Local talent Elmer Retolado repeated last year’s victory at the Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run in Philippines, and did so in a significantly faster time: 13h17, or one and a half hour quicker than twelve months ago. Retolado had some strong competitors to deal with on the 80k main race in Yojong Sacayle and Maynard Encormal to begin with. Mindanao’s Sacayle put the pressure on shortly after the start and came first at AS2, which was km 17. Conditions for trail running were good, which was a relief for many as Santa Ines is quickly establishing a reputation for being a very tough and technical race. No fewer than 36 separate river crossings need to be negotiated. These are mostly shallow but break a runner’s rhythm nonetheless. Retolado accelerated towards the end and opened up a substantial gap to Yojong Sacayle, who came into the finish in 2nd place in 14h07. Maynard Encormal was third, some 50 minutes later. JC Murillo, Bali-based German Thimo Kilberth and Sean Aying came next in the men’s race.

However, newbie Elisabeth Dangadan from Baguio caused a bit of a sensation by finishing 4th place overall to win the women’s competition! In a time of 16h02 approximately, a big victory ahead of Angelie Cabalo and Cecille Wael, which promises a lot for months to come. Cabalo was 7th overall and nearly an hour ahead of Wael, which was also about the gap at MMTF 100 a few months ago. Wael, on the other hand, was clearly faster than Cabalo on the 50k of CMU. Kimberly Gaela was a solid fourth in the women’s competition, and managed to stay ahead of Irish Glorioso, who still had sour legs after winning V Trail in Laos just a week ago. Still, Glorioso already banked a nice bag of ATM Championship points and we’re only mid-February!

The next Filipino points race is Sierra Madre Trail and takes place on 13 May and is also in the Rizal Mountain area, albeit on a totally different course of 75 km.

An impressive victory by Elmer Retolado at Santa Ines

The 2nd edition of Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run is upon us this weekend, and it is the first Filipino points race in this year’s Asia Trail Master Championship series. The 80 km race is a tough one, but the relative proximity to country capital Manila makes for an excellent trail weekend trip to the Rizal mountains. 

The Pace Republic, which also includes Grandmaster and 2022 ATM Finalist Rhea Batac, is a new organiser in the Philippines and they haven’t missed their debut. A year ago, Santa Ines was a successful Candidate Race in our series and as such a great new addition to our championship calendar. There’s other shorter distance categories at the event, but the marquee 80k race course is for the well-trained runners. Elmer Retolado won it last year in a time of 14h46, and he is not exactly slow. Great to see Retolado’s name on the start list for this weekend, too. He has appeared every now and then in our series over the past years, winning Akyathlon in 2019 for example, but has never featured over the length of a whole ATM season. Let’s see if countryman and new ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras inspired him. Macaneras himself is skipping Santa Ines, he will make his ATM debut reportedly in March at Lantau 70 in Hong Kong. Retolado will normally be challenged mainly by American David Duffy, based in Thailand, and Bali’s German Thimo Kilberth. Maynard Encornal, third last year, Sean Aying, James Telias and Julius Iglesias are well-known other podium contenders. 

In the women’s 80k race we look forward to a great race between rising trail star Angelie Cabalo and Cecille Wael, with last week’s V Trail winner Irish Glorioso in the mix as well. Both ran Santa Ines last year, too, albeit in different categories. Cabalo was very new to trail but finished 2nd nevertheless on the 30km, while Wael came in third on the 80km after suffering from all kinds of issues. Sherlyn Fugaban was a convincing winner last year, but is now of course still recovering from her leg fracture sustained in July. Cabalo won MMTF at the end of last year ahead of Wael, but the latter turned the tables a week later at Cordillera Mountain Ultra with her best trail performance ever. Let’s find out who comes out on top at Santa Ines. How well has Glorioso recovered from last weekend’s tough trail race in Laos?

ATM will be covering the race live from Santa Ines starting on Saturday afternoon on our usual channels.

Season VIII of the Asia Trail Master Championship series begins in Thailand, just like last year with Ultra Trail Koh Chang, one of the classic events in the southern part of the country. A colourful event offering a 100k and a 70k option for both ATM Championship points and a Grandmaster Quest point. UTKC is the first of three early season events that will all require a basic level of fitness and endurance. Our popular and traditional season opener before the covid-19 crisis in Indonesia, Bandung’s 42k Tahura Trail, has been postponed to 11 March in 2023. While Tahura was a rather fast and easy-going race going into the new season, UTKC can be a hot struggle for many participants. The great atmosphere around the event makes up for that, however. Two weeks later, the ATM circuit moves to Laos for the V Trail in Vang Vieng. What used to be a late-season event is now one of the first on 4/5 February. It’s still the premier trail running event in the country, and we are happy the event is back on the calendar. V Trail will offer two points race categories: the 85km and the 55km.

