Malnad Ultra: strong performances on both 100 and 50k races

The 9th edition of Malnad Ultra in Karnataka near Bengaluru saw several outstanding performances in both the 100km and 50km categories, which both counted towards the Season XI ATM Championship ranking. Vishal Valavi was an amazing winner of the double loop race, finishing the 100km in less than ten hours! He crossed the line in 9h59’25”. Even when Malnad is not the most technical of trail races, this remains an eye-opening performance by Valavi, who also made his debut in an ATM promoted event. For reference, the well-known winner of the past three editions, Shashwat Rao - absent this year - scored a 12h14 in 2023. Second placed runner this year was Subhash Fauzdar, who completed the course in 12h48, and Manikandan was third in 13h17. Let’s hope we get to see more of Vishal Valavi in the months to come, as with that kind of 100k pace he looks like a genuine new Championship contender.

The women’s 100km race was won by Soma Dotta in 18h56. She was roughly half an hour ahead of Grandmasters Isabelle Bedard and Siti Hajar Razali.

The 50km category was split up in a daytime 50km and a nighttime 50km, of which only the former provided ATM Championship points. Also here we saw some remarkable runs by various people. The men’s race was tight and ultimately won by Sanjay Negi in 4h53’09” - very fast. Only some two minutes later, Prajwal S Y took second. Dutchman Frank Meiland completed the podium in third in 5h06 - still fast. Jinesh Pillai was fourth just two minutes behind him. The women’s race went to Australia’s Hayley Anderson in 5h57 ahead of Eline Gerritse from Netherlands and Anna Boessneck from Germany in third.

Malnad Ultra is still the only ATM qualifier in India on the calendar. Runners from the country can look towards Nepal and the Manjushree Trail Race in Kathmandu to score additional points for the 2026 Championship without traveling too far.