We are happy to announce a new ATM Candidate Race in Nepal: the 4th edition of Jumla Rara Ultra Marathon takes place in the northwestern part of the Himalayan country on Monday (!), 24 April. On the programme is a daytime 50km race from A to B, at high altitude with accumulated elevation gain of approx 3900 hm. In other words: a race for mountain goats, of course unsurprising for Nepal.

The event has been set up by Karnali Sports, a non-profit organisation that aims to nurture local running talent - and sports talent in general, as well as turn the Jumla area into a high-altitude training center for athletes. This year’s edition on 24 April is already the 4th, and international trail runners are now kindly encouraged to come to Nepal and take part.

The race starts from Jumla bazaar at an altitude of 2305m (i.e. please allow for some acclimatisation time when you travel here), and finishes at the Rara lake at 2990m. The race course is measured at 49 km, and is basically uphill and downhill all the way with a few distinct points of note: Danphe at 3500m, Kavra Cave, Bhulbhule at 2950m and Chuchemara at 4017m. Yes, 4017m above sea level! A very interesting but definitely challenging mountain trail course, and runners from outside Nepal must be aware of the very high altitudes and allow for some days to get used to them before taking the start of the race. Moreover, be prepared for snow as well.

Rara is the largest lake in Nepal, and the multiday trekking from Jumla to the lake is a popular backpacker activity for travellers who like to explore nature off-the-beaten-track.

On the website, linked below, you can find details of how-to-get-there from Kathmandu. Options are long distance busses or a domestic flight. There’s also a recommended itinerary for 7 days mentioned as an example, including time to acclimatise.

The event takes place soon already, so early decision-making is required.

Runners may encounter snow along the course to the lake

 

While Hisashi Kitamura cruised to an easy 6th ATM race victory in his running career on the 42km course, all 100k ultra runners were struggling their hearts out on the very tough 100km course through the Cuc Phuong National Park. What was labeled as an easy and runable trail turned out to be one of the more extreme races in ATM history with participants even vanishing off the GPS map between five to seven hours. No surprise then there were a lot of DNFs. Most had just not mentally prepared for a technical battle with thick jungle and sharp rocks, let alone armies of leeches. The contrast between the 100k and the 42k could not be bigger. Race winner Nguyen Si Hieu had estimated a finish time around 11-12 hours based on his performance on the 70k last year. Instead, he crossed the finish line in 15h20! Shindy Patricia - with a long pedigree on tough ultra races - won in 19h14, and was fifth overall, slightly ahead of Japan’s Tomohiro Mizukoshi. There were only three women who completed the race. Paulina Svoboda - anything but a softie - and Grandmaster Yvette Chong were even among the DNFs.

It was moist and drizzling at times in the oldest national park of Vietnam, which is one explanation for the much slower running times compared to a year ago. However, the routes were also changed quite a bit and the 100k. was a new distance that would cut straight through the Park. The 100k started at 10pm, which meant the first half was ran entirely in darkness. Pre-race favourite Nguyen Si Hieu quickly set the pace up front, seeking his first ATM win since VMM 70 in 2018. Thimo Kilberth was following neatly, together with Yoyong Sacayle - in his debut outside of Philippines - and Vu Tien Viet Dung. Mizukoshi was a little further back with Nguyen Tien Vo. Paulina Svoboda and Shindy Patricia stayed together at the front of the women’s race with 2022 ATM Finalist Vu Thi Lan Huong not far behind them. By the time the 42km race got underway at 7am on Sunday morning, most of the 100k runners had gone beyond CP6, where their GPS trackers stopped signalling. That’s how remote and deep the jungle was. Only at CP 7.1. we would still catch a glimpse of what was happening, before everyone disappeared again until 2-3km before the finish line. At CP 7.1. a lot of participants threw in the towel and caught transport back to the race venue. Later, when runners arrived at CP 8, the first thing they all had to do was rip off the many leeches from their body parts (see the video of Shindy and Tomohiro below).

