The first official edition of Ultra Trail Panoramic in Northwestern Thailand was a success with a finish rate of well over 50% despite the exclusive long distances of 100 miles or 100 km. From a pure performance point of view, it was remarkable to see so many runners from the Philippines taking up many of the top spots. The outstanding winner on the 100 miles is a Filipino as well, Jorge Lanante, who completed the course in 22:52, which was six-and-a-half hours faster than Grandmaster Aleksis Capili, also born in the Philippines but now residing in Thailand. Thanks to yet another big finish, only two weeks after CM 50, Capili is now within 2 points of obtaining his second Grandmaster star. In the ATM championship he also finishes in sixth place, just a few points shy of Abdul Rahman as the total number of participants in UT Panoramic was less than 100. It is assured that next year this number will grow significantly.  

In third place on the podium was the local runner Supeeraphan Sreeduangjuan in 30:33. In the women's race we also saw two finishers on the 100 miles. Thailand's Sakuna Usanawasin took top honours and Cheryl Bihag - from Philippines - was a delighted second in her first 100 miles finish ever. 

Cheryl Bihag

Top 10 100 Miles - Men

1   JORGE ALYN GIL JR. LANANTE (PHI)      
2   ALEKSIS CAPILI (PHI)        
3   SUPEERAPHAN SREEDUANGJAN (THA)   4   JARED TEVES (PHI) 
5   WIWAT YINGRAM (THA)       
6   JOEFFERY CAMARA (PHI)
7   HANET KAEWLEK (THA)
8   FATHI JUNAIDI (BRU)
9   SIDSDI PINSOOK (THA)    
10  PONPAYON THONGTAWEE (THA)   

Finishers 100 miles - Women

1  SAKUNA USANAWASIN (THA)
2 CHERYL BIHAG (PHI) 

On the 100 km course, Frenchman Remi Galland ran three hours faster than local runners Pochara Thimasan and Pakawas Mangkang. Interestingly, the same time margin separated the two best women as well. Issaree Kengnok was actually very quick as she even finished fourth overall in 12:45. Second place went to Pakanee Burutphakdee, and Kwantana Kwamuangpan completed the women's podium. 

Jorge Lanante 

Remi Galland

Manolito Divina is the new 2016 Asia Trail Master champion. The 36-year-old Filipino running star made it a hattrick of wins in the 50 miles race of theClark-Miyamit Falls Ultra event and as such overtook Jan Nilsen in the points standings. Although there are two more races on the ATM calendar in December, nobody can still match the 1650 points total by Divina. It was a classic battle in Clark last weekend between many of this year's protagonists in the Asia Trail Master series, also including the 2015 champion from Indonesia Arief Wismoyono, who proved his title was no fluke by fighting hard and finishing second in his first ever appearance in the Philippines. Jan Nilsen had an off-day and could not do better than fourth place. The 50-year-old Thailand-based Norwegian could not hide his disappointment at first, yet quickly realised that what he has achieved this season can only be described by one term: outstanding! 

CM 50 was once again characteristed by a jolly atmosphere throughout the event weekend. The start of the 50 miles and 60km races was held at 1 a.m., with a relatively mild temperature of 24 degrees that nevertheless proved hard to cope with for some of the faster runners. China's Xu Xiutao had flown into the Philippines with a mission to win and keep his own championship ambitions alive, but already after 26 km he threw in the towel. The humidity and the temperature difference between Clark and his native Beijing, where it has been seriously freezing recently, made the 22-year-old's legs feel like lead. However, also ATM points leader Jan Nilsen found himself struggling already at that early point of the race. Initially ahead together with Manolito Divina, Arief Wismoyono and Kristian Joergensen, Nilsen took a wrong trail and lost contact with the frontrunners. On the way up to the Miyamit Falls and the highest peak, he would still get close to Wismoyono, James Tellias and the surprisingly strong Louie Ganayan, but by then his main rival Divina was already out of sight. 

As Divina increased the gap, taking full advantage of his familiarity with the course, a crisp Wismoyono and persevering Tellias were the strongest of the rest. Joergensen had already dropped back with stomach issues and Jan Nilsen gradually also lost more terrain. In the end, Manolito Divina finished comfortably in 10:21:52, having ample time to celebrate his third successive victory in this race and the Asia Trail Master championship. About an hour later, Wismoyono and Tellias arrived together, after the Indonesian had gone off course in the latter stages and was joined again by the local runner, who also finished third last year. 

