Sierra Madre Trail Ultra proved itself once more as one of the Philippines’ marquee events for competitive runners. Kristian Joergensen dominated the men’s 75km race, while the women’s saw a great battle between five runners that remained exciting until the very end when the surprising Christine Muntoya opened up a decisive gap to Cecille Wael. The battle for ATM Championship points in order to qualify for Team Pilipinas in the ATM Final is still wide open!

Organised by the Maharlika Team led by Emman Manongsong, Sierra Madre is laying emphasis on a pure competition between top runners with great prizes as a reward. The 75km is the only distance category so runners cannot avoid each other. It was no surprise that Kristian Joergensen was far ahead in the men’s race, he stands his ground even in ‘global’ competitions and is the second runner-up in last year’s ATM Championship Final. But behind him, many Filipino runners were eyeing the remaining podium spots. Davao’s Jensen Pasaforte, Jomarc Ferrer and - initially - Henry Joe Cottilon were laying claims on that, with others like Bhert Orpiada and Florence Alave and youngster John Ivan Zonio, who finished 2nd in this race last year, not far back either. Sierra Madre is one of those races where you can blow up, even though moving the event from May to March was slightly better in terms of weather conditions. Cottilon in particular began to drop down the leaderboard, while Maynard Encormal suddenly moved up in rapid fashion. Encormal - winner of Bagtit Ultra 100 last month - came third last year, and clearly learnt from that experience. He needed a little bit of luck to take second, as Pasaforte went a wrong way for a while, but Encormal looked solid nonetheless - knowing in advance that Joergensen would be impossible to beat. Pasaforte held on to third place, which is a great result for him. Ferrer and Zonio came fourth and fifth. Jordan Bugnay was sixth not too much later.

Five women controlled proceedings in the women’s race. Last year’s race winner Ann Jilian Pulanco, Cecille Wael, Mary Joy Sumanda, Shally Yuson and Christine Muntoya. All of them very much in shape these months as their recent results have shown. Positions kept changing during the race and the gaps between them remained manageable. One imagined that the more experienced racers Wael and Pulanco were biding their time. Towards the end, Mary Joy Sumanda seemed to be going for her first ever ATM race win after several podium placings. But then Wael accelerated and so did Muntoya, the least expected among the front runners in this field. Kathleen Logan - winner in Danao City ahead of Wael last January - had already thrown in the towel by then. At the final checkpoint before the finish, Muntoya and Wael were leading. Sumanda was 12 minutes behind, herself just a few minutes ahead of Yuson and Pulanco. The last 8 km left no doubt about who the strongest of the day was: Muntoya ran away from Wael and put no fewer than 18 minutes between them at the finish! A fantastic maiden race win for her in ATM. Ces Wael was happy to settle for second, citing acid reflux in the final stint. Sumanda managed to hold on to third and another podium. She had to work for it because Pulanco came within three minutes. Yuson arrived in fifth place.

Another outstanding performance by Kristian Joergensen

Winner in Bagtit, 2nd in Sierra Madre: Maynard Encormal is going strong!

Fantastic achievement by Jensen Pasaforte. Third, but even had 2nd within his grasp

Another ATM podium for Cecille Wael, but Christine Muntoya was too strong for the win

It’s not only Lantau 70 this Saturday, but also Sierra Madre Trail Ultra in the Rizal mountains east of Manila in the Philippines. Taking place two months earlier compared to 2023, Sierra Madre was one of the highlights of last season in terms of technical organisation and atmosphere in the field of ‘grassroots events’. It is a pity the event now clashes with a Hong Kong classic, because Sierra Madre also deserves full attention. On the start list we also find none other than recent 9 Dragons 50/50 winner Kristian Joergensen.

The 75km long race has start and finish in Sitio Wawa in Rodriguez in the Rizal. All year round it’s a hub for trail runners from Manila and surroundings, who gather there on weekends during their training outings. The course has well over 4000 metres of elevation gain and is a nice mixture of wide and technical single trails, including a number of river crossings. Heat and humidity can play a big role, which is the main reason why event director Emman Manonsong moved Sierra Madre Trail Ultra from May to March. Last year, several runners got cooked during the day. Jeff Campbell was the outstanding winner ahead of John Ivan Zonio and Maynard Encormal. While Campbell is out of action with injury, Zonio and Encormal are both back on the start list and will certainly try to put some pressure on Kristian Joergensen. But with the sun-loving Dane in great shape, it will be hard to see victory. Plenty of other podium contenders, though. Eldy Bulod, Florence Alave, Henry Cottillon, JC Murillo, Jomarc Ferrer and so on.