Eventually, Nguyen Si Hieu retained and extended his advantage over the others and won the extreme race. After third place in Dalat Ultra Trail, things are already looking good for him to qualify for Team Vietnam in this year’s ATM Championship Final in early December. The same applies for Yoyong Sacayle. The popular runner from Mindanao stayed with second Vietnamese and internationally experienced Vu Tien Viet Dung all race. While he could not respond to the late dash of his companion to take second, Sacayle’s third place in his first race overseas was very promising for the future. The duo was one hour behind Nguyen Si Hieu and 45 minutes ahead of fourth place Nguyen Tien Vo.

As said, the 42km was nowhere near as complicated. Race winner Hisashi Kitamura even said “easy course” halfway into the race. Nobody was able to keep up with the Karate Kit, who had time to plan his trademark kick across the finish line (see video below). Behind him, there was a big battle between five, six runners for the podium. Vietnam’s up-and-coming mountain trail talent Nguyen Phuong Quang tried to follow Kitamura in the very early stages, but blew himself up and in the end dropped to fifth place, just ahead of V Trail winner Alex Tilley. For the three traditional podium spots, Chris Devoize held the best cards until an unfortunate late misunderstanding with the otherwise excellent marking signs saw Trinh Nam Phong and Jose Luis Alvelais sneak ahead. Note that Kitamura won the 42km in 3h39, a full 40 minutes ahead of the others.

In the women’s race, Hanoi-based Christine Mitchell was tipped as the favourite to win and so she did in 4h45. The British woman was also unthreatened with half an hour advantage over Nguyen Thi Huong and Phung Thi Trang.

The next Vietnamese points race event is Vietnam Mountain Marathon in September. Runners can opt for 3 distance categories: 100km, 70km and 42km. In agreement with the event organiser, all 3 categories will offer ATM Championship points.

Later on 11 November, there is also Lam Dong Trail in Dalat. Registration for both VMM and Lam Dong Trail is open.

It was the 4th ATM race victory for Shindy Patricia since 2015

Second podium of the ATM Championship season for Mindanao’s Yoyong Sacayle

This weekend already the second Vietnamese points race event takes place a few hours south of Hanoi near Ninh Binh: it’s the 2nd edition of Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths. An event by Race Jungle with several distance categories, of which the 100km and 42km offer ATM Championship points. On paper the course here is fairly runable, but moist or wet conditions may make it tougher than expected. despite modest elevation gain of about 3000hm for the 100km and only 1000hm for the 42 km.

Cuc Phuong is the oldest National Park of Vietnam, founded in 1962, and located 120 km southwest of Hanoi and close to Ninh Binh. It’s very big and densely forested with limestone mountains, rice terraces, hundreds of birds species and all kinds of wildlife. It’s also the home of the Muong ethnic minority. Close by are also Tam Coc and Hoa Lu, famous sites on Vietnam’s backpacker tourist trail.

Competitive runners are divided between the categories (and there’s even a 70km option as well..), but both the 100km and 42km should see some great action for the top placings. Arguably the biggest star on the start list, Hisashi KItamura, has chosen the medium distance for this weekend in an attempt to extend his premium form for longer than was the case last year, when he gradually burned out in August and September. Also, contrary to the 100km that starts at 10 pm Saturday night, the 42 km will be held entirely in day light with the start scheduled for Sunday morning 7 am at Mac Lake. Looking at the profile, this should be Kitamura’s kind of race. but he will receive a challenge from two newcomers on the ATM scene: Hong Kong-based Mexican Jose Luis Alvelais and Vietnam’s Nguyen Phuong Quang. Avelais belongs to the Gone Running-Joint Dynamics Team, which also consists of a.o. Jeff Campbell. Coming back from injury, he last week took part in the Lantau 70 Relay race with a.o. Ezster Csillag. Alvelais has ambitions for this year’s ATM Championship, but says his favourite running distance is actually 70 to 100km. However, medium-distance speed work first, as he is also scheduled to run Korea 50K next month. Hanoi’s Nguyen Phuong Quang impressed the local community in recent months with some strong performances in short races with considerable elevation gain. Question now is how does he fare on more runable terrain. Outsiders for the 42km podium are Britains’ Alex Tilley - winner of the V Trail in Laos two months ago -, France’s Chris Devoize and Vietnam’s Bui Duc Long.

