The Philipino Mountain Trail Festival in Benguet and Nueva Vizcaya saw some expected and also surprising victories and performances in what what as always a tough physical and mental exercise. The Hardcore 100 Miles, a.k.a. H1, is the flagship race of the newly designed Festival and witnessed truly fantastic victories by Rhys Pawid and by Shally Yuson. While Pawid is an experienced long ultra specialist from Luzon, Yuson hails from Mindanao and took part in her first ever miler - having previously often struggled even in 100k races. Pawid, a 2022 ATM Finalist, scored his first ever ATM race win, for 2024 Finalist and Grandmaster Yuson it was her second win after MUSPO 50 at home last year.

Rhys Pawid went solo early in the race already, between checkpoints 2 and 3, as he created a gap with the two main pre-race favourites Kik Suello and Jevie Cagatin, both from Mindanao. The gap would remain between just ten and fifteen minutes for a while, but by CP 5 at Cabayo Pawid had suddenly doubled it and would disappear out of sight for the duo behind. Pawid reached the finish after 161 km in a superb 26h02’15”, which turned out to be more than three hours faster than second-placed Kik Suello. Mantra-like differences in other words, even between some of Philippines’ most acclaimed long ultra trail runners. A new podium for Kik Suello this season, but after three third places now his first second. When is that first victory coming about? Just a matter of time for last year’s 7th place in the ATM Championship. His qualification for this year’s Final in Vietnam in October is already as good as certain. Jevie Cagatin took third, and his first Grandmaster star as well. Cagatin was the highest ATM points scorer in Philippines last season and winner of Mount Kalatungan in the process. He came 11th in the Final, just off the Top 10 enlarged podium. Another 2024 Finalist took fourth place in H1, Jomarc Ferrer. Jordan Bugnay was fifth, just a few minutes ahead of Ronnel Valero.

The women’s H1 race was much closer than the men’s with Shally Yuson, Shela Mae Bahian and Rhea Falitnang all reaching out to victory. While the gaps were not huge, pre-race favourites Ann Jilian Pulanco and Mary Joy Sumanda somehow were never in the mix for the race win. Rhea Falitnang initially had the quicker pace, with Bahian perhaps the more consistent in second. Until Yuson made a move from CP 4 onwards. Falitnang, however, was able to up her pace again towards the end and returned to within just a few minutes of Yuson by Cp 10. Bahian there looked to be settling for third, but also she had some extra juice left in the tank. At the finish, Yuson held on to take the prestigious victory and Bahian still managed to get second just 12 minutes later. Falitnang secured third place on the podium. Mary Joy Sumanda still finished in fourth place, and became a 2-star Grandmaster by doing so.

The second ATM Championship points race on the PMTF programme was the Mount Ugo Marathon, another “old” classic race in the Philippines. Medium trail distance of 47km, but spicy with the well-known beautiful Mount Ugo in it. Kristian Joergensen did what he came to do, grab the 500 ATM points by winning the race - his first ATM victory in a while, in fact. Joergensen, who often trains in the Cordilleras and who is familiar with the route, was a good half an hour faster than the surprisingly strong Erico Villamor. Angelo Maynard Encormal took the third spot on the podium, ahead of Sean Aying.

In fifth overall we already had the first woman, and it was not Filipino favourite Angelie Cabalo. Japan’s Chisato Kario managed to stay a few minutes ahead of Cabalo, who ultimately had to cede second place also to South Korea’s Hee Joo Jang, fifth in last year’s ATM Championship Final. Another podium in any case puts Cabalo in a strong position to qualify for this season’s Final. She also becomes the overall points leader this season with 1325 points in the account, 45 more than Tara Savage and 50 more than her compatriot Ritzy Amor, who will be competing in Bali BTR 60 this weekend, however.

The next Filipino points race takes place in Bukidnon, Mindanao: Point Trail 70km on 14 June.

PMTF: Rhys Pawid and Shally Yuson win prestigious H1 race