ATM 500 - Day 8: Vietnamese runners already claim the spotlight

The second week of the ATM 500 - Run Asia, Run Virtual team challenge started how it will also end next weekend: with the spotlights shining full on Vietnam. The Dalat Ultra Trail is coming up this Saturday, the first ATM Championship race in four months and the only one for the coming three months as well. Vietnamese runners are clearly getting excited and are finalising their preparation for the big event in the cool southern highlands of the country. No fewer than three Vietnamese teams completed their ATM 500 journey on Monday - most likely no coincidence. Grand Dory & 3 Turbo Team, Team Run n Beer and RnB Dream Team 10 were happy finishers and with a few days of rest are likely to hit the trails in Dalat full on! Congratulations to all those runners!

A second team from neighbouring Cambodia also reached the virtual finish line of ATM 500. Team Phnom Penh thus follows into the footsteps of Team Kim KoK, illustrating that Cambodia has entered the regional running community in great style!

In Thailand, the CS Thailand arrived home and Canadian Michael McLean guided his Smiling Assassins home from his current base in Phuket as well. McLean is the captain of an elite squad that focused on training rather than competing over the past week, though. Fredelyn Alberto - co-ATM championship leader at the moment - ran three marathons in a row with a more-than-solid pace, something that even last year was still her weak point as an elite trail runner. Kristian Joergensen prepared himself in Denmark for his ‘Everesting’ attempt to the benefit of Medecins-sans-frontieres this coming weekend, and Tahura Trail winner Jeff Campbell put in a 35K in a time of 2:24 on day 1… In case anyone was wondering if this quartet had turned out-of-shape ..

Team Pyxis from Philipines was the only team from their country to conclude on Monday. Big thumbs up to them!

In Indonesia, the Lombok team RIOT was an excellent finisher on Monday. Lombok, the fantastic-for-sports island to the east of Bali is facing a particularly difficult year as the tourism industry has collapsed, so we hope that the performance of this running team inspires the local community to stay strong. Another team from Indonesia, this time from the main Java island, Team Wong Edan reached the virtual finish line as well. This team consists of two female ATM Grandmasters: Ina Budiyarni and Sri Wahyuni, the latter also known for ranking third in the 2018 Asia Trail Master Championship. The two experienced ultra runners were joined for the occasion by David Wahyu and Gandha Kristyandi. Especially for Sri Wahyuni, the ATM 500 turned out to be a very welcome pleasant experience. On her personal instagram, the Surabaya-based runner reported to have miscarried not so long ago, with all the emotional devastation that comes with it. The virtual ATM 500 challenge was her comeback to running, also thanks to the encouragement of her three teammates in Team Wong Edan. Given this background, it is amazing that Sri Wahyuni ran 140K for her team in the past week!