The third Malaysian points race of this Asia Trail Master Championship season is a newcomer on our calendar: Tioman Ultra 50. Organised by the MMTF Consultant crew on the weekend 1/2 June, this event was an attractive Candidate Race last year and takes place on a relatively small island 32km off the southeastern coast of peninsular Malaysia. The 50km is the only race distance for points, and so we can look forward to an exciting competition!

As stated on the official website of the island, “Tioman is a duty-free island off Peninsular Malaysia's east coast, acclaimed as a geological wonder, ecological paradise and one of Southeast Asia's most beautiful travel destinations.” Runners reach Tioman via ferry from Mersing in Johor, or Tanjung Gemuk in Pahang. There’s hotel resorts and chalets for tourists, nice beaches and great surfing and scuba diving options.

Malaysia and beach, sounds like it will be hot. True, but the 50k race course does have no fewer than 2670 metres of elevation gain with a peak of just over 1000m above sea level as one of three main hillclimbs. That is Gunung Kajang, the highest peak on the island. Participants will begin the ascent of the mountain already after about 9km. With the starting time scheduled for 3 am, this implies runners will witness sunrise on the mountain. Following Gunung Kajang, runners will continue on the “dragons back” ridge from Old Juara Road to Kampung Air Batang, start and finish venue of the event.

Logistics and accommodation are a little more complicated for this event, so early registration to ensure a bib and appropriate accommodation is a must. You can sign up via the button link below.

Last year’s male winner: Yusof Abdul Manan

Last year’s female race winner: Siokhar Lim

Tioman is a small island roughly 30km off the Malaysian east coast and as of this weekend an official new trail running destination. MMTF Consultant, the company behind the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping, has successfully established Tioman Ultra, a tough 50km trail race on the island. Measuring only 39 km long and 12km wide, Tioman nevertheless has a mountain peak of over 1030m : Gunung Kajang. The island is sparsely populated and covered by dense rainforest.

Event venue was the beachfront of Kampung Air Batang.

The longest race category was the 50km, which had some of Malaysia’s better known runners in it. Yusof Abdul Manan proved to be the fastest man, covering the course in 9h17’47”, a solid 35 minutes faster than Mohamad Syahmim Nazmy and Seiji Morofuji. The finisher times indicate the high degree of technicality of this race. In fourth and fifth we had the first two women, with the highly experienced ultra runner Siokhar Lim having to push a bit to stay ahead of the surprisingly quick Norhani Mohd Jaffar. Norhani has been around for several years, but is known as a short distance specialist. Her performance in Tioman shows that she is growing on the 50k medium distance as well now. The gap between her and Siokhar Lim was just 9 minutes, and Siokhar herself has increased her standard running pace a lot compared to pre-covid years. In third place we had Guan Shin Law, another useful podium for her this season. Guan Shin Law also managed to stay quite a distance ahead of Halimatun Sa’adiah , fifth, for example. Succy Lee was fourth in between them.

Images courtesy of MMTF Consultant

The men’s overall winner Yusof Abdul Manan

Siokhar Lim was fourth overall, but pressed forward by Norhani Mohd Jaffar to win the women’s race