On the longest distance, the runner-to-beat is probably Nguyen Si Hieu. Always meticulously prepared, Nguyen Si Hieu has been accumulating ATM race podiums for years, seven in total now, and recently still so in Dalat Ultra Trail (3rd). This weekend presents him with a good chance to score his first victory since 2018, when he was fastest in the 70km race of VMM. But it won’t be straightforward because Filipino Yojong Sacayle has been in great form of late. Sacayle, from Mindanao, won Mt Apo 100k last December and finished second behind Elmer Retolado in Santa Ines Mountain Adventure 80k two months ago. It’s his first race abroad, however, but the fact the Cuc Phuong rainforest is cooler than those at home allegedly plays in his favour. Other podium contenders are Thimo Kilberth, always solid on runable courses just like Tokyo’s Tomohiro Mizukoshi. On the Vietnamese side, we also watch out for Vu Tien Viet Dung, Le Trong Nghia, Vu Xuan Binh and Vuong Xuan Hoa.

In the women’s race, Indonesia’s Shindy Patricia might as well collect another international race victory this weekend. From a competitive point of view, Shindy hardly ever has a bad day and it would be surprising if we don’t see her on the podium again. The runner from East Java is especially known for her mountain climbing strength (she was the fastest climber on Mount Apo during the ATM Final last December, en route to a 4th place in the race). Still, she has also won more speedy races like Cameron Ultra 100 (2019). Her main competitor for the race victory in Cuc Phuong may be Paulina Svoboda, Czech but living in Singapore and a former winner of MMTF (2018) and TTMT (2018). Vietnam has ATM Finalist Vu Thi Lan Huong and Pham Chi Mai in the women’s 100k race.

Hung Hai, one of Vietnam’s top runners, is the course director of Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths and will not be racing himself.

ATM Champion Hau Ha is taking a rest after Dalat Ultra Trail and a road marathon in the past weeks.

ATM will be reporting live from Cuc Phuong on Saturday and Sunday on our usual channels, with livestreams of the start and finish planned on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and video updates throughout the race including on instagram.

Always a favourite: Shindy Patricia - 4th in last year’s ATM Championship on Mt Apo

Nguyen Si Hieu: ATM race podium collector - can he win this weekend on the 100 km?

Jose Luis Alvelais, up-and-comer from Hong Kong, will make his debut in ATM on the 42km race

The race summary of last weekend’s Lantau 70 in Hong Kong is now available for your viewing pleasure on YouTube and Facebook and here below. In the 10th edition of the classic event, Jeff Campbell managed to beat Alessandro Sherpa and reigning ATM champion Arnie Macaneras in a splendid finishing time. Local favourite Katrina Hamlin won the women’s race ahead of Flora Wing Yee Ching and Aggy Sabanal.

Note: our new telegram channel has apparently been hacked and is currently unavailable..

The 10th ‘physical’ edition of Hong Kong’s classic Lantau 70 had everything you would expect from an exciting competitive trail race. Several victory candidates, both local and foreign, a great and varied course and challenging mixed weather conditions. The races even had to be interrupted for 45 minutes around noon due to a serious thunderstorm with lightning strikes - not what you want when running on open hill ridges. Safety first and kudos to the organisational team of the Trail Hub for managing the situation in an efficient, clear and non-confusing way. There was clearly a plan for such potential situations. As such, races were able to continue without much ado after the storm had passed. For everyone affected, net running times were recorded by chip.

In fact, the first six runners probably never realised that behind them people were instructed to stop running. Jeff Campbell, Alessandro Sherpa, Arnie Macaneras, James Balagot, Hua Zhaohong and “Marc” Marc all passed CP 2 already when the race director made the decision and the storm unleashed its force on the area.

Up until CP2, which was km 28, the battle for the race victory had already been reduced to two of the three top favourites: Jeff Campbell and Alessandro Sherpa. ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras made his debut in Hong Kong and struggled with the traditional “stairs”. The sympathetic Filipino looked strong and was running with them for over 20 km but then had to let go. On the way to CP3 - in the pouring rain - Sherpa also had to admit Jeff Campbell is the ‘stair master’ and the gap opened up in the most technical section of the race, mainly downhill. Running the Hong Kong stairs is indeed a very specific skill.

