ATM 500 - Day 5 Report: 14 finishers incl. Milton's family team

The fifth day of the inaugural ATM 500 Team Challenge saw another fourteen teams reach the virtual chequered flag. After five days of running, no fewer than 43 of the 250 teams have managed to complete their challenge. Just like two days ago, teams from Borneo Island somehow captured the attention on Friday. Of all finishing teams today, the Kalimantan-based Borneo Extreme Team set the fastest time of 59:01:42 and up northwest in the Malaysian State of Sabah, Milton Amat brought his family team home before the start of the weekend.

Milton actually could not run too much anymore the last two days as his tally had already reached 250 km, and remember each team member must fulfill a minimum requirement of 75 km. At the end of the day, this team ran not 500K but almost 550K in total, with Sabah’s trail running star taking 262 km for himself and Lukas Tingal another share of 126 km. Milton’s sister Egnes ran 76 km and Milton’s son Rheo did a fabulous 83K - in just under 9 hours, by the way.

Quite some more Indonesian teams completed their virtual journey today. Carla Fellani’s Child Warrior Indonesia team made it, as well as the Indonesian Spartans 1 and the Makecee Academy. Congratulations to all! Slightly under the radar because they began modestly in the beginning of the week, the ‘Miners & Friends’ team also finished. A team that consists of 3-star Grandmaster Lily Suryani - back from a period of inactivity and the opening of her own Warung Medali in Sanur, Bali - and Grandmaster Dendi Dwitiandi, the event organser of the forthcoming Bali Ultra Trail in November - a Candidate Race for the Asia Trail Master Championship series.Their team was completed by Faisal and Adi.

Squads from the Philippines have been doing great all week, and it was no surprise to see a few more teams coming in. The Team Kamote Runners features Grandmaster and Championship placer Cecile Wael, along with Emanuel Manongsong, RL Plaza and Rick Crescini. Circumstances made it difficult for them early in the week, but here they are now. The Boracay Dragonforce team, Team Ninja, Team Cholo Flight Multisports and Team Cordillera were more Filipino finishers.

A second Bruneian team successfully accepted the ATM 500 challenge. Team Last Minute Runners with Leo, Dayat, Pie and Yaza. Thumbs up!

The Flying Bird Team, Spirit 50 Team and Team Kepala Batu were three more great finishers before the first weekend. Among the many outstanding performances of the week, we noted a 50K in 4:23:44 by Tedjawirja Sunadinatha on Monday - member of Team Spirit 50.

We are sure that on the weekend many more teams will aim for the virtual finish line and we wish all of them ‘good luck!’

In the Speedster Ranking, the Sherpa’s Angels with Alessandro Sherpa, John Ellis, Chong Mei Sze and David Longo are still leading with an average speed of 11.39 km/h . It’s a gimmick, but have some teams planned a two-week-long strategy containing short but fast sections each day?