Good news coming from Malaysia in the past few days. Covid-related restrictions are being eased in a number of sectors and places, and the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival, aka MMTF, has received an official go-ahead signal for the event to take place on its original date of 17 to 19 December. The event team in Taiping has obtained the respective support and approvals from all parties concerned, most notably from Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia (KBS).

Following the big success of the 2019 edition, MMTF was once again chosen to be the Asia Trail Master Championship Final for the 2020/21 season. Unfortunately, the global corona pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works and, as announced in September, the Championship was declared suspended after none of the points races had been able to take place in the course of this year. This coming December, MMTF is also still likely to be run by Malaysia residents-only.

Still, it’s great news that - along with Batur Trail Challenge in Indonesia and Ultra Trail Panoramic in Thailand - we seem set to conclude this most difficult of years for the mass participation industry with a number of ‘real’ races.

To add extra flavour, it has been agreed that the 84 km longest race on the MMTF programme will be presented as the Malaysia Trail Master Championship. A winner-takes-all race, for the first time in the history of ATM, to stimulate the Malaysian elites after two years of quasi inactivity. Both male and female race winners will claim the title of ‘2021 Malaysia Trail Master’ and earn the right to free registration to any ATM points race in next year’s 2022 Championship series. The entire top 3 on the podium will receive prizes.

All runners on the ATM Grandmaster Quest will of course also collect a point for finishing the 84 km race. As previously announced, points scored in 2019 and 2020 remain valid due to the special circumstances. However, it is necessary to register your Grandmaster ambitions via our simple online form, if you have not already done so.

Expect more news coming towards you regarding MMTF in the next days. All registrants for the event must be aware of the strict application of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that the event team will be pushing forward and apply from this day, which is in support and in line with National Security Council (MKN) and Ministry of Health Malaysia (KKM) guidelines and initiatives. The covid pandemic is not over, and we can all assist in convincing our decision-makers that events can happen again in a safe manner.

MMTF is ON! 84 km for Malaysia Trail Master title