One week later we are back in the Philippines, albeit the northern island of Luzon. The Santa Ines Mountain Adventure was a successful Candidate Race last year and the 80km race will now be a Championship points race on 11 February. Organised by The Pace Republic including 2-star Grandmaster Rhea Batac, the event is held to the east of capital city Manila in the Rizal mountains.

After this trio, there will be a two-week gap to the new Candidate Race in Brunei, Simpur Ultra. Another week later, we move to Vietnam for the first time in 2023. The Dalat Ultra Trail will be held on 4 March and it’s a 85km race that matters there. A week later should be the aforementioned Tahura Trail in Bandung, Indonesia. On 25 March we have another event that used to be later in the season. Hong Kong’s classic Lantau 70 will be a points race for the Asia Trail Master Championship for the first time. One week later we return to another part of Vietnam, Ninh Binh, for the Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths 100k race - organised by the team of Cau Dat Farm Ultra in 2020 - a very strong Candidate Race at the time, which unfortunately cannot be held at the moment due to change in land ownership.

As you can read, the first quarter of 2023 will be filled with exciting trail action straightaway!

ATM CANDIDATE - The longest race of the Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run event history did not disappoint in its degree of difficulty. The 80km race, for most runners predominantly run at nighttime, was one of Philippines’ tougher trail races of the moment. Winner Elmer Retolado needed nearly 15 hours (14h46) to cover the distance and its 4200 metres of elevation gain. Retolado was in command of the race throughout, but it got very close in the end nonetheless! New name John Ivan Zonio came within two minutes of the last Akyathlon winner at the finish line just before dawn. Maynard Encornal, also a new face, was a solid third in 15h58. A great podium with runners we may hear a lot more of this year when it’s about the ATM Championship points..

Sherlyn Fugaban was the fastest female and fourth overall, which was a bit of a surprise as Sherlyn is quite new to trail and especially long distance trail. Jinky Acejedo was similarly impressive in second and even leading at the first checkpoint. Fugaban kept the pace going, however, for the full race distance and was happy all her hard training during the covid crisis paid off. Fourth overall is an impressive long distance debut, especially considering she stayed ahead of some established male runners such as Roy Gentoleo and Aleksis Capili, even if those were not going all-in during this race. Pre-race favourite Cecile Wael struggled with stomach cramps and was never really in contention for the victory. Wael, who has been winning races left and right in the Philippines in the past couple of months, had to settle for third last Sunday.

When all was said and done, the general consensus was that the Santa Ines 80 has potential to grow into a significant Rizal mountain race. Rhea Batac of the organising team “Pace Republic” was happy and said all feedback is being taken into account to produce an even better edition next season. Who knows as an ATM Championship points race?

With special thanks to Richard Akol and Tin Salazar of LBRY Sports.

The men’s podium

The women’s podium

This weekend we have the first of two new ATM Candidate Races in the Rizal mountains east of Manila. The Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run takes place in Tanay Rizal and has virtually no overlap with next month’s Sierra Madre Trail Ultra. This Saturday starting at 4 pm, runners will tackle 80 km or 30 km and it promises to be tough: the 80 km will not only be mainly a night race , there’s also 4300 metres of elevation gain to be conquered. No wonder some of the better known Filipino mountain trail runners feature on the Sta Ines start list. Among the contenders for the victory and the podium, perhaps Elmer Retolado is the top favourite. Retolado was the winner of Pilipinas Akyathlon 50k in 2019… but meanwhile that is indeed already three years ago. Noy Gentoleo will be a challenger for the win, and let’s not discount Grandmaster Aleksis Capili, arguably the most experienced in the men’s field when it comes to competitive ultra trail racing. But after such a long time without real races, who knows we get to see some real surprises.

In the women’s 80k field, Ces Wael is probably the top favourite for the race win. She has been very active over the past months and proper mountain trails suit her. It will be interesting to see if Sherlyn Fugaban can keep up with Ces Wael. Always podium candidates when it’s long and tough, Grandmaster Cheryl Bihag and Ann Jilian Pulanco will certainly be in the mix as well.

Stay tuned on our social media channels for updates from Santa Ines starting Saturday late afternoon!

Elmer Retolado won the 2019 points race Pilipinas Akyathlon. This Saturday, he’ll be at Santa Ines