Next week is the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival, for the first time in two years. For many runners it will be the first race after well over one-and-a-half years, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone again! The 2021 edition of MMTF obviously still comes with strict covid-19-related protocols, but at least we will have that feeling again of toeing a start line with hundreds of likeminded runners and adventurers. Participants are requested to read-up on the protocol before traveling to Taiping to avoid unpleasant surprises. Please check the MMTF event channels for the latest information.

Meanwhile, why don’t we take a look back at the documentary video produced after the 2019 event. It was a brilliant apotheosis of the Asia Trail Master Championship season. John Ellis and Veronika Vadovicova crowned themselves as ATM Champions, while Kristian Joergensen won the race in convincing style. After that performance, one wondered who was going to beat Joergensen in ATM 2020… but alas, we will never know.

MMTF is the last race of the year on our calendar. The male and female winners will be heralded as the Malaysia Trail Master champions of 2021. It’s a winner-takes-all race.

Thimo Kilberth and Emma Payne are the great winners of the inaugural Batur Trail Challenge in Bali last weekend. Both arrived at the uphill finish line in KIntamani da solo with a clear advantage over their nearest competitors Michio Yoneda and Shindy Patricia, respectively. The new event, organised by Bali Trail Running headed by Ms Indah Immortel, was an ATM Candidate Race for the 2022 Championship series and received widespread praise from a diverse field of participants.

Covid 19 is of course still around us all and the event could only take place with a set of extra regulations and mitigation efforts to be adhered to. These were gladly accepted by the runners, most of whom toed a starting line for the first time in almost two years. That’s a long time without races, and it was no surprise to see several new faces at the front of the Batur Trail Challenge, which offered a 30 km course with the ascent and descent of Mt Batur as central piece. The organiser does have a longer course of about 55-60km already designed for 2022. Last weekend, again partially due to covid restrictions, runners had to make do for 30k. Despite the 1200m of elevation gain, it meant that competitive runners could go flat out from the gun. Having a quick default running pace therefore boosted one’s chances for a podium finish.

And familiarity with the race route. Jakarta-based Japanese “road” runner Michio Yoneda, who holds a 2:37 marathon PB, pushed Bali-resident Thimo Kilberth, who is fast on the road as well, forward until the summit of Batur. Then came the long descent, where Kilbert was able to use his technical skills and knowledge of the trails to open up the gap to Yoneda. Kilberth ran clear for over ten minutes, but not knowing how far ahead he actually was kept pushing hard to the finish and reached it in just over 3 hours. Yoneda secured second in a great debut at this level in an ATM-race. In third came another surprise, as Malang’s Mikha Tanujaya scored his first ATM race podium. Tanujaya stems from the ever-growing Mantra community by Heru Prabowo and Ivan Citraya, who have been doing excellent work in promoting trail running and required skillsets to local runners throughout the pandemic. In fourth, we had the second Japanese runner Fuminori Kondo and Indonesia’s Freda Wardana came fifth.

Shindy Patricia, arguably the best-known runner from Malang, was the top favourite in the women’s race. People who follow her on instagram know Shindy has kept on training consistently since the start of the corona situation, so if anyone was still going to be in shape it would be the 2019 Cameron Ultra winner. And yet, Shindy Patricia is a reputed ultra trail mountain runner and 30k might just be too short and too fast-paced. Elite triathlete Emma Payne, also known as Em J, felt like nothing to lose and immediately applied the pressure after the start, distancing Shindy and the other women already before the ascent of Mt Batur. Payne retained the gap on the mountain and cruised to the finish to score her maiden victory on the ATM circuit. Shindy secured second place, and France’s Manon Janin completed the podium in third place.

A comprehensive race summary of the Batur Trail Challenge can be watched on our YouTube and Facebook pages, or just here below. The broadcast includes a.o. fantastic footage of Mount Batur, shot by Santosh Vasan and Vincent Chalias, and interviews of several of the protagonists.