Campbell opened up a gap of 10-12 minutes, and it says a lot that once passed CP3, Sherpa maintained the same pace as Campbell for nearly the entire rest of the race. Only when he made an unfortunate and quite nasty tumble towards the finish did Sherpa lose more time. Jeff Campbell underlined his great victory with a finish time of 7h34 - the second fastest ever despite the weather conditions! Only China’s global elite Yan Longfei went quicker in 2018 (7h03). It was the Canadian’s 6th ATM race victory as well, which puts him on the same level as Sefli Ahar, Milton Amat, Hisashi Kitamura and John Ellis in the ATM Race Win table.

A bloodied Sherpa came in in 7h57, which is the fifth fastest time ever. The 2018 ATM Champion is also already qualified for the ATM Final this year. Even a smiling Arnie Macaneras’ third-place time of 8h40 is still the 13th fastest of all time - despite him calling the Hong Kong stairs as ‘crazy’ after the finish. Let’s add the surprising American newcomer-on-the-scene James Balagot in fourth place, just seven minutes behind the ATM Champion in 8h48. According to the LT 70 record books, Balagot is now faster on this course than John Ellis and Ryan Whelan, for example.

Fifth place went to Hong Kong’s Kwong Ho Lee ahead of the Belgian ‘Marc’ Marc. Kwong Ho Lee was the first of the runners who got stopped at CP2. Later, he ran the remaining part of the race in a faster time than Marc and -with adjusted race time- ended up fifth in the race result.

The women’s race was tight, and yet one runner seemed always in control: Katrina Hamlin. Living in Lantau and very near to the race venue in Mui Wo, Hamlin felt the pressure from a string of female runners early on, but always came first at the checkpoints. The more the day progressed, the further she would then pull away from the others. A strong win for Hamlin in 9h36 - third fastest female time ever. The battle for second in the end was decided between Aggy Sabanal-Marte and Flora Wing Yee Ching. Both exchanged places a few times, and when it looked Sabanal would get the upper hand, Wing Yee Ching came back and snatched second place by three minutes only. Philippines’ Sabanal - the 2018 vice-ATM champion - struggled with digestive issues, but was delighted with her podium in Lantau 70. Before giving birth, Sabanal was known as a pure mountain climber. Since her comeback to the trails last year, she has also shown ever increasing running pace. Her podium this weekend is testimony to that.

Katia Kucher was fourth ahead of Jinko Takeshige, who both overtook Indonesia’s Ruth Theresia in the latter stages. Theresia’s first ATM race in three years did not go entirely as planned. Early on she was still in the mix for the podium, but then her hip began to hurt. After the finish, the former ATM champion said it’s been an issue since last week and therefore she did not want to push for the remainder of the race.

Warrior look: a nasty tumble towards the finish actually illustrated perfectly Sherpa’s determination to challenge Campbell during the race, also for him resulting in a fantastic sub-8 hour finish time

Winner in the second fastest finish time ever behind China’s Yan Longfei in 2018: Jeff Campbell

ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras found the Hong Kong stairs ‘crazy’ , but still scored podium in a very solid time himself. That also made James Balagot’s performance in 4th and just 7 minutes behind exceptional

Katrina Hamlin was delighted to win her home race at last: she lives in Mui Wo, start/finish venue of LT 70

Flora Wing Yee Ching captured second place by overtaking Aggy Sabanal in the last kilometres

Aggy Sabanal-Marte confirmed once more her leap forward in competitive performance with a podium spot despite significant digestive problems before and during the race. Proof she no longer needs big technical high mountains to score a podium

It’s been over three years since Hong Kong’s trail classic Lantau 70 was announced as a new points race for the Asia Trail Master Championship and finally the weekend has arrived. LT 70 starts at 8:30 am in Mui Wo on Saturday and plenty of great runners will be toeing the line, including local favourite Jeff Campbell and reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras.

It will be the first of two scheduled points races for this season’s ATM Championship ranking, with the second one - Dark 45 - set for 1 October. The start and finish may be beachside, but unfortunately the weather forecast indicates the possibility of rainfall in the morning. This will certainly have its impact on the runners and the technicality of the 70km course, which has most elevation gain and loss in the first half.

