Once again, UTSG 50 in Singapore was characterised by exciting and fast racing with a pinch of uncertainty always in the mix due to the complicated nature of trail course design and marking in the city state. The local community in Singapore may have finally found a genuine trail running star in the making by the name of Wen Sheng. The 2:30 marathon runner, in his mid-twenties, managed to cross the finish line ahead of reigning ATM Champion Jeff Campbell, who initially had looked like a guaranteed repeat winner of this race. Also in the women’s 50km, things came down to the wire, as Tokyo’s Chisato Kario raced back to locally based Filipino LJ Benitez for her second ATM race victory in two months.

UTSG 50 is the only ATM points race event in Singapore and just like last year attracted a solid number of runners. The venue had been moved to the Dairy Farm and the course had also been changed and made slightly spicier, but the vibe was still the same. It’s good to have a proper international offroad race in SIngapore. Last year’s winner Jeff Campbell, who beat John Ray Onifa on that occasion, was the big favourite in the men’s and looked to be in control in the first half as well. He tolerated Humberto Baeza, Sui Hong and Shingo Abe with him, before he accelerated the pace and went solo just before km 25. Fellow Hong Konger Sui Hong, already fourth here last year, resisted quite well, but could not bridge the gap anymore. Baeza began to struggle and would later rather mysteriously dissapear from the leaderboard. Abe suffered from dehydration and dropped back, but then there was this tall young local runner named Wen Sheng who was very much holding his own and even appeared to be having a slightly faster pace than Campbell and Sui Hong. As race reporters and followers were waiting for Campbell to appear at the km 44 mark, which initiated a double short loop with a hill climb - half of it on a staircase, they were left stunned to see Wen Sheng appearing first instead! Campbell was just some 20-25 seconds behind and said he had missed a course marker. Local advantage for Wen Sheng, but how hard Campbell then was trying to get back to him, he couldn’t. By the end of that hillclimb loop, the gap was not smaller, but slightly bigger. (see videos below).

It was a great dual to watch and in the end Wen Sheng secured his first victory in his ATM debut in 4h07. A visibly disappointed Campbell settled for second place, Sui Hong came in third ten minutes behind Wen Sheng. A honourable mention goes out to several others, not in the least Singapore-based Philippe Daniel and Khoo Houw Ann from the north of Malaysia, who caught Abe towards the end to take fourth and fifth. Nazrul Islam was seventh and another local hero Deric Lau eighth.

After her surprise win in the Mount Ugo Marathon in Philippines early May, ahead of Angelie Cabalo and Hee Joo Jang, eyes were focused on Japan’s Chisato Kario in the women’s race. Indeed, from the beginning she set the pace and opened up a considerable gap towards two Filipinos living in Singapore: LJ Benitez and someone who turned out to be running with someone else’s bib number and later got disqualified. By halfway distance, however, Kario’s advantage had shrunk entirely and Benitez caught up. The two stayed together until the aforementioned hillclimb loop and on the second of these loops, Benitez managed to open up a gap on Kario. Game over, one would have thought. But at the finish it was the Japanese runner who appeared first with Benitez behind her in the distance! A great push to the line by Kario, who as second runner did benefit also somewhat from leader Benitez getting confused by a course marking. With two victories and 1000 ATM points in the bag, Chisato Kario is basically assured of qualification for Team Japan in the ATM Championship Final, where she could definitely have podium chances. Her finishing time was 5h17. China’s Shifan Hu was third, just head of Miki Ueki, also from Japan.

The men’s Top 3

Chisato Kario: 2nd ATM race win in 2 months for the Tokyo runner with background in New York

LJ Benitez: so close to victory! Brave run by the Singapore-based Filipino

Hu Shifan from Hangzhou took third on the women’s podium

Sunday’s UTSG 50 race is the annual celebration of SIngapore’s very active trail running communities. It’s not easy to organise trail events in the city state, nor are there a lot of real trails to choose from. Nevertheless, UTSG is managing to put together a great vibe every year and attract many runners from outside SIngapore as well. Remember a year ago, with Jeff Campbell edging out John Ray Onifa, and Hau Ha having the better of Vanja Cnops. Most trail organisers in the region would pay for these top stars to run in their event and in the same race. This Sunday, now reigning ATM Champion Jeff Campbell is even running it again, spearheading the field.