Watch our BTR Challenge race summary

We made an attempt, but alas. The merged 2020-21 ATM Championship resulted into nothing as the global covid-19 pandemic raged on and made any international trail running competition in Asia impossible. Still, we give kudos to the male and female Championship points leaders at the time of cancellation, Trung Nguyen and Julian Duong Thi Nguyen, both based in Vietnam. They deserve this mentioning, as both runners exceeded expectations and we sincerely hope they both can continue their upward trend, competitively speaking, into the new season.

2022 is edging closer and we are indeed not throwing the towel in the ring. The Asia Trail Master Championship series goes on!

Recently, several organisers have announced their forthcoming events will take place, or they have been confident enough to open registration. Of course, no Asian country is out of the woods yet and covid-19 is unlikely to disappear soon. International, even regional, leisure travel is expected to remain difficult for at least the first quarter of 2022, possibly going even beyond that. Most of the freshly announced events will feature domestic residents-only. As a consequence of this, we have been compelled to make adjustments to the traditional ATM event schedule and to the points allocation system. The biggest change is that the national country rankings become much more important, as they will determine who gets a spot in the National Team to enter and take part in the Asia Trail Master Final in December 2022!

The key points

The way in which runners score ATM Championship points does not change compared to the past. All finishers in an official ATM points race still collect 100 ‘finisher’ points, plus x number of ‘performance’ points according to the usual points table (printed below). In essence, male and female race winners go home with 500 points in their bags.

In trail running events there’s typically several race distance categories. Normally, the longest race is the one to focus on as the A-race for the ATM Championship. However, this is not always the case! It can be that there are two A-races at the same event. Therefore, always check our race overview to find out which race offers how many Championship points.

One stubborn misconception is still that you must do long ultras to become ATM champion. Not true: you can select medium distance A-races of 40 to 70k and get just as many points as for a long ultra of 100k or more. The best example of this is Veronika Vadovicova, who became ATM champion in 2019 although her longest race was “only” 84 km. Runners choose the race distance that fits their qualities best.

In 2022, again due to the ongoing pandemic, we will work with a “four-best-count” system. Not five. Only a runner’s best four race results will count for his or her points total before the ATM Championship Final in December.

Also the bonus points system is slightly amended for 2022. The Abroad Bonus (50 points for finishing at least 1 race outside of one’s resident country) and the 100 Miles+ Bonus (25 points) remain. On the other hand, we will not assign any SuperTrail labels to events next season, nor respective bonus points to finishing runners of these events. It’s been two years, the scene has changed, and as far as we are concerned, any organiser who manages to get his event on in 2022 deserves the “Super” label.

Asia Trail Master Championship Final

The 2022 Asia Trail Master Championship Final will be different than it was before. Again, the corona pandemic has forced us to rethink the concept. The reality is that certainly in the first quarter of next year, runners in quite a few places - take Hong Kong as an example - will be unable to travel anywhere, or will find that ‘real’ trail running event organisers still do not get the necessary permits from the authorities. This makes it impossible for runners living in that situation to play any prominent role in the Championship as it used to be, with an accumulative points system.

Therefore, the 2022 Asia Trail Master Championship Final will be decided on a Winner-Takes-All basis! The male and female finalists who cross the finish line first will be the new ATM Champions.

However, you do need to qualify to be able to take part in that last race, the ATM Final. In each country, maximum five male and five female runners who score most ATM points during the year will qualify and be invited to enter their country’s National Team for the Asia Trail Master Championship Final.

The Final is therefore projected to be a race with selected elites-only, who are members of National Teams. Maximum five male runners and five females. Apart from the Individual Championship there will also be a Team Championship. The latter will be based on the accumulated finish times of the best three male runners and the best three female runners in each team.

The number of runners per team is subject to the number of ATM points races in that country.

• More than 3 ATM points races —> 5 male, 5 female

• 3 ATM points races —> 4 male, 4 female

• Less than 3 ATM points races —> 3 male, 3 female

The date and venue of the 2022 ATM Championship Final will be decided in due course.

