The Vietnam Mountain Marathon in Sapa continues to grow and on the weekend of 24/25 September will again be a points scoring race in the Asia Trail Master series. In fact, the 4th edition of the event - organised by Topas Ecolodge - gets a new and longest race distance: 100 km! 

On trails beaten by buffaloes is the motto of the event, which saw many  hundreds of participants in 2015 and it is the biggest trail race in Vietnam. Whereas the 70km, 42km, 21km and 10km remain on the programme, the fervent ultra runners can thus now look forward to a loop of 100km and no fewer than 4200hm. This is a tough one, and the race organisers insist that this cannot be your first ultra race. 

As we can read on the official announcement:

The 100k Ultra  will cover all types of landscapes of the mountain range, river crossings and beautiful sceneries. You will start running into the darkness with your (strong!) headlamp just before midnight, and soon the adventure is on.

The Vietnam Mountain Marathon will give finishers on the 100k, 70k and 42k points for the 2016 Asia Trail Master ranking. The two longest races also qualify for 1 point in the Grandmaster Quest. 

The official registration has already been opened, and it is possible to book 3 or 4-day travel packages as well to make your Vietnam trip as convenient as possible. 

Please read key details on our cover page, while for race registration you can go to the official event website. 

The Cordillera Mountain Marathon has become the Cordillera Mountain Ultra and is now scheduled for the weekend of 4/5 June. The new date also comes with a new location and a new race course of 50 km, which now features Mount Ugo as the highlight. Registrations open on Valentine's Day, 14 February. 

In fact, the new race venue, Dalupirip, Itogon, is closer to the nearest main city Baguio and therefore easier to access with Clark as the closest airport.  It is still a mountain race as no fewer than 3000 metres of elevation gain need to be conquered during the 50km. Mount Ugo towers above 2000m of altitude, which should also be taken into account. 

The event is organised by the NGO Cordillera Conservation Trust , which seeks to provide relevant practical and sustainable solutions to environmental problems arising in the Cordillera region that seek to undermine the continued ecological services that the mountain region provides for its people. Working in partnership with the different local communities the Trust develops practical and appropriate solutions to the environmental problems now confronting the Cordillera Region.

You can find key details of the event via our cover page, or you can go the event website for all the small print. 

Ultra Trail Hong Kong opens the 2016 Asia Trail Master series on from 19 to 21 February. The event is also Hong Kong's SuperTrail, and offers three race distances this year: 100 miles, 100km and 50km. If you want to be part of it, sign up this week still as the official registration closes on Friday. 

In order to meet the new regulations by relevant authorities in Hong Kong, the race course has been modified significantly compared to last year. The 100 miles race, which in practice is 156km, starts at section 4 of the Maclehose Trail. The finish will be at the Duke of Edinburgh Training Camp, which will also function as start & finish of the 100km and 50km races. 

Please find more technical info on the race courses here.  The event website also has maps for download. 

A number of strong runners and protagonists in last year's Asia Trail Master series have already signed up for UTHK. Those who are aiming for the Grandmaster Quest, UTHK offers 1 point for both 156km and 100km finishers. 

To sign up , please go to http://registration.asiatrailmaster.com/

Kuai Sports Promotions and the Asia Trail Master series team are happy to announce the cooperation with another fantastic young trail race: the Cappadocia Ultra Trail in Turkey! The 3rd edition follows a successful first two editions and will be held in Urgup on the autumn weekend of 22/23 October 2016. 

Cappadocia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the central part of the large country known for its 'natural wonders' and a rich cultural heritage. Tourists tend to fly over the area in hot air balloons, trail runners will traverse the Cappadocia valleys and conquer the hills on foot for a truly amazing experience. On offer are three different courses and race distances with the longest one being 110km in length with an altitude gain of 3350hm. The medium course is 60km (1850hm) and the short is 30km (900hm). The second half of the 110km race has been modified a bit and will be even more spectacular. 

At Kuai Sports Promotions we are happy to offer interested runners assistance for their registration for the race and for optional multi-day tourist package extensions or just a balloon trip over the area. The travel packages are either Cappadocia-race-only, or a 1-week trip that includes visits to Istanbul and/or Ephesus. Please see details  in the PDF brochures below. If you wish to book one of these, please contact us for details. 

To register for the race only, please note that in order to gain access to our special conditions you need to enter a code in the online form that you can find on the event website. The registration code depends on the race distance you choose. Alternatively, just email us at info@asiatrailmaster.com and we do the race registration for you. 

izlesene.com/cappadociaultratrail | Videoya Git

In order to start 2016 on a fine note, we are happy to give away 1 free race entry for the Beach Bunch Trail Challenge event in Brunei on 28 February. The event is a new entry in our Asia Trail Master series, and excitement is high, given the domestic race slots were already sold out before new year. 

