[This is an update of an earlier post published on 6 october]

Season VII of the Asia Trail Master Championship series is currently in full swing and the tension towards the winner-takes-all Final race between qualified runners in national country teams has been building up gradually. Nevertheless, the start of the new Season VIII is not that far away neither. As usual, there’s five weeks between the end and the beginning. The ATM event calendar for 2023 is taking shape, not as fast as we would like but it seems the nature of today’s world to have a shorter horizon to work with. In fact, several event organisers are still waiting for official permits by their local or regional authorities. In total, the ATM Championship calendar will again feature between 25 and maximum 30 points races in which runners can score points for the Championship qualification and/or for their Grandmaster Quest. The complete calendar is building up gradually, and we are happy to confirm two more points races in the earlier part of the season.

The new season will begin with four weekends-in-a-row. Thailand has the honour of having the opener with the classic Ultra Trail Koh Chang - UTKC - event in the south of the country and reachable via Bangkok, on the weekend of 21-22 January 2023. As usual, both the 100km and the 70km race categories will offer ATM points. One week later we move to Bandung in West Java, Indonesia, for Tahura Trail. Another classic and very popular for trail runners who prefer a shorter race distance (42 km) or for those wishing to prep themselves for longer races afterwards. Going into February, we find the V Trail in Laos on the schedule. A new date in the early season for the tough and technical race of 85km around Vang Vieng in the south of the country. From Laos we will head to Manila for the first Filipino race of the 2023 season and it’s a new entry on our Championship calendar: Santa Ines Mountain Adventure. A pretty spicy 80km in the Rizal mountains east of the Manila metropole, a successful Candidate Race last April.

After this quartet of events, we will have a break for two weeks until the new Candidate Race in Brunei, the Simpur Ultra Run on 25 February. Looking into early March, Dalat Ultra Trail will be the first Vietnamese event on the calendar on the first weekend of March. Dalat is a very popular destination for trail runners in the country, but also for South East Asians in general as the climatic conditions are favourable. After Dalat, we are rapidly approaching fasting month, which typically implies a more quiet period on the event calendar. A note on BUTM in Malaysia, the event will be announced in due course, and is set for a complete redesign AFTER the fasting month. A second Vietnamese event is set to enter the series in April. Confirmed for early May is the second Filipino races of the 2023 season: Sierra Madre Trail Ultra 75. A Candidate Race in 2022, this event caters for elite runners in particular and takes place in another area of the Rizal Mountains east of Manila. Later in May, we can also expect the first Malaysian points race of the season as well as the quite special Bukit Lawang Orang Utan Trail in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Stay tuned for more updates on the 2023 ATM Calendar coming very soon.

Their race victories were anticipated, but the manner in which they did was still impressive. Quang Tran and Hau Ha made it look so easy the 70km Lam Dong Trail seemed nothing but and advanced training session for them. Both Vietnamese elite runners from the Mude Factory Team did run their own pace, however, resulting in Quang Train crossing the line first in 7h44 with Hau Ha second overall in 8h15. The Lam Dong Trail in Dalat was a Candidate Race for the 2023 ATM Championship calendar, and did leave a fine impression.

The 70 km race started at 4 am just outside the city centre of Dalat in Vietnam’s Central Highlands with a solid field of runners. Very quickly the Mude Factory Team Trio that also includes Nhon Trong, who returned from a complicated foot injury, set the pace up front. Others such as Hoang Huu Thang, Bui Van Da, Stephen Barkey and Thailand’s Guntawee Tiwapong already had to appreciate a gap of over 30 minutes at km 18. Interestingly the three teammates ran by themselves, following personal training plans with a view to their bigger objectives next month that include the ATM Championship Final in Philippines on 17 December.

Hau Ha gradually lost terrain vis-a-vis Quang Tran, also due to some stomach cramps halfway in the race. Nhon Trong in his first run for 26 days did remarkably well and at CP 5 was still just 5 minutes behind the female star from Sapa. The injury-caused lack of training and heavy rainfall around lunchtime would slow him down in the final 20 km, but his second place in the men’s was never in danger. Guntawee Tiwapong in fact had arguably the best ATM race of his season and scored third place on the podium, ahead of Hoang Huu Thang and Bui Van Da. The latter two are also qualified for Team Vietnam in the ATM Final next month.