Additional Notes/FAQ

• When there is more than one race distance at the same event

If an event offers two, three or more race distances, runners should check which of the race distance(s) offer ATM Championship points. Usually it is the longest race, but not always, and maybe two race distances have the same status.

• Multiple-day stage trail races

Performance points will be awarded according to the final overall classification, not per stage. This is important for The 9 Dragons Ultra in Hong Kong, for instance.

• Joint finishers

An important distinction will be made as of the second quarter of each season, i.e. 1 April (now as of 1 April 2022): If runners cross the finish line together hand-in-hand, their ranking relative to each other at the last timing checkpoint before the race finish will be consulted to determine who scores the most performance points. 


We also like camaraderie and people enjoying successes together, yet the ATM Championship is a sporting competition and we must avoid a situation whereby, late in the season, a joint finish of two or more championship contenders could be done deliberately for tactical reasons.

• ATM Championship Ranking before the ATM Final

Four-best-count system: only the best 4 point-results of each runner obtained during the calendar year will be taken into account for the selection into the National Teams for the ATM Final. This means if a runner has done six races, his two worst results will be deleted and not taken into account for his points total. Even if you run 13 ATM races, only your best 4 results matter.

In the last race of the ATM season - the ATM Final - all finalists will score additional points according to their ranking in the race result.

• Abroad Bonus

Runners who score points in 3 ATM races get a 50-point bonus if 1 of the 3 races took place outside the runner’s country of residence at the time of the race

• Joint points total in final Championship Ranking

If two or more runners have the same points total at the end of the year: preference goes to the runner who won the most recent direct confrontation between the relevant runners. If this does not separate the relevant runners, we check what their highest points score in 1 single race was and how many times that score was obtained (eg. three race wins against 1 race win). If this still does not separate them, the advantage goes to the runner who did most races and accumulated most total points during the year (e.g. a runner who scored points in eight races against a runner who only scored points in five races).

Let’s hope all of us can meet and play again on the trails of Asia in 2022!

Good news coming from Malaysia in the past few days. Covid-related restrictions are being eased in a number of sectors and places, and the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival, aka MMTF, has received an official go-ahead signal for the event to take place on its original date of 17 to 19 December. The event team in Taiping has obtained the respective support and approvals from all parties concerned, most notably from Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia (KBS).

Following the big success of the 2019 edition, MMTF was once again chosen to be the Asia Trail Master Championship Final for the 2020/21 season. Unfortunately, the global corona pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works and, as announced in September, the Championship was declared suspended after none of the points races had been able to take place in the course of this year. This coming December, MMTF is also still likely to be run by Malaysia residents-only.

Still, it’s great news that - along with Batur Trail Challenge in Indonesia and Ultra Trail Panoramic in Thailand - we seem set to conclude this most difficult of years for the mass participation industry with a number of ‘real’ races.

To add extra flavour, it has been agreed that the 84 km longest race on the MMTF programme will be presented as the Malaysia Trail Master Championship. A winner-takes-all race, for the first time in the history of ATM, to stimulate the Malaysian elites after two years of quasi inactivity. Both male and female race winners will claim the title of ‘2021 Malaysia Trail Master’ and earn the right to free registration to any ATM points race in next year’s 2022 Championship series. The entire top 3 on the podium will receive prizes.

All runners on the ATM Grandmaster Quest will of course also collect a point for finishing the 84 km race. As previously announced, points scored in 2019 and 2020 remain valid due to the special circumstances. However, it is necessary to register your Grandmaster ambitions via our simple online form, if you have not already done so.

Expect more news coming towards you regarding MMTF in the next days. All registrants for the event must be aware of the strict application of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that the event team will be pushing forward and apply from this day, which is in support and in line with National Security Council (MKN) and Ministry of Health Malaysia (KKM) guidelines and initiatives. The covid pandemic is not over, and we can all assist in convincing our decision-makers that events can happen again in a safe manner.

