Dark 45 with John Ray Onifa, John Ellis and Man Yee Cheung

At midnight, Saturday to Sunday, Dark 45 takes place on the famous Maclehose Trail in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It’s the second HK points race in the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series after Lantau 70 in March. Last year, this event signalled the return to trail racing after the covid pandemic, but in 2023 the event is under a new management: The Peak Hunter. That’s the team led by the famous Wong Ho Chun. Many of Hong Kong’s trail stars are signed up, including former ATM Champion John Ellis, who is making a bit of a come back after a long period of injury. Still, Ellis is not hopeful of a top result this weekend, indicating that the road - or trail - to real competitiveness will be long.

In the absence of Jeff Campbell, the man-to-beat will be John Ray Onifa. The Filipino is back at his best level, recently, and only his enthusiasm may propel him to yet another race victory - just a week after winning VMM 50 against Kristian Joergensen. His main challengers are expected to be Ryan Whelan, first and foremost, and also David Longo, Jose Luis Alvelais and Stone Kit Chan.

The women’s race seems more open, but has a lot of contenders for the win. Flora Wing Yee Chin, Angie Yan can dream of it for sure. Man Yee Cheung may be the biggest name on the start list, but she did run and win a tough VMM 100 just a week ago.