The Philipino Mountain Trail Festival in Benguet and Nueva Vizcaya saw some expected and also surprising victories and performances in what what as always a tough physical and mental exercise. The Hardcore 100 Miles, a.k.a. H1, is the flagship race of the newly designed Festival and witnessed truly fantastic victories by Rhys Pawid and by Shally Yuson. While Pawid is an experienced long ultra specialist from Luzon, Yuson hails from Mindanao and took part in her first ever miler - having previously often struggled even in 100k races. Pawid, a 2022 ATM Finalist, scored his first ever ATM race win, for 2024 Finalist and Grandmaster Yuson it was her second win after MUSPO 50 at home last year. 

Rhys Pawid went solo early in the race already, between checkpoints 2 and 3, as he created a gap with the two main pre-race favourites Kik Suello and Jevie Cagatin, both from Mindanao. The gap would remain between just ten and fifteen minutes for a while, but by CP 5 at Cabayo Pawid had suddenly doubled it and would disappear out of sight for the duo behind. Pawid reached the finish after 161 km in a superb 26h02’15”, which turned out to be more than three hours faster than second-placed Kik Suello. Mantra-like differences in other words, even between some of Philippines’ most acclaimed long ultra trail runners. A new podium for Kik Suello this season, but after three third places now his first second. When is that first victory coming about? Just a matter of time for last year’s 7th place in the ATM Championship. His qualification for this year’s Final in Vietnam in October is already as good as certain. Jevie Cagatin took third, and his first Grandmaster star as well. Cagatin was the highest ATM points scorer in Philippines last season and winner of Mount Kalatungan in the process. He came 11th in the Final, just off the Top 10 enlarged podium. Another 2024 Finalist took fourth place in H1, Jomarc Ferrer. Jordan Bugnay was fifth, just a few minutes ahead of Ronnel Valero. 

The women’s H1 race was much closer than the men’s with Shally Yuson, Shela Mae Bahian and Rhea Falitnang all reaching out to victory. While the gaps were not huge, pre-race favourites Ann Jilian Pulanco and Mary Joy Sumanda somehow were never in the mix for the race win. Rhea Falitnang initially had the quicker pace, with Bahian perhaps the more consistent in second. Until Yuson made a move from CP 4 onwards. Falitnang, however, was able to up her pace again towards the end and returned to within just a few minutes of Yuson by Cp 10. Bahian there looked to be settling for third, but also she had some extra juice left in the tank. At the finish, Yuson held on to take the prestigious victory and Bahian still managed to get second just 12 minutes later. Falitnang secured third place on the podium. Mary Joy Sumanda still finished in fourth place, and became a 2-star Grandmaster by doing so. 

The second ATM Championship points race on the PMTF programme was the Mount Ugo Marathon, another “old” classic race in the Philippines. Medium trail distance of 47km, but spicy with the well-known beautiful Mount Ugo in it. Kristian Joergensen did what he came to do, grab the 500 ATM points by winning the race - his first ATM victory in a while, in fact. Joergensen, who often trains in the Cordilleras and who is familiar with the route, was a good half an hour faster than the surprisingly strong Erico Villamor. Angelo Maynard Encormal took the third spot on the podium, ahead of Sean Aying. 

In fifth overall we already had the first woman, and it was not Filipino favourite Angelie Cabalo. Japan’s Chisato Kario managed to stay a few minutes ahead of Cabalo, who ultimately had to cede second place also to South Korea’s Hee Joo Jang, fifth in last year’s ATM Championship Final. Another podium in any case puts Cabalo in a strong position to qualify for this season’s Final. She also becomes the overall points leader this season with 1325 points in the account, 45 more than Tara Savage and 50 more than her compatriot Ritzy Amor, who will be competing in Bali BTR 60 this weekend, however. 

The next Filipino points race takes place in Bukidnon, Mindanao: Point Trail 70km on 14 June.

2024 ATM Finalist and Grandmaster Shally Yuson took a rather unexpected win at H1

3rd place in the Mt Ugo Marathon was enough for Angelie Cabalo to claim the overall female points lead

Rhys Pawid was an ATM Finalist in 2022, but H1 was his first ever ATM race victory

The new Philippine Mountain Trail Festival kicks off the long Labour Day weekend on Thursday with the start of the prestigious Hardcore 100 Miles, perhaps better known as H1. A classic in the Philippines, renowned for its difficulty level and high DNF rate. Now organised by Intrepid Spirit, it is the first time H1 - and also Saturday’a medium distance classic Mt Ugo Marathon - are part of the Asia Trail Master Championship series.