The Beach Bunch Trail Challenge features races over a marathon and half marathon distance. Our lucky draw for the free race entry is ONLY valid for the 42km marathon distance (no changes allowed afterwards neither), and does not include travel and accommodation. 

Our online competition runs for just 24 hours, and this on Thursday, 7 January, starting and ending at midnight Hong Kong time. Please note that this competition is targeted at international runners, i.e. coming from outside Brunei.

To have a chance to win the free ticket, you only need to provide the correct answer to the following question:

• What is the name of the beach where the Beach Bunch Trail Challenge starts and finishes? 

Participants can submit their answers via the form above, or via a message on the Asia Trail Master Facebook page. From among all the correct answers we will pick the winner by lucky draw on Friday, 8 January.  

GOOD LUCK! 

Best wishes to all of you for a happy, fun and healthy 2016!

The Asia Trail Master Team. 

The course of the 42km Beach Bunch Trail Marathon

PRESS RELEASE - Following a successful inaugural edition this year, the Asia Trail Master series return  in 2016 with an even larger and more diverse race calendar. Runners will be competing for points in over a dozen Asian countries with several people aiming to fulfill their Grandmaster Quest to finish six races of over 70km within two calendar years. The 2016 series will begin in Hong Kong on 19 February with UTHK, as the just released provisional calendar for the first semester of next year shows. 

UTHK, or Ultra Trail Hong Kong, will be the first of five so-called Super Trails, selected races of proven quality, wherein finishers will score 50 bonus points for the Asia Trail Master championship ranking. The Super Trails are one of a few innovations that will be introduced in 2016, along with a points allocation system that has been more harmonised across the various events, an abroad bonus for runners travelling to a third race outside their resident country, and an Asia Trail Master race registration portal available to all organisers and runners developed, by Hong Kong's Race Timing Solutions. 

Nearly all events of this year's first semester will return in 2016,  plus exciting new additions in Brunei, Philippines, Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia. China's Tsaigu Tangsi Plus, Kazakhstan's Tengri Ultra Trail and the two stage races by GlobalLimits in Sri Lanka (The Wild Elephant Trail) and Bhutan (The Last Secret) all retain their calendar spots following very positive feedback from this year's participants. Whereas the profile of most races is hilly and mountainous, next year's calendar will also feature a number of faster and technically less demanding races. These will be no less beautiful or exciting and will give road runners wanting a taste of trail running a fitting introduction.  In the coming weeks more events will be added to the calendar, and each event will be profiled in detail on a redesigned Asia Trail Master website. 

While faster athletes can aim for prizes and a high ranking at the end of the year, every single runner with enough perseverance can become an Asia Trail Grandmaster. It is expected that several people will reach the milestone of six +70km races in 2016 and obtain the honourary title, which will give access to the forthcoming Asia Trail Master Hall of Fame. 

Thanks to its overall growth, members of the 2016 Asia Trail Master series and race participants will benefit from extended media coverage via a wide range of media partners, as well as from several new commercial sponsorships to be announced in due course. 

Staying true to its core objectives, the Asia Trail Master team will continue to foster the development of a genuine pan-Asian trail running community and boost environmental conservation efforts across the continent. Reducing pollution and preserving natural habitats is likely to become a key trend in Asia in 2016. Emphasis will also be placed on improving general safety standards at trail running events.  

This year's inaugural Asia Trail Master series is heating up towards its conclusion with six races still to go. The current men's ranking is still headed by China's Xie Zhangrong, but he will have to fend off challenges by a.o. Indonesia's Arief Wismoyono and India's Ullas Narayana. In the women's competition, Malaysia's Tan Seow Ping is in pole position to claim the title. The next two points-scoring races take place upcoming weekend in Nepal (Annapurna 100) and Indonesia (Mesastila Challenge). 

2016 Provisional 1st semester calendar

19-20/02 - Hong Kong - UTHK
28/02 -  Brunei - Beach Bunch's Trail Challenge
04-12/03 - Sri Lanka - GlobalLimits: The Wild Elephant Trail
19/03 - Philippines - Cordillera Mountain Marathon
09/04 - China - Tsaigu Tangsi Plus
24/04 - South Korea - Korea 50k
08/05 - Kazakhstan - Tengri Ultra Trail
14/05 - Malaysia - Malaysia Eco 100
22/05 - Indonesia - Ijen Trail Running
27/05-04/06 - Bhutan - GlobalLimits: The Last Secret

Annex:

2016 Guidebook for event organisers (including details on the 2016 points system)

We are delighted to announce our latest official media partnership with RunSociety, the first online magazine for runners in Singapore governed by editorial guidelines and the fundamentals of journalistic integrity. As of October, RunSociety will publish previews and reviews of all Asia Trail Master races on the calendar and throw in a couple of extra stories and reports as well throughout 2016.  Obviously, this is good news for all event organisers under the Asia Trail Master umbrella. 

