amat. Working as a police officer in Brunei, traveling abroad is not that easy and Sefli, now in his mid forties, has taken a step back from international competition in ATM since then. However, this weekend he is at home in BSB and anyone aiming to win the race will certainly need to run passed him.

Sefli Ahar has won 6 ATM points races between 2016 and 2018, a record he shares with John Ellis, Hisashi Kitamura and Milton Amat.