Dalat Ultra Trail goes 100K in 2020

For many non-Vietnamese runners, this year’s Dalat Ultra Trail was an eye-opening experience. A participant field of close to 4500 runners, a meticulously executed event, limousine service for the elite runners to the starting line and great enthusiasm of the local community. No surprise that Dalat Ultra Trail remains the Vietnam SuperTrail in the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship on 13-15 March. However, there is an important novelty next season: the main race will now be 100km!

The runable yet hilly pine forest trail will therefore become a notch tougher to conquer as the elevation gain reads 4600 hm for 100km. In fact, the longest and highest climb will only occur after km 77 and goes up to 2105m above sea level (the start and finish is at 1500m). Elite runners aiming for the ATM Championship points need to focus on this 100k distance, even though the classic 70km distance will remain as the B-race. Runners on the Grandmaster Quest of course will score a point on both distances.

Dalat is a hillside resort city with cool air throughout the year. It has therefore always been an escape from the heat and humidity of nearby Ho Chi Minh City. The latter economic capital of Vietnam is also the main international gateway to the event. That is if you want to take a bus and travel overland from there to Dalat. It’s also possible to take a bus from seaside city Nha Trang. If you want to be quick and convenient, you can fly into anywhere in Vietnam and take a domestic flight to Dalat.

Dalat being a tourist city, there’s plenty of accommodation available for all budgets. Of course, with 4500 runners flocking to the city do not wait until the last week to book your room or guesthouse.

Registrations have been going very fast indeed, so do not hesitate to book your bib. Please go to the registration site for the Vietnam SuperTrail.

A nice gift for all participants on the 2 Grandmaster and Championship distances

Tahira Najmunisaa scored a second place behind Kim Matthews in her last ATM appearance to date

John Ellis overtook Hisashi Kitamura with 3K to go and grabbed his first win of the season in Dalat

Also the Standers had a great run around the sourthern Vietnamese city

A historic image? The women’s podium saw 2017 ATM champion Kim Matthews ahead of 2016 ATM champion Tahira Najmunisaa. Both have been out of action since for various reasons, and on position 3 we had Christine Loh, the current leader in the 2019 ATM Championship points ranking.