A year ago Ann Jilian Pulanco scored her first ever ATM race victory at Sierra Madre Trail Ultra, proving her inherent competitiveness. Just two weeks ago, she showed to be in good shape again with second place in Mt Kalatungan Ultra behind Julie Ann Morales, who’s been dominant in the ATM races in Philippines this season. A repeat victory is certainly not far-fetched. However, there’s other contenders with maybe a little more freshness in the legs: Cecille Wael and Kathleen Ligan, for example. Ligan won Danao 50 ahead of Wael, the latter then won Bagtit 50 a month ago. Mary Joy Sumanda has kept on improving in terms of competitiveness and was third in Mt Kalatungan. Will this be her weekend? Other challengers for the win and the podium are Ram Rongavilla, Shally Yuson and Melanie Hingpit, who was on the podium in third last year.

The Sierra Madre Trail Ultra starts at 2 am local time on Saturday. Subject to connectivity, we will be reporting live from the event on our usual channels.

Kristian Joergensen the obvious favourite for the men’s race at Sierra Madre

Can Ann Jilian Pulanco score a back-to-back victory at Sierra Madre this Saturday?

The young John Ivan Zonio surprised last year with a second place. Can he do that once more?

The women’s top 5 in 2023

The men’s top 5 in 2023

Jeff Campbell grabbed his 7th ATM race victory - joining Hisashi Kitamura again as male record holder - in a very hot and humid edition of Sierra Madre Trail 75, one month before he runs the World Championship race for his team Canada. Initially joined by home favourite Elmer Retolado, winner at Santa Ines earlier this season, Campbell shifted to a higher gear after a small stumble in a river and quickly produced a gap of 30 minutes on the rest by km 20. Retolado was already fading away, suffering from a knee injury sustained just two weeks ago. It was the young John Ivan Zonio, cousin of Jeffery and making his ATM debut, who very quickly emerged as the main challenger for second place. Zonio even managed to keep more or less an even pace with Campbell in the middle part of the race. Even though it was only 8 am, temperatures had already risen above 30 degrees and dehydration was beginning to plague plenty of runners. Another newcomer, Ariehmar Bardoquillo, ran himself into the mix for a podium finish, along with Maynard Encornal. Retolado continued to lose terrain and would eventually DNF, struck by heat and dehydration along with his knee problems. A race to forget for the young and talented Retolado, who will hopefully take time to allow his knee to heal properly. Despite being safely in the lead, Campbell suddenly remembered the course record set by Larry Apolinario last year and upped his pace again. He would take the course record by a handful of minutes, but probably regretted going for it as - clearly overheating - he was desperate for ice as he crossed the finish line without any celebrations. An hour later, a visibly fatigued Campbell stated it had been his “hottest race ever”.

John Ivan Zonio held on to a great 2nd place, ahead of Maynard Encormal, who really got going in the second part of the race. It’s Encornal’s second third place podium finish of the season. In fourth place came Ariehmar Bardoquillo, Anthony Calixterio was fifth and Singapore's Deric Lau sixth.

The women’s race developed into a tight battle between Manila’s Ann Jilian Pulanco and Penang-based American Danielle Perry. Pulanco is known as an ultra endurance specialist, but has recently changed her training regime to also include more speed work. It paid off. She took the lead quite early into the race, but Perry would always stay close. Halfway, the American caught up with Pulanco and even dropped her to lead the race for nearly 10 km. However, Pulanco did not drop her guard and fought back bravely. In the end, she even won - her first ATM race victory - by over 50 minutes as Perry had no energy left to stick with her. On the basis of her performance in Sierra Madre, we should expect Pulanco to feature up front in next month’s Borneo Miler as well. Points leader Irish Glorioso never found herself in podium contention, but revealed that she has been slowing down her training after her blitz-start of this season. Her main goals come towards the end of the year. Instead, it was great to see Melanie Hingpit back on the podium in third place. A former winner of the Mt Apo Sky Race, Hingpit was ten minutes faster than Mary Joy Sumanda and Sarawak’s Siet Fah Lim - winner of Borneo TMBT 100 last year, but seemingly less in her element in the Rizal mountains.

The Sierra Madre Trail Ultra turned out to be a great newcomer in our ATM Championship series, with start/finish in Sitio Wawa, the heart of Manila’s trail community. All weekend, a pleasant party atmosphere was never away, and foreign participants had a great time mixing with all the enthusiastic local runners and people. The heat during this edition proved a little too much for some, but as the cliché goes “you can never book the weather”.

The next Filipino points race is MUSPO Ultra 100 on 22/23 July.

John Ivan Zonio made an impressive ATM debut with 2nd place ahead of some experienced top guys

Maynad Encornal battled hard to get the podium, and he did. His 2nd third place after Santa Ines in February

This Saturday we already have the second of five Filipino points races in the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship and again we go to the vast mountain range of Rizal to the east of capital city Manila. This time we are heading to Rodriguez for the 75km long Sierra Madre Trail Ultra. The start list has a bunch of strong ultra trail runners but the spotlights will be mainly on home favourite Elmer Retolado - winner of Santa Ines Adenture early Febraury -, and Jeff Campbell - winner of Lantau 70 in Hong Kong six weeks ago.

