Six years after it all started for the then just 19-year-old, Godwin Mirar returns to The Punisher this weekend as part of a renewed ambition to qualify for this season’s ATM Championship Final. Indeed, we are entering the final three qualifying points races of Season 10 with the big day at Mu Cang Chai in Vietnam just under two months away from today. The Punisher on Babak Samal already celebrates its 11th edition and while it has always stayed loyal to its ‘grassroots’ nature it’s become a great race to have on your record as a trail runner, whether as a competitor or a Grandmaster Quest point seeker. The 80km points race has a new start and finish venue, so the course has also undergone some changes. The island, just off the coast of Davao City in Mindanao, features a great mixture of runable and technical trails.

Godwin Mirar actually already ran this race twice. After his amazing 4th place as a 19-year-old in 2019 behind Hisashi Kitamura, Arnie Macaneras and then-ATM Champion John Ellis, Mirar finished 3rd on the podium in 2022 behind Kitamura and Macaneras again. Now in 2025, he is unmistakenly the runner to beat this Saturday. It’s been almost four months since his fantastic race win in the Penang Sky Race and with The Punisher he continues his ATM season in a last-minute attempt to qualify for Team Pilipinas in the ATM Championship Final early October. Mirar is also scheduled to run the 50km at Borneo TMBT in two weeks.

His main competitors this weekend are expected to be Sean Aying and Marjones Abugan, both also keen to keep or earn a spot on the team for the Championship Final. Aying is currently fifth in the points ranking, just ahead of Mirar. Abugan has more work to do to still try to get in, but has been in excellent form recently. There’s more international runners with the same ambitions, and trail runners with ambition often can cause surprises. Singapore’s Ko Ing Hui and Japan’s Eiji Tagami, for example.

The female race has less outspoken candidates for race victory. Youngsters like Kimberly Flores, Metzi Joy Alson and Julie Mae Marquez are all in with a good shot. Rachel Chan from Hong Kong needs a good result to get herself qualified for her country’s team again, and might be a serious challenger for the local aces. Over the past two years, Rachel has often proven to be competitive when she wants, e..g 7th in the ATM Final 2023 and 2nd in Silabur 100 in Sarawak last year. Her compatriot Ellen Cheng is also on the start list, a 2-star Grandmaster and winner of the very technical V Trail 85 this year. From Sabah, we also have Vianah Ng Chen Sia.

ATM will be reporting live from The Punisher 80km on Saturday, as always subject to connectivity.

The Punisher sees the return of Godwin Mirar