RunSociety has a particular focus on the Singaporean, Malaysian and Australian running communities and will at times also offer special travel and/or registration deals for some of the events on the ATMs calendar. 

As stated on its website: "The online platform was founded with the purpose of uniting the cumulative interests of runners from all walks of life under a common umbrella; keeping them abreast of the latest developments. It’s a place where both professional and aspiring runners can feel at ease, knowing they are receiving information that has been rigorously vetted by a team of experienced writers". Objectivity, reliability and community are the three main pillars of RunSociety following the motto 'Records are broken by bonds'. 

A few links to recent international press articles on trail running and Asia Trail Master races.

Action Asia Online (03/09/2015)
Colourcoil Borneo 100 TMBT Marathon

New York Times (31/08/2015)
Running in the Wild
 

iMoney Hong Kong (August 2015)
Trail running in Asia (focus on Tengri Ultra Trail) - (Chinese) 

Our media partner Action Asia has just released its September/October issue, including coverage of the latest Asia Trail Master races in Indonesia and Mongolia. Available throughout Southeast Asia, for further inquiries please contact Fion Chan in Hong Kong. 

We are continuing to post a selection of quality images of the past four Asia Trail Master series races in China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan on our dedicated channels like Pinterest, Instagram and facebook. Shots were taken by professional photographers within the Kuai Sports Promotions media network. 

Images are credited particularly to Studio Zag, Hong Kong (Dalian 100, Gede Pangrango Marathon), and Red Plus Studio, Shanghai (Tsaigu Tangsi Plus)

Asia Trail Master Pinterest board

Dalian 100 Endurance Trail (facebook)

Tsaigu Tangsi Plus (facebook)

Gede Pangrango Marathon (facebook)

Tengri Ultra Trail (coming soon)

We are happy to announce our latest partner of the 2015 Asia Trail Master series: Simple Hydration provides trail runners and runners in general some very practical drinking solutions in the form of nicely designed and very practical bottles. 

Designed for runners and anyone on the go is the slogan of Simple Hydration. And indeed, the bottles slide smoothly into your wasteband, pocket or race belt. And in fact, they fit perfectly into your hands as well. As they are so light, you hardly notice the bottle when you run. 

On the Simple Hydration website the benefits of the bottle are nicely explained in the homepage image. 

The Simple Hydration Water Bottle is a crowd-funded product. Initial funding came from other runners and individuals through Kickstarter, a platform that connects inventors with people who believe in their idea. Now it is there and also available in Asia. Runners can order one bottle here, or better, a set of 2 bottles at USD 20,- (HKD 155) per bottle. A set goes out at USD 38,-. (HKD 295). 

We will soon have the bottles available on the upcoming Asia Trail Master website's online shop. In the mean time, you can just order them by email at  kris@kuaisports.com or info@asiatrailmaster.com . They will be shipped as of 4 May. 

The Simple Hydration bottles will also be available for purchase at selected events on the Asia Trail Master series' circuit in 2015. 

Check the Simple Hydration flyer .

Read the press release on the Simple Hydration website 

The Asia Trail Master series (ATMs) organisational committee is delighted to welcome on the calendar a brand new and challenging event in our home base Hong Kong. Ultra Trail Hong Kong will be held from 27 February to 1 March in the Northern Territories, and will offer two long distance courses of 170km (9500 Hm) and 92km (5100 Hm). It will be the first event of the inaugural Asia Trail Master series and destined to be a worthy one!

Ultra Trail Hong Kong wishes to connect with flagship long distance trail running events such as UTMB (France) and UTMF (Japan) and as such differentiate itself from other established races in Hong Kong. Organiser Augustine Wong has a long-term strategy for Ultra Trail Hong Kong and is looking forward to the collaboration with Asia Trail Master and turn the new event into a highlight on many a runner's calendar. The start will be given in the North West New Territories on Friday the 27th of February and finish at Sai Kung.

For the first edition, registrations are not unlimited so it is recommended to sign up early. You can do so easily online via the RTS-based online form.

Every finisher will score points for the 2015 Asia Trail Master ranking according to the standard points regulations:

• 170km finishers: 170 kilometre points + performance points for long distance
• 92km finishers: 92 kilometre points + performance points for middle distance

Check the key event details and/or go to the official event website