The Maharlika Trail group organised this event as an ATM Candidate for the first time last year with a rather unique - but great- format: only 1 race category. It’s 75km or nothing. Certainly a big ask for a lot of people, but in this way the event does get a very respectable start list and an exciting competition to look forward to, which in turn stirs up interest in the event. Sierra Madre Trail Ultra is no walk in the park, with estimated elevation gain of 4200 hm and basically 12 hill peaks to overcome, the last one about 3 km before the finish line in Sitio Wawa.

Sitio Wawa and the Coco Mountain Resort function as the event venue with the race start scheduled for Saturday early morning at 2 am. That implies the first few hours will be run in darkness.

Elmer Retolado was second a year ago after a tight battle with Larry Apolinario. Other than being at home in the Rizal, he therefore also has actual course knowledge. Whether that will be enough to keep Jeff Campbell behind remains to be seen. Just six weeks ago Campbell proved that going flat out for 70km is no longer a mental barrier for him. What may be on the other hand is the hot and humid conditions that runners will be exposed to, and trail technicalities one hardly has to deal with in Hong Kong. It’s been a pretty wet ATM season so far, but the forecast for this Saturday shows only a little chance for a rainshower. What could also play in Retolado’s favour is the fact that Campbell will be going to the World Championships for his home country Canada in a month’s time. For Campbell being selected for his country is an achievement. Will he go ‘all in’ at Sierra Madre should the going get rough? There is a bonus attached to a potential victory, however. It would be Campbell’s 7th ATM race victory, and so he would once again share the male all-time victory record with Hisashi Kitamura.

On paper these two stand out as the op favourites, but there’s a lot more local and international trail talent on the start list to push Campbell and Retolado forward. Singapore’s Deric Lau, for example, has developed into an excellent podium contender in almost any ATM race. Also Maynard Encornal, third in Santa Ines, will be in the mix. John Zonio, Poy Brillantes, Sean Aying, Angelito Vertudazo, and Japan’s Taito Yasukochi are other runners who are likely to feature at the top of the leaderboard.

The women’s race seems to be all open without any clear favourite. ATM overall female ranking leader Irish Glorioso will start her third race of the season already, and might just grab her second win after V Trail in Laos in February. That would already put her in a strong position to again take one of five spots in Team Philippines for the ATM Championship Final on 2 December. Ann Jilian Pulanco, known from running mega ultras, was fourth a year ago and might have the speed and experience to challenge Glorioso. Japan’s Tamae Harada is certainly a podium contender as well, and Emily Raga. Or maybe it will someone completely different..

ATM will be broadcasting live from the start at 2 am local time, and keep you up-to-date with multimedia updates throughout the race on Saturday.

Jeff Campbell will be looking to score his 7th ATM race victory at Sierra Madre

Maynard Encornal had a solid podium finish at Santa Ines in February

Deric Lau will be one of the podium contestants for sure

Irish Glorioso tops the women’s ATM ranking and this Saturday she’ll already do her 3rd race of the season

Melanie Hingpit also features on the start list this weekend

Two ATM Candidate Races took place simultaneously in Indonesia and Philippines last weekend and both with considerable success and appeal for next year’s ATM Championship calendar. At Sierra Madre Trail Ultra 75, Larry Apolinario beat Elmer Retolado and Sherlyn Fugaban asserted herself as the new Queen of the Rizal. At Bukit Lawang, local Sumatran runners proved they can run trail, too, on an interesting course with impressive support from the local community and the indigenous inhabitants of the rainforest: the orang utans.

From the get-go, established race favourites Arief Wismoyono and Thimo Kilberth were put under pressure by the quick pace of local runner Ongki Saleh. The first half of the 42k long Bukit Lawang Jungle Trail is very runable and certainly not very technical, allowing for relatively easy sub-five minute kilometres. However, the second half is an entirely different story. Runners enter a thick rainforest on narrow single trails and have to negotiate two very steep ‘bukits’ or hills. The descent of which are just as steep and technical. Thimo and Arief were therefore not yet alarmed when they heard Ongi Saleh had distanced them by nearly ten minutes at km 22. However, the local athlete, seemingly inexperienced, was stronger and more resilient than expected. Ongi Saleh lost ‘only’ half of his advantage on the bukits, and came home solo in first place. A brilliant victory that was celebrated extensively by his friends at the impressive start/finish arena. In an intense battle for second place, 2015 ATM Champion Arief Wismoyono caught up again with Thimo Kilberth in the final few kilometres, but the Bali-based German had a little extra fuel left in the tank for the final slope uphill to the finish line. Two weeks after his third place at the Batur Trail Challenge, Kilberth proves again he is in the best running shape of his life. In the women’s 42k, a young woman from Aceh drew all the attention. Ina Lydia Utari arrived at the halfway point in fifth place overall, and just like Ongi Saleh in the men’s did not lose a lot of ground in the technical second part. Nice to see runners from Sumatra doing so well, and we hope to see more of them in the ATM Championship points races coming up this season.