Jeff Campbell always starts a 70km race in Hong Kong as the man-to-beat, and it is no different this year. However, the Canadian-born will almost certainly be pushed forward by a wide field of other strong victory contenders. Davao’s Arnie Macaneras - who is now supported by T8 - is keen to show a solid performance tomorrow, three months after his fantastic ATM Championship title win on Mount Apo. As a newcomer, we always need to see first how he will handle the many steps and stairs that are so typical of Hong Kong’s trails, but purely on running pace Macaneras should be a good match for Campbell on a distance of 70 km. 2018 ATM Champion and in great shape lately, Alessandro Sherpa, will also have a few words to say. The Italian has been based in Hong Kong since his victory in Dalat Ultra Trail three weeks ago. Just a week ago, he picked up another win in a local 50k race despite significant digestive issues during that race. Winning Lantau 70 would be a big thing, and we know Sherpa likes this type of challenge. There’s plenty of other podium candidates tomorrow, and who knows one of these pulls of an upset. Switzerland’s Salomon Wetstein has been a Hong Kong trail star for many years now, and he is a previous winner of Lantau 70 in 2019 - the last ‘normal’ physical edition before covid. Furthermore, there’s the likes of Julien Bonnard, Dennis Theodosis and China’s Hua Zhaohong.

The women’s 70km race promises to be a cracker, too. The race victory will be contested between many Hong Kong based top runners and others who have been protagonists in ATM for several years. The 2018 ATM Champion from Indonesia, Ruth Theresia, is back on the ATM scene for the first time after three years. The covid crisis was also for her a big life-changer, and Ruth has had to be a lot more selective in her trail races. Still, she hasn’t lost her competitiveness at all as we can tell from her recent victories in local Indonesian races. Tomorrow she will be up against the likes of Aggy Sabanal-Marte - the still young Filipino who was actually Ruth Theresia’s first runner-up in the aforementioned 2018 ATM Championship season. Aggy has become a mother since then, and just like Ruth been working on the way back to the front of South East Asia’s trail races. As with Ruth, that has translated already in a couple of race wins back home, including MUSPO 100 last July. What struck us last season is that Aggy Sabanal is now more than a strong mountain climber, she has actually developed a good running pace, too. It will be very interesting to see how she fares on Lantau. Dolores Salles is another Filipino who will throw her hat in the ring, and who knows obstacle racer Rozel Vivero produces the upset? Japan’s Tamae Harada is usually in the mix for a podium place, and so is Singapore’s Vincere Zeng - winner of Cameron Ultra 100 last year. Zeng is a busy bee and mainly a high mountain enthusiast, but that Malaysian victory shows she can also run fast. We are curious to discover how local favourites such as Rhoda Cheung, Alice McLeod, Katia Kucher, and Katrina Hamlin will fare against the aformentioned.

We will be reporting live from Lantau 70 from start to finish on our usual ATM channels, including YouTube, subject to connectivity. Absent from tomorrow’s start field is John Ellis, who is out of action with a nasty achilles injury. John will be present, however, and we hope he can share a lot of insight into this race during our video recordings tomorrow.

In addition, 30 elite runners will carry our GPS trackers, so you can follow the action as it happens via https://live.asiatrailmaster.com/2023lantau70/ . The platform works on both mobile and laptop.

We are happy to announce that after a three-year-postponement due to covid, Alicia Ultra will finally take place on 16 April as the next Filipino ATM Candidate Race. This event is special, as it’s the first event on the island of Bohol that carries the ATM label. On the menu are three options: 50km, 25km and 12km.

Bohol lies east of Cebu and northwest of Mindanao. Alicia is a beautiful town on Bohol and the trail course is set over the luscious green rolling hills of its Panoramic Park, oil palm plantations, rice paddies, and other tourist destinations. As you can see on the map, it’s a natural loop with about 2000 hm for the 50 km race.

The event is organised by the Bohol Trail Adventure team, amongst whom there’s experienced trail runners such as Richard Anania.

 

Last weekend’s ATM Candidate Race, Silabur Ultra Trail in Sarawak, Malaysia, saw a strong race victory on the 60km by Willy Wilson Jafry in 6:28:01. A new name in our series, who stayed 25 minutes ahead of Ireland’s Mark Steacy - fifth place in TMBT 100 last season. For the third place on the podium saw Richard Ahim taking it just ahead of Wei Soon Lee, albeit more than an hour behind Steacy.