Quang Tran admitted he felt very comfortable all race and showed that he is one of the men to beat on Mount Apo for the ATM title. One caveat, he has scheduled to run a 100 miles race the weekend before, too. Not so for Hau Ha, who is determined to test herself as a female trail runner for real on Philippines’ highest mountain, competing against co-favourites Ezster Csillag and Vanja Cnops. Until today, even coach Guim Valles admits we have not seen her real limits yet in competition. Even when she beat Gaetan Morizur, Nhon Trong, Tomohiro Mizukoshi and others at the Vietnam Mountain Marathon 100k race last September, she didn’t have to go into the pain cave. Both her and Quang Tran are THE faces of the incredible growth that trail running in Vietnam has witnessed over the last five years. It would be the first time a Vietnamese runner becomes Asia Trail Master Champion, in fact none has ever made it onto the season’s podium.

Lam Dong Trail and Dalat Ultra Trail (the ATM points race in March every year) share the same race venue at the Valley of Love, but the race courses are different. Participants were treated with a great arena setting and welcoming dinner, amongst other benefits. Most runners who did both argue that the older event has a long distance course that is arguably a touch more technical in nature, and agree there is a place for both events on the ATM Championship calendar.

This weekend we have the final ATM Candidate Race of the 2022 season in Dalat, Vietnam. Lam Dong Trail is hoping to secure a spot on next year’s Asia Trail Master Championship calendar and as a new trail event organiser keen to leave a great impression. What might help with that is the presence of Vietnam’s two greatest trail stars of the moment: Quang Tran and, of course, Hau Ha.

On the menu we find four genuine race categories with the 70k as the longest distance. Both Quang Tran and Hau Ha are signed up for this one. Most likely they will not get a lot of competition and will it be a solid training exercise for their bigger goals in December, including the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo on 17 December.

The Lam Dong Trail has the same start/finish venue as the Dalat Ultra Trail, but the running course is different. Dalat being a wonderful place to run with its cooler climate, most runners won’t mind returning to the same place anyway. The biggest hillclimb comes right after the start at 4 am, and Asia Trail Master will be reporting live from the 70k race from start to finish. Just tune in to our usual channels.

As previously announced, Ultra Trail Koh Chang (UTKC) will open the 2023 ATM Championship season on 21 January. Now we are happy to also announce the other three points race events in Thailand for next year’s Season VIII.

The quartet contains two events that will be part of our ATM calendar for the first time. Trail of Man is taking place in Chiang Mai on 24 June , and we are talking the city of Chiang Mai itself. In fact, it is held predominantly on the course of the world championship a week ago. The main race for points will be the 60 km category. One month later, on 15 July, we are heading to the Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park for the Rock 100 Evil Trail. The main race there is the 100k, said to be one of the more runable courses in Thailand. Finally, in October, we are delighted to be heading back to Chiang Rai for Ultra Trail Chiang Rai, which returns to the trail calendar in 2023. On offer there will be the Ultimate 250 and a 130k - something for the ultra trail runners. The Chiang Rai race venue and race courses will change, too.

But first UTKC in the south of the country, the classic early season event with its beautiful beaches but also very tough and technical hilly forests inland. ATM points seekers need to focus on the 100k or the 70k distance categories there - as usual.

Stay tuned for more updates on the 2023 calendar as more events are getting their dates confirmed.

We are happy to announce a new ATM Candidate in Brunei Darussalam on the weekend of 25/26 February 2023: Simpur Ultra Run. It will be the first ATM promoted race in the country since 2018’s Beach Bunch Trail Challenge, and a great opportunity to put the spotlights on the traditionally strong Bruneian trail running community. Simpur Ultra Run will take place in the nation’s capital city Bandar Seri Begawan and has a 50k course as the main race category. Total elevation gain will be around the 3000 hm mark, which is not nothing for a 50k and those who remember Beach Bunch know that the hills in Brunei are of the short but steep kind.

