The 4th edition of V Trail in Vang Vieng, Laos, saw a few interesting new names appear at the top of the male and female leaderboards. While still being a very tough mountain jungle course, V Trail received applause from participants for its technical event organisation.

Victories on the long distance course of this season's only Lao event on the ATM Championship calendar went to South Korea's Hee Joo Jang in the women's and the Thai duo Sittisak Suwannee and Puttasit Wiwatsriprapha. Hee Joo Jang was clearly the quickest as she finished almost 2h50' ahead of Thailand's well-known Siriporn Leumathong, ATM Finalist last season, and Patchara Buagun, also from Thailand. Belgium's Olivia Becu was fourth ahead of the first local runner Nakin Visisombat.

The male duo crossed the line together. Suwannee and Wiwatriprapha had a 26-minute advantage over China's Lyu Meng. Also among the 86k finishers were Malaysia’s Grandmaster point chaser Phua Cho Kai in 7th and Japan’s 4-star Grandmaster Masafumi Yamamoto in 9th place. For Yamamoto it was the second time he ran V Trail.

V Trail 55 km - France's Arnaud Beck was clearly the fastest on the 55km course, finishing in 8h44'47". Second place went to Indonesian young trail talent Surydratama Yanizar from Bali in 10h27, and third to Australian Fergus McLeod in 10h45. Nedyalko Terziev from Singapore took fourth, ahead of Thailand's experienced Amorn Kimnguan.

The women's 55km went to local Yoth Soulivanthong in 12h19, clearly ahead of two other Lao runners - showing the competitive growth of the scene in the country. Hutsadar Matsouvanh and Viravone Thepsimuang joined Soulivanthing on the podium. Yumei Chan of SIngapore crossed the finish line in fourth place.

With special thanks to Amorn Kimnguan and Masafumi Yamamoto

New names emerge in Laos' V Trail