The men's podium with Manolito Divina, Arief Wismoyono and James Tellias

The respect runners have for Jan Nilsen was widely illustrated afterwards. Dominator of all big Indonesian volcano races, amongst other races outside ATM, what the 50-year-old has shown this year is highly remarkable. Pushing the youngsters to the best of their game, and still beating them on a regular basis as well. Visibly tired, Nilsen did admit it might be time for a short resting period. Divina was ecstatic himself: father of four young children and daytime worker in a warehouse, his ATM championship ambitions were severely under threat only a month ago when he injured his ankle during UT Mapawa. Fortunately for him, it healed just in time for CM 50, although Divina did suffer quite a bit of pain during the race. 

Last year's Asia Trail Master champion Arief Wismoyono thus finished second behind the man who is taking over his title. The Bandung Explorer team ace has had a less consistent season than 2015, and was therefore visibly delighted to end the year on a high note in the Philippines. Wismoyono will certainly again be a strong contender in the ATM series next year, having already pencilled in a list of races including the Malaysia Eco 100 in Penang, the important Malaysia SuperTrail that Divina won this year. 

In the women's race all attention went to Majo Liao, twice winner of this race, and the number 2 in the Asia Trail Master championship. A surprise to some, yet not to others, Sandi Menchi turned out victorious instead. From the get-go, Menchi was putting Liao under pressure and was able to open up a small gap on the long climb. Previously a short distance runner, Menchi has now arrived on the long distance stage and it looks like she can become a significant contender in ATM races in 2017. Majo Liao was nevertheless happy with her second place in both the race and the ATM championship. Third place went to Hong Kong runner Cherry Chung. 

Sandi Menchi won the CM 50 race for women and looked strong in doing so!

Jan Nilsen and Manolito Divina: huge mutual respect

While BTS Ultra 100 in Indonesia lived up to its reputation as one of the hardest trail runs in Asia, HK 168 raised its profile once again as one of Hong Kong's traditional events. Both races saw fantastic winners: Jan Nilsen was dominant on the volcanoes, as expected, and Isaac Yuen Wan Ho relied on his amazing stamina to collect a first proper race victory after several podium finishes in the Asia Trail Master series. As such, both Nilsen and Yuen Wan Ho increase the pressure on Philippines' Manolito Divina to win this year's ATM points championship. It will be a great man-to-man battle soon in Clark, location of CM 50 Ultra and the last SuperTrail race of the year with bonus points on offer! 

The women's races in Indonesia and Hong Kong had it in them as well. BTS 100k had a superb line-up at the start, including Ina Budiyarni, who aimed to complete her Grandmaster Quest and become the first female Grandmaster ever. After a fall in the early part of the race that injured her hip, it cost Ina blood, sweat and tears but she crossed the finish line just inside the official cut off time. While she won the Grandmaster honorary title, a podium finish was not possible given her injury. Therefore, the battle for the race victory was between Shindy Patricia, Ruth Theresia and Mila Mirlani. It was tight at the end, but Ruth Theresia nicked it by less than ten minutes ahead of Shindy Patricia.

 At HK 168, pre-race favourite Yuen Kit Shan, double winner of UTHK, surprisingly did not feature at the top of the leader board at any time during the race. It was Yi Hua Wu who was the outstanding athlete on the weekend, finishing over 3 hours ahead of Habiba Benahmed and Xiao Jing. Yuen Kit Shan did finish the race in fourth place. 

It was certainly quite a surprise for many when Jonathan Pido arrived first in the finishing strait at Ultra Trail Mapawa. The local runner from Mindanao Island was nearly half an hour ahead of two more local athletes. And then, only then, came pre-race favourite and Asia Trail Master championship contender Manolito Divina. Fourth place was not good enough for Divina to join Jan Nilsen at the top of the points ranking. The gap is 100 points. This means that the pressure in next month's Clark-Myamit Falls Ultra race, with SuperTrail bonus points on offer, is entirely on the Pinoy star. Moreover, the reason for Manolito Divina's troublesome Mapawa race is worrying: a sprained ankle sustained in the early part of the technical 50k race. Hopefully for him, his ankle will recover quickly and he will be back at his best in just a few weeks from now.

While Divina suffered from his ankle, the three Mindanao runners in front of him deserve all credit for their performances. Jonathan Pido was a class on his own as he crossed the line in 7:01:55, almost half an hour ahead of Richgie Dola, and Leo Colonia in third place! Amazingly, Dola finished the race with only 1 shoe, having torn the other one at km 30. All three runners are solid road marathon runners. Behind Divina in a strong fifth place was Thumbie Remigio, who himself returned from a prolonged period of inactivity due to a foot injury.  

It was fantastic to see Majo Liao winning the women's 50k in 9:19:08, only three weeks after the brutal MesaStila 5 Peaks Challenge in Indonesia. A great show of character that rewards Liao with second place in the Asia Trail Master points ranking. Second in the race last Sunday was Maria Luisa Prado, and third Retchelle Nave. 

