Malaysia’s new event entry on the ATM Championship and Grandmaster Quest calendar did not dissapoint. Trail des Gombak not only enjoyed great participation numbers for both the 100km and 50km points races, but it also provided four new race winners in our ATM series and all four went out to get the honours against tough competition. Vietnam’s Nguyen Phuong Hieu even won his ATM race debut! Having begun running in the covid era, Gombak was his first race abroad with qualification for the ATM Championship Final as a key objective. Nguyen Phuong Hieu had achieved some great domestic performances already, but in our series until last weekend. Leading the 100k race from early on, the runner from Dalat steadily increased his advantage over pre-race favourite Wilsen Singgin, Oswald Maikol, Dina Bagale and initially also Aqmal Adzmi. While Adzmi would throw in the towel halfway due to severe cramps, Singgin, Maikol and Bagale had a nice scrap going between them, but they did not come any closer to Nguyen Phuong Hieu. Once darkness set in on Saturday night, the Vietnamese also began to struggle a bit more, but the advantage was more than big enough and he made it to the finish in approximately 14h26 for what was essentially a 108 km long race .Wilsen Singgin finished in second place, visibly exhausted in a time of 14h57, which does mean he made good 30 minutes of time in the last two sections of the race. A superb Dina Bagale - Nepalese but living in Hong Kong - took third place, just 7 minutes behind Singgin! Bagale was part of the Championship-winning Team Nepal last year, but this is his best individual result in an ATM race. Oswald Maikol settled for fourth, followed by Assrul Aminur in fifth.

The women’s 100km had a similar scenario, whereby the Sabahan race favourite - Rejlen James - was chasing a ‘foreign’ runner all the way. Dilu Limbu was expected to feature at the front, though, after her fifth place in Lantau 70 earlier this year. Already at AS2, Limbu was ahead by herself, but James would never let her get further ahead than 20 minutes. However, Limbu would not slow down and even had the better pace still at the end to win in 17h31. Also for her it is the first ATM race victory, and an important one that may see her qualified for the ATM Championship Team Nepal this coming October. In third place was Nurul Emyra Fazira Isnariah Absi, who emerged the strongest of a group of runners who were battling all day for the final step on the podiun. In-form Dazeree Joannes was fourth and Hong Kong’s Rachel Chan fifth.

On the 50km that started at 3 am in the middle of the night, Malaysia’s Muhammad Faris grabbed his first ever ATM race victory after a few podium spots in the past two years. A great run, keeping Iceland’s Kristjan Chapman behind by a mere three-four minutes for most of the 54k race. Faris won in a splendid 5h33. He is basically guaranteed a spot in Team Malaysia for the ATM Championship Final. Chapman is a new face in our series, impressive debut. From Iceland but residing in KL. Third on the podium in his debut on the 50km is Japan’s Hiroyuki Kawachi in 5h58! Just a few seconds later, Sabah’s Sheron Sariman took fourth place, and Nepal’s Santosh Tamang fifth. Vitus Daimi was sixth and Humberto Baeza, a regular in ATM this season, finished in seventh today. Azzamudin Nurdin came in in in eighth.

Finally it was also the big day of Ritzy Amor, who took her first ATM race victory in her 5th outing of the season! The Filipino runner, based in KL, took the lead in the race early and kept Akane Nemoto behind by about 20 minutes. She finished in 7h26. Amor is the overall points leader in the women’s ATM Championship ranking. With this victory she eliminatedher modest result (8th) of BTR Bali and increased her points total some more. She is therefore assured of qualification for Team Pilipinas in the ATM Final in October. Previously Amore had finished on the podium in Broder 50 and BUTM 50. She was also 4th in VTM 70.

Japan’s Akane Nemoto was second in 8h10. Her first ATM race after finishing on the top 10 podium of last year’s Championship Final at Borneo TMBT . Also her first race since her prolonged injury break. Siti Aisyah Kharuddin was a great third place on the podium, ahead of Guan Shin Law, who saw herself get disqualfied for a mandatory gear infringement. Norlela Ismail inherited fourth place ahead of Megan McKenna.

The next Malaysian points race is scheduled at the end of July: KAR Ultra, again with two distances for Championship points: 110 and 60.

Trail des Gombak delivers 4 new impressive ATM race winners!