Flag off time will be midnight on the 26th, meaning the competitive and faster runners will be mostly running in cooler temperatures at nighttime.

The event is organised by Passion Ku and the Simpur Ultra event manual can be consulted via their website. There you can also register for the 50k, or for the 18k if you’re less ambitious.

The draft course map of the 50 km Simpur Ultra Run

The final points race in Thailand of the 2022 Asia Trail Master season saw a number of great performances by emerging trail runners, as the local and regional trail elites were competing 60 km further south in the trail world championship. Doi Nhok Trail in Wang Nuea also stood out for its wonderful event management by a redesigned teelakow team, including the impressively stocked aid stations (pizza!) and start/finish arena set-up. The many hundreds of participating runners will also remember DNT for the tough race courses, providing a mixture of runable sections and extremely technical single trails that made running hardly feasible. The latter translated into a very long day for those people on the longer distance categories.

The 124 km and 58 km races were the chosen categories for the ATM Championship ranking. The male and female winners Arnon Srimat and Areerat Kareeklin ensured themselves of a spot on Team Thailand for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo next month. Srimat was third in UTKC earlier this year, and was in a league of his own last Saturday at Doi Nhok. His finish time of 29 hours 10 minutes nevertheless was an indication of the difficulty of the terrain. Second and third on the podium went to Phanlop Deechob and Somsak Jaejong. Areerat Kareeklin already won UTKC 70 in March, and thus scored her second ATM race win of 2022. On the podium with her were Sirinapa Phimklang and Srida Pheunghua.

On the 58 km we had a strong Malaysian winner who therefore managed to get into his national team for the ATM Finals. Amir Zaki shrugged off the disappointment of his DNF at UTOP last month by taking his first ATM race victory, more than one hour ahead of Chaisak Wangsnam and Nuttapong Sreedach. The fastest woman came next, fourth overall, and hailed from Ireland: Rachel Nolan. She proved too strong for the other women in the field, of whom Srinual Kanta and Prapaphan Thongsao completed the podium.

The 100 miles category, considered the most extreme miler in Thailand and beyond, was won by Germany’s Stefan Boeck in over 36 hours. Strongest woman was Thanussarinya Thaviphan in 53 hours.

A double ATM race winner in 2022: Areerat Kareeklin takes the 124 km race at Doi Nhok

Ireland’s Rachel Nolan was clearly the fastest woman on the 58 km despite severe stomach issues the day before the race

Chaisak Wangsnam and Nuttapong Sreedach were second and third behind Amir Zaki on the 58 km

It’s busy weeks on the ATM circuit and the trail racing continues this weekend with the final points race in Thailand for 2022, the Doi Nhok Trail near Chiang Mai. The second edition of this event unfortunately threatens to be overhadowed by the WMTRC event, which got rescheduled from last year to this weekend and which also takes place in the Chiang Mai area. Some of the biggest names in ATM and in Thailand, and other neighbouring countries and regions, e.g. John Ellis, Milton Amat, Jeff Campbell, Ezster Csillag, Sally Yap, Ruth Theresia, John Ray Onifa and Jay Jantaraboon have received the opportunity to measure themselves on a global stage. As a consequence, we expect instead to discover several new faces at Doi Nhok Trail. The start list of the event is in any case very long. The list of race distance categories is unfortunately also very long. ATM Championship points will be scored on the 125k and the 58 km races. But runners on the Grandmaster Quest can do 80km, 125km or even 100 miles.

Last weekend’s 9 Dragons in Langkawi, an ATM Candidate Race label event, saw a very nice victory by Andy Chong Chi Lee on the main 50/50 category, that is 50 miles on Saturday and 50 km on Sunday. Lee made the difference on Sunday, when he distanced Singapore’s Lem Chee Ng - with whom he had finished together a day earlier. Siokhar Lim was, as expected, the only female finisher of the 50/50. Francesco Floris ran with her quite a bit to be third in the men’s. The 50 miles single race was won by Ben Hails and Law Bee Chiao. The 50k single race went to Radzi Mokhtar and Gladys Ang.