UT Mapawa received praise from the runners for the beautiful course, which, however was more technical than anticipated by most. Lots of steep climbs and descents. There was no mobile connectivity at the race venue, which made live reporting virtually impossible. It did increase tye sense of adventure for the participants, on the other hand. CM 50 Ultra on the other Philippines' island of Luzon next month is guaranteed to become a thriller for the ATM championship. Several scenarios are open with plenty of top runners in the ranking scheduled to run. Manolito Divina is a double winner of that race, but it is Jan Nilsen who is in the hot seat. 

With special thanks to Christine Ferrera and Simple Hydration. 

Tough day for Manolito Divina at Mapawa means CM 50 on 27 November will be vital

The 6th MesaStila Peaks Challenge this year will go into the trail running archive as the toughest edition yet. Not only was the original course including the ascent of Gunung Merapi retained this year, it was pouring down with rain for most of the weekend. The wet conditions turned several trails into slippery mudbaths and the volcano sections at night surprised plenty a runner for being freezing cold despite this being Indonesia! As usual, the tough race profiles of the five race distances are compensated with a solid event organisation, excellent hospitality at the MesaStila Resort & Spa and pleasant atmosphere throughout the weekend. A worthy Indonesia SuperTrail in other words, which had the additional pleasure of seeing Malaysia's Tahira Najmunisaa crown herself as the new women's Asia Trail Master champion. 50-year-old Jan Nilsen, quite simply incredible this year, took the men's 5 Peaks race over 100k against some big names and claimed the points lead in the men's ATM ranking, setting up a major showdown for the title at CM 50 in Philippines next month against, amongst others, Manolito Divina.

The 100k race with 7700 metres of elevation gain started in the early hours of Saturday and provided a good warm up for the runners before the rain began to come down after the first peak - the steep Mount Andong. Defending Asia Trail Master champion and MesaStila champion Arief Wismoyono had prepared himself well for the important race and immediately put the pressure on Jan Nilsen, Kristian Joergensen, Abdul Rahman and a grouo of strong local contenders. ATM points leader Isaac Yuen Wan Ho unfortunately did not start claiming a back injury. Already on Andong it was clear that Tahira Najmunisaa was back at her very best. Coming down from Andong, the Malaysian star ran in fifth place overall and had put quite some distance between herself and her main competitors Mary Josephine Liao, Ruth Theresa and Mila Marlina, last year's MesaStilla winner. 

Tahira Najmunisaa ran a superb race and claims the 2016 Asia Trail Master championship

Arief Wismoyono knew he had to basically win this SuperTrail race to keep his Asia Trail Master title defence in check. The 50 bonus points do matter in the men's ranking. Sadly, the 32-year-old Bandung hero missed a marker on Gunung Merbabu, which put him suddenly behind Jan Nilsen, Muhammad Dzaki and Kristian Joergensen. Yohannis Hiareij, who narrowly lost the spring to Wismoyono at Ijen Trailrunning last May, seemed to have an off-day and would not feature in the debate up front. To be fair, the conditions for running got increasingly difficult, too. The combination of pouring rain, high altitudes and strong winds when night fell turned the race into a true epic. Wismoyono witnessed four of his running friends suffer from hypothermia and decided like a real gentleman that helping him was more important than chasing down Nilsen and Dzaki. Kristian Joergensen, originally from Denmark, also saw no choice but to escape from the frigid elements for a few hours, which put him down the race ranking and out of podium contention. Still, if a strong northerner like Joergensen freezes up, one can only imagine how hard it must have been out there on Merapi and Merbabu. 

Jan Nilsen: "Running smart is better than running fast" 

But when the going gets rough, one guy never seems to be too bothered: Jan Nilsen continued his amazing form this season and was in control of the race. The Thailand-based Norwegian was not even too concerned when the surprising local runner Muhammad Dzaki came closer and closer and reportedly even caught up with Nilsen with less than 10k to go! Dzaki had been training for a long time for this race, and his efforts, along with knowledge of the route, clearly paid off. Still, Nilsen had an extra gear left and ran solo to the finish at the MesaStila resort in just under 20 hours. In his usual style, Nilsen had a thing or two to say about trail markings and other inconveniences, but he quickly returned to smiles and began to  realise himself that he had just done another serious exploit - after dominating Rinjani 100 earlier this year! Muhammad Dzaki finished second, and another Indonesian Muhammad Fauzi Difinubun moved up to third place in the latter parts of the race. Abdul Rahman was fourth and consolidates his top five ranking. Joergensen, in his first 100k outside his resident country Philippines, had to settle for seventh. 

