News round-up: Samui Monkey's Trail now in September

Not a lot of news over the past two weeks on the ATM circuit, as everyone keeps waiting for possibilities to make more formal and decisive plans. The good news, however, is that the registrations for the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival and the Vietnam Mountain Marathon have been going well, indicating again how hungry many runners are for real events. Ewegene Tan, event organiser of MMTF, even mentions a lot of international sign-ups, not in the least from the Philippines. MMTF is the last event on the ATM calendar this year on 18 December, making it the “ATM Final” once again after 2019.

How that Championship Final will be designed is a matter that is increasingly being discussed these weeks, as it appears unlikely the majority of Asian runners will be able to put in four of five results during the 2021 season. We will be updating you all on this in the coming weeks.

Registration for MMTF goes via the official event website.

In Vietnam, runners have had the most opportunities to keep up their racing spirit and so far it looks like that may remain the case in 2021. Both the Vietnam Mountain Marathon (end of August) and Vietnam Jungle Marathon (mid-October) are open for registration. These are popular events, so you may wish to sign up already and keep your participation chances alive. Go to the official website.

In Thailand, things have become more complicated in recent months but are expected to normalise again in May. Nevertheless, following meetings with local authorities on Koh Samui, organiser teelakow has decided to postpone Samui Monkey’s Trail from May to September at a weekend to be decided later. At the same time, it has been announced that the trail route will be completely redesigned for this year’s edition. For more info on Samui Monkey’s Trail, please consider the event’s facebook page.

Over in Japan, the Echigo Country Trail in Nagaoka, Niigata, remains one of the earliest events on the schedule for this year on 20 June. Registrations for the 60km points race are open via the official website.