Kristian Joergensen was the dominating winner of the 2019 men’s race at MMTF

Two years ago, Veronika Vadovicova sealed her ATM Championship winning season with her strongest performance until then

Gradually, trail running events are appearing on calendars again! Including in Indonesia, where the new Batur Trail Run has been confirmed for 4 December 2021 in the Kintamani region of Bali. The event will take place around the Museum Geopark Batur and is a long-term project by the Bali Trail Running group featuring experienced local runners Indah Wardhani and Vincent Chalias. The first edition in December offers a single 30 km race course with 1230 metres of elevation gain on and around the famous Mount Batur volcano, a long-time trekkers’ paradise on the island. Participants in the race will get to see Batur and its adjacent lake from a wholly different angle, though. As the corona crisis is not yet fully over, the event can only take place under a clear covid safety protocol and with a restricted number of runners of 150. Registrations were opened earlier this week and more than half of the available spots have already been claimed. The Batur Trail Run has received our ATM Candidate Race label and will be covered via our channels.

When over a year ago we decided to merge the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship series with the 2021 season, to honour runners’ efforts before the covid-19 pandemic went global, we were full of hope that this year would be a return to a ‘kind-of-normal’. Alas, it was not to be.

Throughout 2021 not a single event on our intended 2021 event calendar has been able to take place and country borders have remained as good as shut for leisure travellers on the Asian continent. Fortunately, it is not all gloom and doom anymore as there seems to be some light at the end of this long dark tunnel now, or should we say ‘again’. In a majority of countries the vaccination campaign has led to some success in curbing the spread of covid 19, and a number of borders might reopen soonish. A few trail running event organisers are even bravely persisting to make things happen in the final quarter of 2021 (e.g. Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival, Vietnam Mountain Marathon, High Trail 9 Peaks Ulju in South Korea and Izu Trail Journey in Japan). Nevertheless, these events will only feature domestic runners.

As a result, we feel there is no other way but to officially cancel the 2020/21 ATM Championship and shift the focus entirely towards 2022.

The current points leaders in our ranking, Trung Nguyen (Singapore but now based in Vietnam) and Julia Nguyen Thi Duong (Vietnam), receive an honourary mention in the ATM archive as such.

The ATM Championship ranking for competitive runners will be reset to zero at the start of 2022. Runners who focus on completing the ATM Grandmaster Quest retain their finish results of 2019, 2020 and 2021 due to the special circumstances, but must register their Grandmaster Quest intention via our usual online form in advance of their next race.

What’s next?

First, rest assured that Asia Trail Master aims to continue in 2022. What will the series look like next year? We do not have a crystal ball and formal plans we make today may be entirely outdated or impossible to implement two months from now. The corona crisis is not over yet. However, we remain optimistic and we do have a vision for next year, and that vision will be shared into the public space in the course of October.

Meanwhile, as mentioned above, we will give full support to the few events that still have the intention to proceed in the last months of 2021.

Stay Strong, Stay Ultra. Covid 19 has been a major challenge for all of us. The ATM crew wishes the entire community continuous strength and stamina to combat the crisis. Keep in shape, keep running to protect yourself, both physically and mentally. Soon we will all be able to meet and compete again on our favourite trails. Imagine that upcoming first race. What a joy it will be. No forest too thick, no mountain too high. What a joy it will be!

Trung Nguyen: 2020/21 ATM male points leader

Julia Nguyen Thi Duong: 2020/21 ATM female points leader

It has been a while since our latest formal news announcement, as basically all races under the ATM 2021 umbrella got cancelled in recent months due to the ongoing covid 19 pandemic that keeps a firm grip on the Asian continent. It has forced us to have a major rethink of the entire Asia Trail Master series’ set-up, given that, today, there still seems no end in sight to the extraordinary situation we all find ourselves in. This coming Friday, 1 October, we will be sharing initial decisions taken, and ideas developed for 2022. Please stay tuned.

