ATM 500 - Day 4 Report: 11 teams finish & fastest time for Sherpa's Angels

Day 4 of the inaugural ATM 500 Virtual Team Challenge again witnessed the finish of no fewer than eleven teams, after only three yesterday. Some big names of the ATM scene were among those, including the Sherpa’s Angels Team, which includes reigning ATM champion John Ellis and his predecessor Alessandro Sherpa. Under pressure by the Tokyo Nomad Team from Japan in the ‘Speedster Ranking’ , the international team managed to put the hammer down one last time to run home in a total time of 43:54:52, or an average speed of 11.39 km/h. Note that this great performance was not solely achieved by the two champions. Both David Longo and Malaysia’s Chong Mei Sze proved to be in top shape as well! The latter covered 129 km for her team in a time of 12:44:08.

The Japanese team also managed to reach the virtual finish line in a total time of 44:59:11, slightly quicker than. the first of the two Hong Kong-based Uglow teams with Elsa Jean de Dieu as captain. The team only had 13km left to run after yesterday and they left that job to Bryan Crane.

The first of the Cambodian teams completed the challenge, too. Team Kim Kok has been one of the revelations this week evidence of the growth of the sport in the Southeast Asian country. In Indonesia, we saw the Team OD led by Taofik Hidayat from Bandung Explorer take the virtual chequered flag. Team Dalagan joined the six previously finished teams of the Philippines. Grandmasters Richard Akol and Tin Salazar, plus ultra specialist Rolando Espina and promising young talent Godwin Mirar - age 19 - had a good final day as well. Interesting that the youngster Godwin Mirar took the lion’s share of the team with 170 km in 16 hours 11 minutes.

Team MRKC IV, based in Malaysia, nicknamed itself “the Undertrained” , but if they can finish 500 km in only four days we would like to know what happens when they are properly trained. Great job by Eddie Wong, James Willis, Reiko Yamashita and Nicolas Terrien. An extra applause for 71-year-old James Willis, who contributed 138km for his team!

Over in Singapore we had a surprise as the Good Vibes Runners made it home despite not being on the top leaderboard yet yesterday. A great push on day 4 by Cassandra Ansari Hie, Ana Robillard, Kevin Legris and Trung Nguyen. The latter is a special case, too, as he is currently in a compulsory quarantine centre in Vietnam, where he ran the corridors up and down to reach his minimum required mileage!

Cirque de Sore Legs is a contender for “best team name” later on, but they made it clear they did not take the ATM 500 jokingly, as they completed their 500k journey as well. Well done Elliott, David, Kerensa and Steve.

Run Free is the team built around Kent Wei, with Elle Wong, Appu Kops and Adli on the roster as well. A great effort on Thursday meant they also reached the finish.

Last but not least, the all-girls team “Girls Run The World” in Hong Kong followed into the footsteps of Veronika’s Trail Girls on Fire and completed their challenge. Big kuddos to Stephanie Pezot, Fang Wei, Sherlyn Fugaban and Syazana Alia Sabrudin!

The first Hong Kong-based Uglow team also arrived in a fast time on day 4.

A wonderful introduction to Cambodia’s trail runners: team Kim Kok is already in the finish on day 4

Team MKRC IV claims to be ‘undertrained’ but covering 500k in 4 days seems otherwise :-)

Singapore’s Good Vibe Runners had a big day today and crossed the 500k mark as well

Trung Nguyen had to run his share in the corridors of his mandatory quarantine residence in Vietnam!

An excellent day 4 for Team OD in Indonesia: they made it!

A strong Filipino team with Grandmasters Richard Akol and Tin Salazar, plus ultra specialist Rolando Espina and young talent Godwin Mirar. Bingo on day 4!

The Tokyo-based Nomad Team was topping the Speedster list yesterday, but on the fourth day they had to relinquish that spot again to Sherpa’s Angels. But they arrived at the 500k mark and we saw some outstanding running by this team during the week!