The 3rd Chinese race in the 2015 Asia Trail Master series takes place in the Southwestern tourism hot spot Dali and initiates the final quartet of events for this year. Located at one of Yunnan Province's large and precious lakes, Dali's race mainly focuses on the high mountains to the west. The 3rd edition of the event also benefits from a redesigned course this weekend.

Although hardly an old event, Dali 100 Ultra Endurance counts amongst the 'veteran' races in mainland China already, although 'pioneering' is arguably a better term. Organised by UTMB finisher Yu Lei and his team, who also organise the Dalian 100 in April, the race was sold out quickly in China itself. The trail already begins at altitude, close to 2000m above sea level, but runners will go much higher: up to 4000m. It is one the elements participants will need to consider carefully during the race, which has a more modest profile after the initial big climb.

In the battle for the championship, we could see some interesting changes at the top of the standings this weekend, if particularly China's top-ranked runners do well in the race.

Current 2015 Asia Trail Master ranking

Men:
1. Arief Wismoyono (Indonesia) 952
2. Xie Zhangrong (China) 862
3. Pramonosidi Wijanarko (Indonesia) 817
4. Patrick Singa (Guyana) 745
5. Ullas Narayana (India) 732
6. Phairat Varasin (Thailand) 710
7. Yan Longfei (China) 709
8. Leonard Stanmore (Canada) 646
9. Kenneth Krys (Cayman Islands) 608
10. Chung Pak Hang (Hong Kong) 575
==. Lau Hoi Fai (Hong Kong)
==. Wong Tze Wan (Hong Kong)
==. Alex Fan (Hong Kong)

Women:
1. Mila Marlina (Indonesia) 942
2. Tan Seow Ping (Malaysia) 900
3. Ina Budiyarni (Indonesia) 678
4. Yuen Kit Shan (Hong Kong) 575
5. Veronique Messina (France) 575
=. Marcia Zhou (USA) 575
7. Kathy Yu Hiu Kit (Hong Kong) 525
8. Clementine Tanguide (France) 525
=. Isabelle Dufour (France) 525
10. Ma Yanxing (China) 505

Shanghai-based Noureddine Sahibi is among the participants in Dali. Currently 18th in the Asia Trail Master ranking, he can move into the top 10 this weekend. He will also collect his 2nd Grandmaster Quest point if he indeed finishes the 100km.

Preview: Dali 100 initiates final quartet of races