Also in 2021 Vietnam seems to be the Asian country where most ‘real’ trail running events are and will be taking place. Vietnam Mountain Marathon and Vietnam Jungle Marathon are the classics on the Asia Trail Master Championship calendar in the mean time and already open for registration. Hopefully, by end of August and October some international runners will be able to enter the country by that time. That is currently still impossible, which is why Dalat Ultra Trail, which takes place this year early May, was not on our intended event calendar for 2021. This has opened an opportunity for another Vietnamese event to enter the ATM Championship and that honour has gone to last year’s Candidate Mu Cang Chai Trail in the northeast of the country. MCC, as it is often abbreviated, is scheduled for 18/19 September, which is the old date of VMM after the latter moved forward to end of August. As previously announced, Mu Cang Chai Trail offers a chance to the faster medium distance trail runners with the 50k race as the ATM Championship points race. The event organiser released a great teaser video - embedded below - to get you in the mood. Registrations open by the end of March.

Registrations are also open for the multiday boutique event Bali Volcano Race in December. This new event has the ATM Candidate Race label and has a lot of options on its programme. There’s the 3-day stage race, with limited numbers, and there’s two single day races around Mount Batur as well: Batur Extreme and Batur Adventure. Bali Volcano Race has Spanish roots and is one of several new events that were in the pipeline on the island of the gods last year. Hopefully, things can really get going in the coming months, indeed. More details on BVR via its website.

As mentioned above, Vietnam Mountain Marathon and Vietnam Jungle Marathon are open for registration as well , and you can do so via the website of the event organiser.

The ATM Final is set in Malaysia on 18 December, and if you were there or were following the 2019 race coverage you know you do not want to miss this: Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping is open for registration as well.

Another ATM Candidate Race has opened the books this week and confirmed its event date for 2021. Malnad Ultra in India is scheduled for 27/28 November. It will be the 5th edition of the event, which offers three ultra categories of 110km, 80km and 50km. The course takes runners through the beautiful Kadumane Estate, with stunning views in the Western Ghats of South India. A nice and comprehensive teaser video is embedded below.

VMM in Sapa has one of the most iconic finish lines in Asia

Not a lot of news over the past two weeks on the ATM circuit, as everyone keeps waiting for possibilities to make more formal and decisive plans. The good news, however, is that the registrations for the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival and the Vietnam Mountain Marathon have been going well, indicating again how hungry many runners are for real events. Ewegene Tan, event organiser of MMTF, even mentions a lot of international sign-ups, not in the least from the Philippines. MMTF is the last event on the ATM calendar this year on 18 December, making it the “ATM Final” once again after 2019.

How that Championship Final will be designed is a matter that is increasingly being discussed these weeks, as it appears unlikely the majority of Asian runners will be able to put in four of five results during the 2021 season. We will be updating you all on this in the coming weeks.

Registration for MMTF goes via the official event website.

In Vietnam, runners have had the most opportunities to keep up their racing spirit and so far it looks like that may remain the case in 2021. Both the Vietnam Mountain Marathon (end of August) and Vietnam Jungle Marathon (mid-October) are open for registration. These are popular events, so you may wish to sign up already and keep your participation chances alive. Go to the official website.

In Thailand, things have become more complicated in recent months but are expected to normalise again in May. Nevertheless, following meetings with local authorities on Koh Samui, organiser teelakow has decided to postpone Samui Monkey’s Trail from May to September at a weekend to be decided later. At the same time, it has been announced that the trail route will be completely redesigned for this year’s edition. For more info on Samui Monkey’s Trail, please consider the event’s facebook page.

Over in Japan, the Echigo Country Trail in Nagaoka, Niigata, remains one of the earliest events on the schedule for this year on 20 June. Registrations for the 60km points race are open via the official website.

Here’s our second brief news round-up as the global covid 19 pandemic continues to restrict travel and event organisation opportunities. It is now exactly one year since the last international points race for the Asia Trail Master Championship. That was UTKC, aka Ultra Trail Koh Chang, in Thailand. A year ago, Fredelyn Alberto looked stronger than ever in winning the women’s tough 100k race, and a weakened Hisashi Kitamura, due to sickness, had to content himself with third place behind the surprisingly strong Filipino Arnie Macaneras and last-minute winner Paul Dunn. Ryan Whelan won the 70K for men, and Elviemma Catabay completed the Filipino success in Thailand that day by taking victory in the women’s 70km. UTKC saw some unexpected and amazing runs by people who had been working hard for months to reach that level of performance. Hopefully, these runners have not given up during the pandemic and will harvest more fruit from their training labour as soon as competition resumes.