Fastest woman was Noor Zuharniza Junaita in 9:42:38, which was 25 minutes quicker than Celeste Teo. Fiffy Tiffney Rapieng claimed third place on the podium.

We have some exciting Championship points races ahead in Hong Kong and Vietnam in the coming weeks, but first we head to the State of Sarawak on the Malaysian side of Borneo island for Silabur Ultra Trail. It’s the second ATM Candidate in Sarawak after Jagoi Heritage Run, which this year is on our reserve list and taking place in early October. Trail running is hot on Borneo, and we do not just refer to the temperature.

Silabur Ultra Trail has a lot of things going for it to become a successful international event. Key feature of Silabur are the impressive cave complexes, such as the magnificent Silabur Cave aka Jade Cave. We are certainly looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds this weekend.

Organised by Alpha Sports Events and hosted by Kampung Lobang Batu Tebedu, the event offers four different race categories of which 60 km is the longest. The race may have modest elevation gain of 1400 hm, but do not be fooled - there’s technical single trail sections with thick jungle included. On the start list, we may not see a lot of big names as many are recovering from last weekend’s BUTM - also on Borneo, but in Sabah. One interesting name from a competition point of view is Ireland’s Mark Steacy, who lives in Kuching and had two great performances in ATM last season with a 5th place in TMBT and 3rd in Jagoi Heritage. By all means, any man who wants to win Silabur this weekend will need to pass Steacy. ATM Candidate Races are always fine occasions to get to know new running talent, especially early in the season with the first Malaysian points race this year still two months away: Koboi Malaya Classic 50k in Pahang on 13 May.

The Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping has quickly established itself as the leading trail running event in Malaysia alongside the older classic Borneo TMBT Ultra. Also in 2023, MMTF will be the final points race event in the Asia Trail Master Championship season on the weekend of 4/5 November. Competitive runners can score potentially vital points to qualify for the ATM Final on both the 100km and 50km race categories. Shorter distances and a Vertical Kilometre are also part of the overall event programme.

The Esplanade in Taiping will be the host venue once again for the start and finish of the races that run through wild and pristine rainforest around the city. Taiping is accessible via bus and/or train once you land in Kuala Lumpur or Penang. Accommodation options are plentiful, but bear in mind the events attract between 2000 and 3000 runners, so do do not leave your booking too late.

MMTF has 5300 hm of elevation gain for the 100km and nearly 3000 hm for the 50km. These figures may not appear excessive, but if the trails get wet - and it does rain a lot in Taiping - the races often turn out to be much tougher than one would think beforehand. Bukit Larut, aka Maxwell Hill, is kind of the main feature of the long distance race courses. 100k runners will climb it twice but from different sides.

Taiping now also has a Basecamp for trail runners and hikers, managed by MMTF Consultant in the person of Ewegene Tan, allowing people to come and train on the trails nearly throughout the year.

Registration for MMTF is already open. All details, as well as mandatory gear requirements and logistics, can be checked on the official website below.

Last season Kristian Joergensen (who won in 2019) and Milton Amat crossed the line together

This year’s finisher tee

The Central Highlands’ city of Dalat in Vietnam has established itself as a premier trail running destination in recent years. A fact that was re-emphasised just a week ago with over 7000 people registered for the Dalat Ultra Trail. Since last year, a second high-profile trail event has been set up carrying the name of the province Dalat is the capital of: Lam Dong. A successful ATM Candidate, and so the new event has now also become a points race for the ATM Championship ranking scheduled for 11 November. Lam Dong Trail offers a number of race distance categories, but the longest one - 75 km - is the main race for points. 

Dalat is located 1500m above sea level, which creates a coolish climate year-round. Often, residents say that Dalat a place where you can experience the four seasons in just one day: spring in the morning, summer at noon, autumn in the afternoon and winter at night. These conditions make the city an attraction magnet for weekend trippers from Ho Chi Minh City, domestic and international tourists, and distance runners who enjoy the cooler temperatures. 