That was after Tahira Najmunisaa had taken victory in the women's race and by doing so becoming the new Asia Trail Master champion. Tahira scored two SuperTrail victories this season (Malaysia Eco 100, MesaStila 5 Peaks) plus two more ATM wins at Beach Bunch (Brunei) and Merapoh Trail (Malaysia). As the best three results count for the final ranking, only Ma Yanxing (winner China SuperTrail) and Yuen Kit Shan (winner Hong Kong SuperTrail) can mathematically still catch up with Tahira, but both would need to win CM 50 as Philippines SuperTrail next month, and another third ATM race to boot. A scenario that is unlikely. Last Sunday, the 26-year-old Malaysian was joined on the podium by Ruth Theresa, in her first 100k race (!), and Majo Liao. The latter, multiple race winner in the Philippines, showed true grit and did a great job returning from a nasty ankle injury. Majo still has two more ATM races lined up and can finish the season high in the final ranking. 

The statistics of Tahira Najmunisaa 's Asia Trail Master campaign do not lie: 5 career ATM race victories and undefeated! She also has collected four Grandmaster points already. To receive the honourary title of Grandmaster, a runner must complete 6 races of 70k or more inside 24 months.

This year, the cut off time of the MesaStila 5 Peaks had been extended by four hours to a total of 36 hours, which resulted in more finishers (28) and more delighted runners afterwards. Being an official finisher in the epic 2016 MesaStila Peaks Challenge will be remembered for a long time! 

Muhammad Dzaki and Muhammad Difunubun kept the local honours very high

Whereas the 100k, or the 5 Peaks race, obviously gets the most attention, it does somewhat injustice to the 65k race, which is essentially the same route minus Gunung Merapi and a massive elevation gain of almost 5000m as well. Given those numbers, it was decided earlier this year to grant the 4 Peaks also 1 Grandmaster point. Both the men's and women's competition was tight with changing positions and possibilities. Firdaus dropped Polish runner in the last 7km only for a superb home victory. However, Jessica Lintanga made it a double hit for Malaysia as she took the women's race after a good battle with last year's winner Ina Budiyarni. Lintanga, from Sabah, is a first-year trail runner who - like Tahira - belongs to her country's Running Project to prepare aspiring athletes for UTMB in a few years. It was her first race victory outside Malaysia. Ina Budiyarni may have missed a second consecutive race victory at MesaStila, but now has five Grandmaster points in her bag. One more, and she will be the first ever female Asia Trail Grandmaster. A feat she aims to accomplish at Bromo-Tengger-Semeru next month! 

Podium of the 5 Peaks Challenge: Nilsen, Dzaki and Difinubun

Kristian Joergensen thinking "what the hell was this?" 

A worthwile trip all the way from Poland: Michal Kaszorowksi, 2nd in 4 Peaks 

Jessica Lintanga arrives to win the women's 4 Peaks race in another downpour

THe 100 km race distance of the Vietnam Mountain Marathon was won by two European runners in the male and female categories: Petr Novotny from Czech Republic, and Nathalie Cochet from France. They both had a clear advantage over the next runners, who were both locals from Vietnam: Cao Ngoc Ha and Chi Nguyen. As expected, the race was tough with 34 finishers in total. This includes China's Wang Xin, Denmark's Caster Nielsen, Malaysia's Syed Abdul Rahim and  Brunei's Ali Ajis Rasil, all of whom had scored Asia Trail Master points before this year and will thus move up in the ranking.

There was another French winner on the classic 70km distance in Sapa: Team Uglow's Antoine Epinette was a good 17 minutes faster than American Cory Lewandowski. The female winner came from Japan: Sayaka Matsumoto proved outstanding and gave the opposition no chance. Canada's Amber Lane was second and Hong Kong's Cherrie Chung third. Interesting from an Asia Trail Master points perspective was the 7th place of another Hong Kong runner Jocelyn Cheung. 

The Asia Trail Master points championship continues next week in South Korea with Ultra Trail Mount Jiri.

The Altai Ultra Trail in Siberian Russia certainly ranks among the more remote trail races in Asia, yet over 200 domestic runners made the trip to race 100 km, 50 km or 30 km in the mountainous border region between Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Altai Ultra Trail was a Candidate Race for the 2017 Asia Trail Master series.  

Despite rather chilly and cloudy weather, the event went very well. Race director Pavel Rozanov: "The 1st edition of Altai Ultra Trail exceeded our own expectations, it was great! Most runners told us afterwards they will return next year, which is the best feedback we could have imagined."