The plagued Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping has now been forced to reschedule the event date as a consequence of Malaysia’s national elections taking place on the original weekend of 19/20 November. MMTF is now set for one week later. Both the 100km and 50km races have a very competitive field of entrants, hopefully most of them can still make it on the new date. Along with Malnad Ultra in India, Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Philippines and Izu Trail Journey in Japan, MMTF is one of the final points races for the 2022 ATM rankings, and thus opportunity for runners to get into their national country team for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo in Davao, Philippines, on 17 December.

A media conference on the Mount Apo Sky Race event was held in Davao City this week and can be watched here.

Runners who are currently in the Top of their country ranking will receive all details on the event in the coming days. As previously announced, all qualifiers will get free race entry for the 75k Final race, free 3-night accommodation, free country team t-shirts, and free airport shuttle services from/to Davao City.

Andy Chong Chi Lee scored a very nice victory in the 50/50 of the 9 Dragons Langkawi

While every finisher of the very tough 125 km long Ulju Trail 9 Peaks deserves an honourary mentioning, the winner of the 45 km and 2500 hm medium distance was nevertheless again the most eye-catching trail athlete of the weekend. Two weeks after storming to victory in Seoul, Kim Jisub smashed the opposition again in the Yeongnam Alps on Friday. Kim Jisub won in 5h19, half an hour ahead of Minchul Ko, and 45 minutes ahead of Jong Youl Kim. With two ATM race wins and 1000 points this season, Kim Jisub is already guaranteed of a spot in Team Korea for the ATM Championship Final race on Mount Apo in December. He would be one of the top favourites, even when - as with Jeff Campbell, for instance - 75km is a slightly longer distance than he is used to compete on. Also qualified for his country team already is Jaeduk Sim, who finished fourth in Ulju after a 3rd place in Seoul 100K two weeks ago.

The fastest three women on the 45km were Hyunja Kim, Narae Park and Eun Nam Kim.

The longest race distance lived up to its reputation as being one of the toughest mountain trails in the ATM series and Asia in general. The DNF rate was high, but nevertheless there were 52 finishers. The weather conditions were ideal to highlight the magnificent autumn colours of the mountain regions not too far from Busan in the southeastern corner of South Korea. Junghyun Lim was the strongest by one hour over Dong Kuk Jang in 23 hours 10 minutes . Youngmin Yoon completed the podium in fourth and was followed by India’s ATM Grandmaster Shashwat Rao - a pure mountain trail lover. Rao did have some bad luck along the way, as he missed a marker and therefore a potential podium finish. Gyesook Lee was first woman in the finish in a time of 28 hours 41 minutes. Ji Ho Hwang was second and Sun Yeon Lee third.

This weekend we have the next ATM Candidate Race event in Malaysia, and it’s a debut for the popular holiday island Langkawi. The 9 Dragons Malaysia mirrors the event concept introduced by RaceBase in Hong Kong, itself a points race in our Championship series in 2018 and 2019. The main focus is on the two-day competition with runners doing 50 miles on Saturday AND 50 km on Sunday. A tough task, physically and mentally, and arguably even more so in hot & humid Langkawi than in a relatively cool early February weekend in Hong Kong. It is perhaps not a surprise therefore that he start lists for the individual 50 miles and 50k races are longer than for the combo race. However, it is certainly no surprise to see Siokhar Lim on the start list. According to some, Siokhar Lim deserves the title of ‘toughest trail woman in Malaysia’ , by virtue of her impressive record in the most difficult ultra trail events in the region since 2019. As we have seen already this season, Siokhar Lim is also faster than ever and the question is whether she can podium overall this weekend in Langkawi. Puteri Norsharina Abdul Aziz, like Lim an ATM Grandmaster, is the second Malaysian woman on the 50/50 combo, and they are joined by Ireland’s Dawn O’Dowd. In the men’s start list we find a.o. Abdul Rahman and Lem Chee Ng, the Singapore-based Malaysian who finished together with Siokhar Lim at UTOP 105 three weeks ago.