The same applies for Sherlyn Fugaban in the Philippines after two convincing victories in the Rizal mountains in the past month. Fugaban outpaced Cecile Wael and Cheryl Navarro last Saturday on the tough 75k course of Sierra Madre. The first Filipino points race this season is MUSPO 100 in Budkidnon, Mindanao. Curious whether she can open her points account there with a full whack of 500 points. Fugaban is increasingly seen as a potential favourite for this year’s women’s ATM title. The returning Aggy Sabanal ran a solid race and even held second place until the halfway point, when she missed a marker and lost too much time to still feature up front in the race.

At Akyathlon 2019, Elmer Retolado had the better of Larry Apolinario, but the table got reversed at Sierra Madre 2022. The two of them were in a league of their own, but this time Apolinario had a little extra to take a great win. Anthony Calixterio grabbed third on the podium.

Ina Lydia Utari won the 42k race in great style

Thimo Kilberth had a great scrap with Arief Wismoyono

Arief Wismoyono showed a lot of grit but had to settle for 3rd just behind Thimo

Riverside at Bukit Lawang with rows of homestays, restaurants and warungs

The organisers of Bukit Lawang know how to build a great event arena, including a large marquee tent

Real jungle trails at Bukit Lawang

After winning Santa Ines last month, Sherlyn Fugaban also controlled Sierra Madre in another part of the Rizal mountains

The women’s podium at Sierra Madre

The men’s podium at Sierra Madre

The second of two new Candidate Races in the Rizal mountains east of Manila takes place this Saturday. However, the Sierra Madre Trail Ultra covers basically entirely different trails than the Santa Ines Adventure Run a month ago. Rather unique in today’s trail scene is that the event only offers one race distance category: 75 km, ultra distance no less! And it’s a challenging 75k as total elevation gain is well over 4000 hm. The winners of last month’s race are back, too.

Sherlyn Fugaban was a surprisingly strong female champion in one of her very first long distance trail races, and will be aiming to repeat that success this weekend. On the basis of her performance at Sta Ines, Fugaban could be the next Filipino female contender for this year’s Asia Trail Master Championship title, as Ces Wael is reportedly taking a sabbatical from competitive racing to focus on her advanced studies. At Sierra Madre, Fugaban wil need to watch out for the experienced Cheryll Navarro and for the 2018 vice Asia Trail Master Champion Aggy Sabanal, who is making her return to competition now as a young mother.

Elmer Retolado proved at Sta Ines that the covid pandemic did not affect him very much. The 2019 Akyathlon winner will now face the man he beat 3 years ago in the Cordillera race, Larry Apolinario. That should make for an interesting race, with also Richard Akol, Rudy Paghubasan and last-but-not-least, Al Telias, on the start list.

ATM will be on-site and reporting live from Sierra Madre Trail Ultra tomorrow.

Sherlyn Fugaban and Elmer Retolado can crown themselves as the Heroes of the Rizal this weekend

Aggy Sabanal returns to competition this weekend

Trail running in the Rizal mountains east of Manila is taking off very seriously again and it seems written in the stars that very soon runners from across Asia can once again score coveted ATM Championship and Grandmaster Quest points in the Rizal. Another new event sees the limelight on 28 May: the Sierra Madre Trail Ultra 75 in Rodriguez and Antipolo.

The organisation is in the hands of experienced trail runners and headed by Arven Alcantara, a national team athlete in the Philippines. Interesting and eye catching is the fact that the Sierra Madre Trail Ultra will only feature a one-and-only race category: 75 kilometres! Competition-wise it is always good if all participants in an event are going head-to-head instead of being spread out over several categories. The 75K is scheduled to have 4600 metres of elevation gain, so that ‘s a tough course. It will take you to the southern peaks of Sierra Madre Mountain range in Rodriguez and Antipolo including Mt. Parawagan, Mt. Purro, Mt. Mapatad, Mt. Kawa-Kawa, Mt. Malemod, Mt. Ayaas and Mt. Kapananan. This is serious business and it is therefore no suprise that the organisation requires participants to have some degree of experience. Namely, proof of having completed a road or trail race of minimum 42 KM (marathon) before. The cut-off time for the Sierra Madre is 19 hours and the starting time is set at 2 am. The course map can be consulted below.

This event will be the second ATM Candidate Race in the Rizal area this spring, four weeks after the Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run. Both events have completely different race courses, however, and except a 3 km road section have no overlap.