In the Philippines, sadly, this may take still several months. This week, Philip Anthony of the MUSPO event at Lake Apo on MIndanao informed us they have not received the permission from the authorities to hold the scheduled event this July. Rather than postponing by a few months and see what happens, the organisation has decided to shift focus immediately towards 2022. MUSPO is sponsored by HOKA ONE ONE and is an eagerly anticipated young event with a 100k that shows a good balance between runable and technical terrain.

A formal decision on the Negros Oriental event set in early June, Puncak Tanawan Mountain Run, is expected within the next two weeks. The other two Filipino events on the ATM Calendar, Cordillera Mountain Ultra and The Punisher are scheduled back-to-back at the end of this year.

In Malaysia, the new Candidate Race Jagoi Heritage Run in Sarawak has been postponed. Originally set for April, the 50k event will now take place on the first weekend of November. Another Candidate Race, the Bali Volcano Race - which offers a stage race and individual race categories - is back on the programme for the second weekend of December.

Theoretically speaking, the first points race event on the calendar remains Korea 50k on 22/23 May.

Paul Dunn, Arnie Macaneras and Hisashi Kitamura. A fantastic podium at UTKC 100 now one year ago

Elviemma and Fredelyn: Filipinos dominated the women’s 100k and 70k races at UTKC

Ryan Whelan scored his maiden ATM points race victory on the 70k at UTKC last year

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As Tahura Trail in Indonesia got cancelled at the very last moment, we are once again looking at a draught of real trail running events with for the foreseeable future. Our 2021 intended event calendar, released early December 2020, had already anticipated this renewed situation as the global covid 19 pandemic is still raging. The calendar has a clear focus on the second semester, and as such nothing much has been changing in the past couple of months. However, there’s always a bit of news and we will be posting a weekly or bi-weekly round-up going forward.

Korea 50K moves to 22/23 May 2021

With Tahura Trail called off at the last minute, the next real race on the ATM Calendar is Korea 50k. Normally taking place towards the end of April, the organisational team decided earlier this week to create a bit more breathing space and move it back by one month to 22 and 23 May. Still, the covid 19 situation is not over in South Korea neither, and a final decision whether the event can happen will be discussed again with the authorities of Dongducheon City at the end of this month. It goes almost without saying that in any case it will be an event with domestic residents-only, as there is no expectation of an open border by then.

MMTF in Malaysia opens registration

As in 2019, the last race in the Asia Trail Master Championship series this year will be the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping, Malaysia on 18 December. The ATM Final will have a new race venue in the city, Esplanade, and offers several race categories of which the 84 km is of course the main one for the Championship contenders. The event has opened regular registration this week, so if you want to be already certain of your spot in the participants’ list, you can sign up here.

Echigo opens registration and a new website

Yuta Matsuyama of Team Uglow Asia is the new race director of Echigo Country Trail and he has been freshening up and redesigning several aspects of the Japanese event, which has been part of the Asia Trail Master Championship series since 2016. The event takes place in Nagaoka in Niigata, roughly 2 hours northwest from Tokyo by shinkansen but there’s also a few international flights going there directly - in a normal world. The main race is 60 km long now with 2350 metres of elevation and if you are in Japan, you can sign up now. Have a look at the great new website as well.

Two A-races per event in Thailand

In Thailand there is a tendency to introduce mega ultra distance races to the trail event programmes, which creates the option for having more than 1 so-called A-race for ATM Championship points. As was already the case at Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in previous years, also at Doi Nhok Trail, Samui Monkeys Trail and Ultra Trail Chiang Mai, runners can choose between the 100 miles (or longer) or the medium distance category and earn a full haul of points for their performances. The only difference is that finishers on the 100 miles or longer get the traditional “100-Miles Bonus” of 25 points as well.