It will already be the fourth race of the ATM season for Campbell, for whom the runable nature of UTSG is of course perfect. He won Prenn Trail Summit 50 and V Trail 55 in Vietnam and Laos, but had to be content with third place in Lantau 70 in his own Hong Kong. Without Onifa in the race tomorrow, contrary to last year, he is the top favourite tomorrow. Chris Timms, the overall points leader in this season’s ATM ranking, will be one of his logical challengers, alongside Humberto Baeza - who ran Gombak last week, however.

In the women’s 50k race, we look forward to the participation of Japan’s Chisato Kario, the surprising winner of the Mount Ugo Marathon 50k in Baguio early May, ahead of Angelie Cabalo and Hee Joo Jang. With a second result of that kind, Kario would qualify for Team Japan in the ATM Championship Final in October, and given her result in the Philippines, become even a title pretendent. Singapore-based star Vanja Cnops will not be competing tomorrow, as she is still not 100% fit from her wrist fracture, sustained in the Bali BTR race a good month ago. Thailand’s Phitchanan Mahachot could a contender, but she is also taking part in Saturday’s shorter distance race of the same event. Being in SIngapore, we are also likely to discover a few new names.

ATM will be reporting live from the UTSG 50 event, starting at 6:45 am on Sunday morning local time.

Jeff Campbell tanked confidence last year, beating John Ray Onifa

Last year: the reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa against his eventual successor: Jeff Campbell

An exciting and successful edition of UTSG 50 in Singapore saw the end of John Ray Onifa’s unbeaten streak of over six years in ATM. While our reigning champion ran a great race himself and looked like he was on the way to yet another victory, Hong Kong-Canadian Jeff Campbell found some energy reserves deep down at the end of the flattish race to catch Onifa again, and pass him for victory! Both great athletes finished the 50km within 4 hours, and eventually five minutes apart.

For Jeff Campbell it’s the 8th ATM race victory in his running career, his first of the season on a typical Singaporean and runable course that suited him perfectly despite a jetlag. He traveled back from London just the day before. John Ray Onifa took his defeat with a smile and lots of respect for Campbell, whom he knows very well, of course. In the end, Onifa did as he predicted the evening before at the pre race gathering at the Red Dot Running Company (see our video below). Onifa was right on the money finishing in 3h59, but Campbell just had too much speed in his legs.

Meanwhile, 2022 female ATM Champion Hau Ha was only four minutes behind Onifa... She was probably the fastest runner overall in the last 10km! Securing her wild card for this season’s ATM Championship Final, the Vietnamese star took a relatively modest start and even saw local resident Vanja Cnops coming back at her around the 10km mark. Competitive as always, Vanja had a brave run for sure, but an eye infection and the hard fact that Hau Ha has just become not only still a stronger trail runner, but also a faster runner, meant Vanja eventually had no answer. Going up on a road, Hau Ha just had too much strength in her legs for the Belgian. Still, Vanja’s finishing time of 4h25 nevertheless shows she had no off-day.

Hau Ha was running with Chris Timms nearby for most of the race. Timms, also a local resident, had a fantastic performance himself last Saturday. His third place on the men’s podium in 4h06 was illustrative of that, even though his podium spot was challenged severely by newcomer Siu Hong from Hong Kong. The latter went off course at some point early on, which may have cost him that top 3 podium spot. Still, Siu Hong, from the T8 squad, is a great new name on the scene. Singapore’s Deric Lau completed the top five with an excellent run himself ahead of Hong Kong Australian David Longo. Edmund Villaraza follows, then Gael Beron and Daniel Yap.