Lam Dong Trail is organised by Vietnam Joy and Green Hat, companies with extensive event management experience in Vietnam. Runners should note that ‘LDT’ in November may share the same venue as ‘DLUT’ in March, but the race course and set-up is different. The 75 km race starts at the Lac Duong Cultural Center at 4 am on Saturday morning (shuttle busses provided) and finishes at the Valley of Love just outside Dalat City centre (easy to reach by tax or Grab car). The cut-off time for those just aiming to finish the race is 21:30 at night (i.e. 17 hours and 30 minutes). All participants of the 75 km (and 45km) can also enjoy a delicious buffet dinner after the race briefing on Friday late afternoon and evening at the finish site, the Valley of Love. 

Competitive runners should note there is prizemoney on offer for the top 3 on the podium, too. Last year’s inaugural edition saw Vietnam’s trail heroes Quang Tran and Hau Ha - now the Asia Trail Master women’s champion - win the long distance race. 

The Race DIrector of Lam Dong Trail is none other than Le Tan Hi, himself an excellent trail runner: “Lam Dong Trail 2023 will bring athletes extremely interesting experiences because the weather in November is the time of transition, with cool and fresh air of the high plateau of Dalat in the blooming season of flowers,” says Le Tan Hi. “ The 5km, 15km, 25km, 45km, and main 75km routes take athletes through pine forests, hills of Lang Biang, natural streams/lakes, to admire the diverse vegetation of dense forests, swamps, pine forests, and tropical forests. Across the ancient cherry blossom hill, admire the local people harvesting coffee, the **Rose myrtle** hill, the pink grass hill racing for the colors. All are ready to welcome athletes, together conquer the journey back to nature and immerse in the sound of nature.”

Registration for the event is already open. International runners are encouraged to sign up timely to ensure their spot. There’s accommodation options near the Valley of Love, but staying inside Dalat City is also not an issue. 

All details of the event, including mandatory gear list,  can be found on the Lam Dong Trail website linked below. 

Lam Dong Trail’s ‘Tale of the Trail’ in 2022

Quang Tran won the men’s long distance race last year

Hau Ha was second overall and winner of the women’s race last year ahead of a.o. Julia Nguyen Duong Thi

BUTM in Sabah, Malaysia, is NOT a points race in this season’s Asia Trail Master Championship series, as it was decided - in agreement with the event organiser Borneo Ultra Trails - that the 100 miles race at the new Borneo Miler event on 4/5 June will get the honour. Nevertheless, a lot of Malaysian trail stars were present at BUTM yesterday, together with the inevitable Hisashi Kitamura, who is still based in Kuala Lumpur until the end of April. And that same Kitamura finally scored his long-desired victory over Sabah’s trail hero Milton Amat. After 13h27’ he crossed the finish line of the 100km race first, and no fewer than 28 minutes ahead of Amat. The two friendly rivals had been running together for approx 75km until Kitamura decided to up the ante. Bit by bit he increased the gap.

Last year, the Karate Kit had also reached the finish first, but then lost the win due to time penalties for missing a checkpoint marker and a mandatory gear item. Later in the season, Milton Amat was clearly too strong for him in the classic TMBT 100 in September.

Third on the podium was good old Daved Simpat, who showed he remains a force to be reckoned with in any trail race. He finished two hours and twenty minutes behind Kitamura, but was himself more than two hours ahead of the next runners: Gustin Tiam, Andrew Farmers and Jonathan Nicol.

The women’s 100km saw a bit of an upset victory by Rejlen James, who reached the finish almost two hours ahead of vice-ATM champion Sally Yap and last year’s TMBT 100 winner Siet Fah Lim! Does James come out of the blue? Not really, our ATM database shows she won Bromo Tengger Semeru Ultra 100 in 2017, and was second that same year in TMMT 70k. Quite a comeback after six years!

BUTM 50km developed into a battle between Wilsen Singgin, for once opting for the shorter distance, and Yasbie Ismail. Singgin took it. Third place went to Korea’s Byeonggwon Park - who’s been on ATM podiums a few times before covid, too. The women’s 50km went to an exciting young Malaysian talent Shamiera Auther, who has clearly made a performance leap forward compared to last season. Shamiera won 23 minutes ahead of Korea’s experienced Boyoung Jan, who has three ATM podiums on her record of which two last year, and a full hour ahead of ATM local hero and Sabah ambassador Jess Lintanga in third place.

Promising new talent Shamiera Auther took a great victory in the 50k over several established competitors

These two guys always produce a great show, and over the past years have lifted each other’s performance level to great heights