Mikhail Kozyr from Novosibirsk proved to be the outstanding athlete on the longest distance, as he completed the 100 km in 15:46:41, nearly two hours faster than his nearest competitors Viktor Krasnousov and Renat Zharmulhambetov. Best woman was Sofia Beitzel in 19:58:54, ahead of Tatiana Maslova and Nadezhda Bondareva. We are looking forward to see all these runners also compete for points in the Asia Trail Master championship soon. 

On the event website of Altai Ultra Trail, you can find several photo sets and videos of this year's event. 

Eastern Russia is also represented in this year's Asia Trail Master series via the Mount Falaza Ultra Trail in Primorye, close to Vladivistok,  on 16 October. The race there goes through pristine autumn forest and the climb of Mt Falaza. Read more about the Mt Falaza Trail Challenge here. 

It was to be expected that the new version of MRU, named Rinjani 100, would be the ultimate challenge for any trail runner, and so it proved to be except for one outstanding athlete: Jan Nilsen. The Norwegian living in Thailand had made this 100k race with 9100 metres of elevation gain one of his goals of the season, and he succeeded big time. And as icing on the cake: Nilsen was the ONLY finisher of the race within the 36 hour cut off time, completing the race in 26 hours and 35 minutes. And that just proves his dominance last weekend. Taking into account that 2015 Asia Trail Master champion and winner of last year's MRU 52k, Arief Wismoyono, threw in the towel just over half way the race, Jan Nilsen's victory in the Rinjani 100 has gone down as one of the greatest sporting achievements in the still short history of the Asia Trail Master series. This is how trail legends are made. 

It was not that people did not try. They were 52, the runners who took up the challenge last weekend. Other than Nilsen and Wismoyono, also reputed runners such as Yohanis Hiareij, Alan Maulana, Regis Cabaret, Ali Ajis Rasil, Hendra Hiswanto and Abdul Aziz Dermawan were present. Abdul Aziz Dermawan and Siswanto did actually complete the course, but two hours outside the time limit. Mila Marlina aimed to win the female race and get her Asia Trail Master season in a higher gear, but she fell and unfortunately suffered an injury. Other than the tough climb to the Rinjani summit, the course had several very technical parts. 

Jan Nilsen was also impressed by the race course: "The Rinjani 100 is a brutal race. Reaching Rinjani summit is so tough mentally and physically. The loose sand and the altitude/ elevation gain combined with the steepness is brutal and you don't really have anything left for the rest of the climbs. The organisation did a great job with clearing trails and the marking was good. However, the aid stations only had water and some fruit at a few places. I hear they ran quickly out of water at aid stations, but that was no problem for me as I was 1st all the time."

Even the 60km B-race proved to be a serious task. Only fifteen  runners completed the race within the cut off time. France's Vincent Chalias, no stranger to Indonesian trail racing, was fastest in a time of 16 hours and 30 minutes. His compatriot Laurent Tuffi came second 37 minutes later, and Singapore's Guo Zhengjin completed the podium in third place. Malaysian runners Fikry Md Nawi and Ahmad Shukri Rahman were the next other two men in fourth and fifth place. Indonesia's own Patricia Shindy was the only woman to reach the finish within time. She won the 60km as the only woman to finish in 19 hours and 44 minutes, 16 minutes ahead of the cut off. Earlier this season, Shindy also scored 4th place in Ijen Trailrunning, so she is now the best placed female Indonesian runner in the Asia Trail Master ranking! 

The 36km race was won by Spanish Indonesian Carlos Paz, third at Ijen Trailrunning in May, and by Vera Breuer from France. 

Big congratulations to all finishers, and kudos to everyone who took up the challenge of Rinjani 100! 

Patricia Shindy - only woman to finish the 60 km race last weekend! 

Unfortunately outside the time limit, but well done to Abdul Aziz and Hendra Siwanto for completing the Rinjani 100 course

Race Director Razif Yahya flanks female champion Tahira Najmunisaa and Abdul Rahman

The 2nd edition of the Magnificent Merapoh Trail, new in the Asia Trail Master series this year, saw over 600 runners from 25 countries compete along the border of Malaysia's largest national park, Taman Negara, roughly 250km northeast of Kuala Lumpur. The event was organised to boost eco tourism and protect the natural environment and the ancient and impressive cave complexes of Merapoh from logging and destruction. On offer were trail race courses of 100, 60 or 30km with limited elevation gain (1400 hm for 100km), but enough technical sections to challenge each single participant. 

Those sections included running through three caves, as well as a river crossing of no fewer than 3 km in length, halfway in the race that started at 9 p.m. While race day was dry, heavy rainfall in the days preceeding the event had elevated the water level and this meant a somewhat less comfortable experience for runners shorter in height. The race direction team had a plan B prepared, but decided to go ahead with the original course including the river. It turned out to be a good call, as the river crossing was the topic of many "warrior stories" after the race!  No accidents happened. 

