This weekend the focus is on Malaysia with two serious events taking place on both sides of the large country. In peninsular Malaysia, trail runners can score a Grandmaster point at Tampin Transnaning Ultra (see separate preview), while in Sabah, East Malaysia, there’s points up for grabs at KAR Ultra for both the ATM Championship points ranking and the Grandmaster Quest. It’s a 10-year-anniversary for KAR Ultra and the organisers are celebrating this milestone with a redesigned race programme featuring 100 Miles and 80 km categories. After the Borneo Miler in 2023, it will be the second time a ‘miler’ is held in Sabah.

The longest ultra already starts on Friday mid-afternoon and that is for a reason, of course. Running 100 Miles in the tropical conditions of Sabah is a tough matter. Cut-off times are moderate, however, and that has attracted a very large starting field. Lots of hope amongst many, in other words. When we look at the start list, two names pop out as obvious favourites for the race win: the inevitable Wilsen Singgin and the new, younger, Sabahan trail star Oswald Maikol. The latter still did an ultra race last week so we need to see if he has recovered enough. Singgin is no stranger to milers and even mega distances of over 200km. In the last couple of years, he has been focusing a bit more on the 50k races and developing his running speed, however. Last year’s KAR 110 race winner Azmil Saripudin could be the duo’s leading challenger. Nor Mansor Bin Muhammad Saleh and Feliks Aten are going well the past few months and Jainuddin Sainuddin had a great season 10 in ATM, both could be seen as a podium contenders, too, amongst several other experienced 100 miles runners.

In the women’s race there’s no Rejlen James (maternity leave), which gives opportunities to established long ultra runners such as Celeste Teo, Jamilah Durat and Manila’s Ann Jilian Pulanco to score a win or at least a podium. And what about youngster Shamiera Auther on her 100 miles debut?

The 80km race category is serious in its own right. Willy Wilson Jafry could be the man to beat in this distance. Lots of people on the start list and we are bound to discover new local talent. Also the women’s competition seems very open with no clear favourite for victory.

ATM will be reporting live from KAR Ultra all weekend.

KAR Ultra celebrates 10 years with inaugural 100 Miles race