VTM 70: Strong wins for Ricky Sung and Dening Lo

A Taiwanese and Singaporean race winner in the male and female 70km race underlined a very international edition of Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau last weekend. For Ricky Sung it was the maiden race victory, while Dening Lo already scored her fourth in our Championship series. Nearly 600 runners took the start for the longest distance of the event, held in quasi perfect weather conditions.

Ricky Sung had already shown great form in Izu Trail Journey in Japan last month, a very competitive race in the wet in which he finished 15th. At VTM, he looked composed and unfazed when local newcomer Vung A Tung set the pace early on as the sun was rising. Sung caught him on the way to CP5, which more or less marked marathon distance. While the gap to Vung A Tung and also Lo a Dao did not grow that much, Sung never looked in trouble to grab the race win in 6h40’51”. He is also the first Taiwanese race winner ever in ATM. Vung A Tung still held onto second with Lo A Dao closely behind in third. Also for them it was the first ever podium finish. Germany’s Phillip Seckers finished fourth ahead of fellow Europeans Nick Van den Bleeken (BEL) and Scott Pugh (GBR/SGP). Yuta Matsuyama, a pre-race favourite, had to settle for seventh and was never in the hunt for victory. He had hoped for less runable terrain.

Dening Lo arrived shortly after Matsuyama as eighth overall. The Singaporean, who says she actually does not like racing, was in control of the race throughout.. Initially, though, Nguyen Ngoc Anh gave her some pressure by staying only around 3 minutes behind, but by CP 5 the gap had begun to increase. It’s Dening’s fourth ATM race win and she looks podium material for next month’s Season 10 Championship Final. Nguyen Ngoc Anh took a great second place , ahead of last year’s winner Giang Linh. The latter said the weather in her native Sapa had not been ideal in recent weeks, preventing her from proper training.

Claire Stone took fourth, ahead of. Ta Thi Linh in fifth place. Nguyen Thanh Thuy concluded her race in sixth.

At VTM this year, two Silver Grandmasters also managed to reach level 4 of their Grandmaster Quest: 20 ATM long ultra finishes. Yvette Chong Mi Chin is the first Malaysian female to become Golden Grandmaster. Mario Yap is the second Filipino male to achieve this great feat.

The next Vietnamese qualifier for the ATM Championship points ranking this season is Brah Yang Trail Summit in the Dalat area in the south next month.