The Merapoh Trail is in general a fast course and that also resulted in a very competitive race with several people in contention for the win and the podium places till very late. Britain's Jason Robinson and American Jeremy Verstraete were the fastest starters and opened up a lead in the first 21km until Persik Cave. When Verstraete suffered from stomach problems, Hong Kong's Isaac Yuen Wan Ho - whose aim was primarily  to regain the points lead in the Asia Trail Master championship in this race -, Japan's Hideki Kikuchi, Australia's Wayne McMurtie as well as local top runners Alan Toh and Abdul Rahman caught up again. Positions kept alternating from checkpoint to checkpoint, but it gradually became clear that 49-year-old Robinson had the edge. Eventually, he accumulated a lead over the rest of more than 30 minutes and took the victory back in Merapoh town. Isaac Yuen Wan Ho had a strong last section and grabbed second place, and the ATM points lead, while the smiling Kikuchi came home a delighted third on the podium. Yuen Wan Ho, who now has 300 points more than Manolito Divina in the championship ranking, was a happy man: "A great race, but certainly not easy. Some parts were very technical! I was able to stay in control of myself and the elements throughout the race, and that gave me a second place today. I am happy, even though I realise it will be difficult to stay ahead of Manolito in the championship." Race winner Jason Robinson is a very experienced endurance athlete, doing IronMan triathlons and ultras on a regular basis. Robinson praised the race organisations, but was also impressed by the river crossing: "It all went well, but 3km may be a bit too long. Some people needed one full hour to cross that river, as you can hardly move forward. I also felt muscles in my body during that crossing I didn't even know I had," he added with a smile. 

Gretchen Felipe won her second ATM race in two months on the 60 km distance

As expected, the women's race was dominated by unbeaten Asia Trail Master points leader Tahira Najmunisaa. The 26-year-old mother of three dashed away right after the start and opened up such a big gap that she could walk most of the last 40k and still win comfortably. It was her fourth career ATM race victory, and she of course extended her advantage in the championship with 500 more points. Behind her, positions in the race changed all the time as well, just like in the men's. Indonesia's Ina Budiyarni ran second for quite some time early on, then the consistent-pacing Jessica Linghata from Sabah took over, but in the end it was Faherina Mohd Esa who managed to stay narrowly ahead of Hong Kong's Jocelyn Cheung for the two lower steps of the podium. Vietnam's Thanh Vuu came in fourth, proving that trail running in her country is also making steady progress.  Jessica Lintanga was next in fifth after getting lost in the final section. 

The 60km race was won in a new course record by local "short" distance specialist Lim Wen Shan in the men's, and Philippines' Gretchen Felipe in the women's. For both athletes it was the second victory this year. Malaysia' s Lim Wen Shan also won the 50k race during the Malaysia Eco 100 event, and Felipe of course won the Cordillera Mountain Ultra in her native region last month. 

 In the late afternoon the Master of Ceremony and the local crowd cheered and applauded for the final competitors trying to make the 20 hour cut off time, which was another exciting moment of the event.

Although held in a remote location with limited facilities, the Magnificent Merapoh Trail was pure propaganda for the still young sport of trail running. It proved once and for all that organisers do not need high mountains and many thousands of metres of elevation gain to create quality trail events. All protagonists thanked race director Razif Yahya and his team openly for the wonderful course and experience. Runners interested in more Malaysia action in the Asia Trail Master series should pencil in UT Sabah at the end of the year on 4/5 December. 

You can find videos and more images on our instagram and facebook channels! 

The Dancing Ghost Cave

Early leaders: Jason Robinson (103) and Jeremy Verstraete (19)

Singapore's Henry Yang was one of many to suffer from stomach problems during the race

The Echigo Country Trail in Oguni Forest Park did not miss its debut on the Asia Trail Master series' calendar last weekend. A quality field of about 300 runners in total enjoyed an event that was superbly organised and received lots of support and visible enthusiasm from the local communities in the Japanese countryside around Nagaoka in Niigata. The men's race even got a local winner: Toru Nakamura. While that may not be surprising in some races, in this one it was given the presence of Japanese trail running stars like Shunsuke Okunomiya and Masahiro Onu. The women's race was won by a very strong Yukoku Takashima, who even finished in fifth place overall. 

The event began on Saturday evening with an opening ceremony, attended by the mayor of Nagaoka, followed by a local buffet dinner with some cultural performances to round off the experience. It was great occasion for the majority of runners to meet and greet before the race on Sunday morning. 