Behind Hau Ha and Vanja Cnops, Patsy Tan took the third podium spot. She finished just a minute ahead of Shifan Hu.

UTSG 50 showed that trail running, despite long concrete and road sections, can be great fun in Singapore. The X Trailblazers created a very fine experience for the 400-odd starters.

The five fastest runners in the finish

Initially, John Ray Onifa applied some serious pressure on Jeff Campbell.

Chris Timms and Hau Ha ran most of the race in each other’s vicinity

Patsy Tan completed the female podium in Singapore

Big names on the start list of the UTSG 50 event in Singapore this Saturday, the first ATM points race in the country since 2018. Organised by the large X Trailblazers community, UTSG will start and finish in the Macritchie Park and offers a course for the speedsters amongst the trail runners, in the absence of serious hillclimbs in Singapore. Pure running in other words, and it’s great to see a very well-stacked and international list of participants. Four names stand out: reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa will be facing Jeff Campbell for the men’s victory, and 2022 ATM Champion Hau Ha will be up against Singapore-resident Vanja Cnops.

Until a year ago, few people would have bet against Campbell on a runable 50k against even Onifa. But the Hong Kong-based Canadian has been shifting his attention towards the long ultras. People who follow the stats on Strava’s ATM Club know that Campbell ranks very high every week in the ‘total distance run’ column. Still, his sheer running speed won’t have disappeared so quickly, of course. His main issue will be his late arrival into Singapore, and the potential jet lag after spending time in the UK. Running UTSG 50 is a bit of a must for him, given his ambition to qualify again for the ATM Championship Final in September. Campbell was injured earlier in the season, and has no points on his 2024 account yet. John Ray Onifa will be keen to keep his unbeaten ATM streak going for a while longer. Earlier this year, Onifa indicated having an interest in road marathons now - to try and increase his running pace on the flat. UTSG will be a good indication where he stands with that.

There’s several other fast runners expected to join, such as David Longo and Chris Timms.

The women’s dual for the win should be between Vietnam’s Hau Ha and Belgium’s Vanja Cnops. It will be the second time they face each other in the same race. At the 2022 ATM Final on Mount Apo, Vanja was the first woman ever to make life hard for Hau Ha in a race. Eventually, Hau would get the upper hand going up and down Apo, but on Saturday the course is flat and suited towards Vanja Cnops, who has been living in Singapore for over ten years. If there’s one race where Vanja might have a chance against Hau Ha…. Her half marathon PB is still significantly faster than Hau’s, but can she prevent losing too much pace on 50km?

ATM will be reporting live from SIngapore starting at 6:30 am on Saturday.

Reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa wants to test his sheer running pace in Singapore this weekend

Jeff Campbell is increasingly focusing on long ultras now, but on Saturday he is back on his 50k top distance

2022 ATM Champion Hau Ha and her coach Guim are using UTSG as the perfect tune-up for their big goal in August

What can Vanja Cnops do against Hau Ha on flat trails in her long-time resident country Singapore?

On 29 June runners can score Asia Trail Master Championship points in SIngapore for the first time since 2018. UTSG, the Ultra Trail Singapore Series managed by the large X-Trailblazers running community, is organising its 50km event for the third time and it’s a new points race for our rankings in support of the many Singaporeans who usually always need to travel abroad to take part in trail events including those under the ATM umbrella.

Everybody knows Singapore is a small country devoid of any major mountains or - in technical terms - elevation gain. Any trail race is therefore bound to have a fast course suiting those with a solid pace in the legs. Nevertheless, in case of rain the trails can get muddy and slippery to slow things down and demand more versatility from the participants. The precise route will be announced in due course.

Meanwhile, we recommend to follow the UTSG Facebook page to remain up-to-date with the latest news about the event. Registration is open. Needless to stay the race can be easily combined with a weekend trip to Singapore with family and friends.