Ritzy Amor and Fazlie Bin Roslie win 100 Miles at GM-race Merapoh Rainforest Trail

Merapoh Rainforest Trail in Pahang, Malaysia, is a new entry on the ATM Grandmaster Quest calendar this season and took place last weekend. The popular event is the follow-up of TMMT, which was an annual ATM Championship Qualifier from 2016 to 2019. Since then, the event has introduced a 100 Miles category and attracted a considerable number of participants: 140. Amazingly, 80 of these also managed to complete the course. Admittedly, the 42h cut-off time is generous, but still. At the front, we saw a great competitive performance by Mohd Fazlie Bin Rosli, winning the men’s race in 22h12’13”. He was three hours faster than Muhammad Adil Adham Bin Khairul Fata. In third place overall was the winning lady: Ritzy Amor. The Kuala Lumpur-based multisport athlete, 7th in the recent ATM Championship Final, ran her first ever official 100 miles trail, but is no stranger to mega distances. She finished Merapoh in 25h58. China’s Liang Jun was fourth in the finish as third male on the podium. He was followed by the next two women, indicating a strong female field: India’s Ashwini Bhat completed the first level of her Grandmaster Quest and finished in second place in the race in a time of 28h33. Ashwini is the first ever female Grandmaster from India. Behind her and third female on the podium was China’s Hu Xiaoqin.

The event also featured a 100km on the programme, obviously also a valid distance for the Grandmaster Quest. Fastest male runner was Adam Danial Bin Zailani in 12h19. He was about 20 minutes ahead of Assrul Aminur and 56 ahead of Mohamad Aiman Haikal Bin Mohd Zani.

The women’s 100km was a very close competition between four runners! In the end, Kar Lyn Tan won the battle in 16h55, just half a minute ahead of Aliah Ismail. In third place, Zoey Wong Yin Hong from Singapore - only five minutes behind the winner, together with her compatriot Stephanie Lim.

Photo: Merapoh Rainforest Trail FB