It was already very warm at 6 o'clock in the morning, and the temperature would continue to rise to 30 degrees. Moreover, it got increasingly humid later in the morning. For plenty of runners this turned the 52k Echigo Country Trail into a very tough day of work. Especially, as quite some areas were entirely exposed to the sun. Another characteristic of the course was the steepness of the hills. Echigo is again one of those races were numbers do not tell the whole story. 2000 metres of elevation gain is not extreme, but several of these hills actually were rollercoasters with steep gradients that for many people often required the use of a rope.

As expected, Okunomiya went off into the lead, but less expected was that Nakamura was able to keep him within range. Masahiro Onu, who is better on the ultra long distances than on 50k, took a relatively easy start and was running as far down as 8th place in the first 10km of the race.  Then, after the third checkpoint, around the 22km mark Okunomiya did a misstep and twisted his ankle in the process. The race favourite cleverly decided to stop running and prevent more injury. Nakamura gained the lead and would keep it till the finish. Behind him, Onu had been moving up the ranking throughout the race and arrived second at the finish. 

The women's 52k podium

Toru Nakamura wins the men's 52k 

Shunsuke Okunomiya was leading the race until passed halfway when he twisted his ankle

The 1st Baturu Trail is a race held in a place with the most weird name for racing in Chinese. It is a race with the most unique of old Manchuria features. It is a race with grueling challenges to test the warrior inside you. It is the 2017 Asia Trail Master candidate race, the Baturu Guanmenshan 50km in the Guanmenshan Scenery Zone of Benxi City, Liaoning Province, one of the main cradles and bases of the legendary Manchus, which established its own state and reigned China as the Qing Dynasty for 268 years with 12 emperors.

By Xiaozhao Zhao
 
The organiser of the Baturu Trail was honest: “We like making things harder, so runners will have an impressive and worthy tour and cherish their opportunity to race here with us more than in other places. Perhaps it is the most difficult 50 km in mainland China. The course is inspired by the selection of the Eight Brigades elite warriors under the direct command of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty. Only the lucky soldiers with extreme physical and mental competence were to be enlisted into the Eight Brigades in the early years of the Post-Jin state (Qing dynasty, later). Baturu is a Manchurian word referring to these ferocious soldiers. We also set an additional special time-trial reward for the runners who run the 50k: to every man finishing in 10 hours and woman smashing 11 hours, a big jade ring will be awarded. This jade ring was first used as a tool to drag the string of a bow, then it became gradually a symbol of bravery and power of the very influential Manchuria military leaders including the emperor himself. Of course, all race finishers will also be given an arrowhead-shaped medal, which is another feature of military traditions of the Manchus. ” 
 
The hot debate of the race's difficulty, along with the tale of the big jade ring had attracted lots of attention in the Chinese running community. How tough is the race? There is a joke about the name of the event's venue called “Guanmenshan” (关门山 in Chinese, pinyin: guan-men-shan). In Chinese, Guanmen (关门 in Chinese, pinyin-guan-men) stands for closed door, while the first priority in any race for trail runners is to avoid being cut off by struggling to the finish line before the deadline. Probably the weird venue name alone suggested the nature of the challenge. Judging from the basic data, we find 50 km, 3800m elevation gain, 800m drop (1100m highest/300m lowest) and 85% of the route natural trail. However, this is not the whole story about its toughness. There are 7 major steep ascents/descents. Runners have to climb up and down among big stones in woods, cut though creeks by jumping along the narrow and wet boulders and endure the scratches of bushes with thrones as well as scorching sunshine of nearly 30 degrees Celsius in daytime. What’s more, all these are supposed to be done in a pressing 14.5 hours with 5 checkpoints that each have their own time limit.
 
Benxi is a famous city in the history of Chinese industrialization because of its abundance in coal and iron mines etc. It had been regarded as The Steel City for a long time. Being a Baturu is the best way to find the nature around such a city with its full spectrum of heavy industry.
 
The race is not only an exploration of your limit of persistence, but also a discovery of natural beauty. The Guanmenshan Scenery Zone is a great museum of geology. There are many spectacular landscapes sculpted by the forces of nature over millions of years ago, such as peaks, caves and cliffs. A variety of animals also live in this area with dense plants. It boasts 50 kinds of Class II protected animals and 120 kinds of maples alone.

The race course was well marked overall. However, in the dense forest, finding the marks still required patience and good feeling at times. A handheld GPS with pre-load track and ISO height curves will help a lot in some parts to increase your confidence in orienteering.

Logistics were great and well-organised. Abundant nutrition was piled up at checkpoints with smiling volunteers waiting for runners. Delicious local food such as hot mutton soup was offered as well. What's more, in the rest zone at the finish, roasted strings soups noodles and beer were entirely free for runners!
 