Lots of runners signed up for the 50 miles and 50 km single races, and we will be keeping an eye out for a.o. Sally Yap and Halimatun Sa’adiah.

Siokhar Lim: the combo race at 9 Dragons is yet another challenge for her to conquer

Abdul Rahman

Halimatun Sa’adiah will be in action on the 50 km

Ulju Nine Peaks Trail is a serious mountain running event in the southeast of South Korea, which for the first time offers two points races valid for the ATM Championship ranking. The massive 125 km race across “9 Peaks” and covering 9200 metres of elevation gain, and the shorter 45 km race across “5 Peaks” and 3500 hm. Event and race director Jey Jang is known from the Korea 50k event, which was part of ATM before for three years, and she hopes to make Ulju Nine Peaks Trail an annual must-do trail event for runners in Asia.

It is a beautiful region outright, but what makes it even more stunning this time of year are the autumn colours of the forests in and surrounding the Yeongnam Alps. Especially for people from Southeastern Asia, the large variety of colours is not an every-day sight. Moreover, autumn typically implies cooler and less humid weather conditions, too. Excellent for endurance athletes.

The 125 km was flagged off on Thursday morning, the 45 km will be on Friday.

Poy Brillantes is one of the Filipino runners running the 125 km of Ulju Nine Peaks Trail

A really tough mountain trail on the programme this weekend!

There have been plenty of ATM Candidate Races this year, and also in the early months of next season we already have a few nice events lined up. Silabur Ultra Trail is another new event in Sarawak on Malaysian Borneo on 19 March 2023. It proves that many event organisers wish to be part of our Asia Trail Master Championship calendar in the near future, and that event organisation and management is bound to improve even further as spots-per-country on our main calendar are limited and will not increase in number.

Silabur Ultra Trail will take place at Bidayuh Kampung Lubang Batu, Tebakang, roughly 40km from Serian town & 100km from Kuching, the main city with international airport connections. The trail courses cover natural mountain trail & the magnificent Silabur Cave aka Jade Cave. The longest race distance is measured at 60 km with race start at 3 am, but less ambitious runners can also opt for 30km, 15k mand 8km.

Highlight of the event is of course the Silabur Cave, which is a truly impressive sight and the main tourism attraction. It’s a limstone cave with huge vertical cliffs and a jade colour scheme. Accommodation is in homestays as the nearest bigger town or city is Kuching, 100km away. In fact, Silabur is not so far from the border with Indonesia’s Kalimantan.

Test

 

The second Hong Kong points race of this year’s ATM season was won by the still reigning men’s champion John Ellis and Ezster Csillag, who finished second overall and first woman. Ultramarathon de Sai Kung in the New Territories had a rather small field of participants on the 58km course, but the quality was there. For Ellis and Csillag it was the ideal form-test before some bigger goals in November and December.

Three weeks ago at the Dark 45 event, Ellis was still struggling quite a bit and had to battle hard to just make it to the podium behind Jeff Campbell and even his Australian T8 buddy David Longo. Last Sunday, however, Ellis looked like he is nearing peak form again as he managed to push till the finish and drop Longo by a margin of 47 minutes no less. Longo himself did not have the best of days, came second, but behind Ezster Csillag, who has just returned back to Hong Kong from her home country Hungary. As an ATM Champion, John Ellis has now got two ATM race finishes under his belt this year, which means he receives a wild card already to defend his title on Mount Apo in December. Ezster Csillag is hoping to secure her spot on Team Asia Expat in one of the coming ATM races, while David Longo is as good as safe to get his place in Team Australia.

The run for third place on the men’s podium was contested between Samuel Lee, Bogdan Onyschenko and Arnaud Courtin. It was decided in Lee’s favour. Second and third female were Filipino Dolores Sales and Siat Tjhui Djie.

There’s still ATM points races every weekend, except on 12/13 November, giving competitive runners a chance to qualify inside their country’s top four or five and get a spot on the team for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo in the Philippines on 17 December.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AsiaTrailMaster (@asiatrailmaster)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AsiaTrailMaster (@asiatrailmaster)

View fullsize

View fullsize