Filipino ultra trail runners feel obliged to at least try H1 once. The majority knows in advance it will be hard to finish, but if you succeed you forever have a big feather in your cap. And so we again see over 100 participants for the 100 miles or 161 km long ultra race, including a fair share of female runners. The event takes place in Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet, east of Baguio City. A remote area in the Cordilleras.

Lots of ATM Championship protagonists and Grandmasters on the start list. Among the expected victory contenders we have great competitors such as Kik Suello, Jevie Cagatin, Poy Brillantes, Yoyong Sacayle, Rhys Pawid and so on. Also a few experienced Malaysians could finish close. In the women’s race, we find ATM Finalists such as Shally Yuson and Mary Joy Sumanda on the list. Sumanda already traveled to the area from Bukidnon last February to do the Mount Pulag Ultra 130km, with success. Long ultra specialist Ann Jilian Pulanco will be a serious contender for the win, and perhaps Michella Aradanas and Shekinah Velasquez can pull off something big this weekend.

Saturday’s Mt Ugo Marathon centres around the meanwhile famous Mount Ugo and is 47km in length. Interestingly but tellingly, the list of participants is shorter than H1. However, it features some big names as well. Kristian Joergensen will be looking for his first ATM race victory of the season against the likes of Maynard Encormal and Sean Aying. In the women’s we are looking forward to an interesting race between Angelie Cabalo and Hee Joo Jang. Cabalo is very much into the ATM season this year, having banked already 900 points in two races, including a race win at Mount Kalatungan Ultra two months ago. She goes into Mt Ugo as the obvious favourite, but let’s not forget that Hee Joo Jang was fifth in last season’s ATM Championship Final at Borneo TMBT.

Maynard Encormal: can he keep up with Kristian Joergensen on Mount Ugo?

Mary Joy Sumanda: went to Pulag 130 in February to be ready for H1

Kik Suello: two ATM podiums this season have proven his 7th place in the 2024 Final was no coincidence

Angelie Cabalo: favourite for the women’s Mt Ugo Marathon

Jevie Cagatin: will this be his breakthrough weekend?

We are delighted to announce that the Philippine Mountain Trail Festival from 1-3 May will be the third Filipino points race event of Season 10 in the Asia Trail Master Championship. ‘PMTF’ is organised by Intrepid Spirit and consists of several branded races, of which H1 - Hardcore 100 Miles - and the Mount Ugo Marathon 47km are relevant for point seekers. Both are classic races in the country for well over a decade and are now under a new management headed by Robert Watson.

H1 is already legendary in South East Asia as being the first 100 Miler in Philippines and, on top of that, one of a selected few established global races with an elevation gain of over 10,000 hm! This is untamed and wild territory in the Cordilleras, yet with a course that follows international standards to test your physical endurance and psychological perseverance. The race starts at the Kayapa Central School at 23:30 on Thursday, 1 May, has 12 aid stations and a cut off time of 44 hours.

There is also a Hardcore 50 Miles race category for those slightly less ambitious or just interested in collecting a Grandmaster point. The 50 Miles is 84 km long and also has well over 5000 metres of elevation gain. The 50 Miles starts on the 2nd of May at 14:00 in the afternoon, and has a cut off time of 22 hours.

Hardcore 100 and 50 Miles particpants must pay special attention to the entry requirements, race regulations including mandatory gears, as there will not be any excuses tolerated. All details can be found on the event page of the Intrepid website, which you can also link to via the button below.

Shorter but equally famous and historical in the Philippines is the Mount Ugo Marathon. This is the second race of the Philippine Mountain Trail Festival that provides points for the ATM Championship ranking. Mt Ugo Marathon is obviously centred around Mount Ugo, already well-known in the Asia Trail Master series, and has a race distance of 47km with nearly 3200 metres of elevation gain. The start is on Saturday morning at 5:30 am and runners have 12 hours of time to complete the course. The summit of Mount Ugo comes roughly halfway into the race. The start and finish venue is the same as for the Hardcore 100 & 50 Miles, the Kayapa Central School. Kayapa lies east of Baguio.

All specifics for the Mt Ugo Marathon can be consulted on the event website, linked below. Registration is open.