143 runners took part in the 50km race, top 3 of each gender group as follow:
 
Male (123 in all with 58 finisher in gender group)
Bo CHEN 07:42:03
Fuyue LI 08:00:51
Chunfu WANG 08:52:54
 
Female (20 in all with 6 finisher in gender group) 
1Qian ZHANG 10:26:18
2Lihong ZHANG 11:13:21
3Yufen XIA 12:06:04

From the dawn to the dusk, in the end, around 10 males finished within 10 hrs and 11 females within 11 hrs. The total number of finisher is 64, that is to say, 45%. 
 
Among all the runners, the low-profiled and old-school local semi-pro Qian ZHANG is a familiar prize hunter in many Chinese races, from the toughest 100km to the 1500m on the track. Even in her fifties now, she still scores podium places and collects money from races frequently thanks to her exceptional endurance. In daily life, she is an ordinary worker in a big steel company with her beloved family. Qian Zhang was clear about the Baturu Trail afterwards: “It is the most challenging 50 km I have ever run! But the organizer did an almost perfect job to make such an amazing race possible!"

Fuyue Li, second in the men's race,  is also a familiar face on the podium of ultra trail races in Mainland China with a bunch of achievements such as winning the 2014 TNF 100 in Beijing in rain and mist. Running and taking care of his mother are all part of his very limited spare time as a plumber in Beijing Normal University. His kindness and his attitude of never complaining about harsh life conditions, has also built him a great reputation in  the running community along with solid results in races. In late 2014, he made his debut in a very inspiring short film about the promotion of the BNU.
 
Another local runner, Hao Chen, ranked 4th in Asia Trail Master’s Ultra Trail Tu Wenchuan in the middle of May. “I am very happy with my race here. I helped the organizer with field jobs during preparation. During the 9.5 hrs route recon we estimated it might cost around 8 hrs for the top runners. In the end the winner came in 7 hours 42 minutes!"
 
The Baturu Trail may have a focus on the toughness of its 50km, but the organisation also offers 30km and 5km categories for beginning or less ambitious runners. 
 
The campfire ceremony after the race added a great extra social element for all new running Baturus! 

The new Baturus with the big jade ring! 

That's the jade ring

Campfire, roasted meat and beer at the finish of the Baturu Trail! 

The Cordillera Mountain Ultra, follow-up to the Marathon organised in previous years, did not miss its debut in Dalupirip, Itogon yesterday. The first Filipino points race in the 2016 Asia Trail Master series saw a very close battle for victory in the men's 50k race, and drama in the women's. On the top step of the podium stood Marcelino Sano-Oy and Gretchen Felipe as the day's champions. Runners and spectators spoke of a truly well-organised event with a fantastic running course, which made the journey to the remote area very much worthwhile. "CMU was publicity for the sport of trail running," one happy finisher said afterwards. 

Marcelino Sano-Oy

Gretchen Felipe

The race started at 4 a.m. just before dawn, and runners only had a few kilometers to warm-up as the ascent of Mount Ugo began quickly. Marcelino Sano-Oy, a 26-year-old local runner, had already taken the lead, but was closely followed by the experienced Alison Telias. Sano-Oy is a previous winner of the Cordillera Mountain Marathon and knew the terrain very well. Yet, Telias kept chasing him and was at times less than a minute behind. In the descent of Mt Ugo the pressure seemed to be getting to Sano-Oy, as he had to stop and stretch to stop the cramps he started to suffer from. Telias caught up and passed him, but eventually Sano-Oy fought back in the late stages of the race and reclaimed first spot! At the finish, Sano-Oy took the victory with a 3-minute gap over Al Telias in 6:06:36. In a join third place were teammates Aldean Philip Lim and Eric Gueb in 7:05:19. One of the pre-race favourites, Thumbie Remigio, injured himself during the vertical kilometre race on Saturday, and opted to run the 21km instead. The shorter race was won by Roland Wang. 

The women's 50k race had a rather unexpected outcome as big favourite Majo Liao sprained her ankle in the early part of the race. Liao could not react to her challengers as for most of the rest of the race she could only walk and not run. Showing a high degree of mental strength, Liao nevertheless continued and finished ... even on the podium! These could be important points for her in the ATMs ranking later this year.  The race was won by Gretchen Felipe in 7:25:58, which is a strong result as well for the experienced runner. Next to Felipe on the podium in second place was Penny Nepomuceno (7:53:59). 

As part of the podium prize package, both Marcelino Sano-Oy and Gretchen Felipe have received free race entries for the Magnificent Merapoh Trail in Malaysia. 

Koi Grey