This weekend’s Vietnam Jungle Marathon is the last of three ATM points races in the country that have succeeded each other quickly. And has the best one been saved for last? One could say so looking at the men’s start list in particular: Jeff Campbell and Hisashi KItamura, Hung Hai and Gaetan Morizur. That’s serious trail dynamite for the 70k race in Pu Luong and the type of competitive race that warrants a good bet. In the women’s race eyes will be focused on Vanja Cnops in the absence of Hau Ha, resting after a busy number of weeks.

The 2019 edition of VJM was one of the biggest classics in ATM racing history, culminating in a very entertaining battle between Kitamura and Veronika Vadovicova, whose star was rising very quickly that spring. Indeed, VJM used to be held in May, but the annual scorchingly hot temperatures have convinced the organisers to move things to mid-October since then. It was the Karate Kit’s first ATM race victory, and for sure he will need to dig deep this Saturday to repeat that feat. Especially as he has not been looking very fresh in his last ATM appearances. Jeff Campbell on the other hand was his usual dominant self at the Ferei Dark 45 two weeks ago. The interesting thing is that Campbell will be leaving his comfort zone at VJM: 70 km is not a race distance he entertains very often. Similar to Vanja Cnops in the women’s, Campbell prefers the shorter distances and run them at very high speeds. Gaetan Morizur has been the man-to-beat in Vietnam’s trail races this season, and is a runner who is very familiar with VJM. Morizur beating Kitamura and Campbell would perhaps be kind of surprising, and yet it cannot be excluded at all - especially if the others go head-to-head from the start, a dangerous tactic that was applied by Hung Hai in that 2019 race. Hung Hai ran away from everyone early on, but got reeled in over halfway and finished half an hour behind Kitamura. Hung Hai is in great shape, he came second behind Quang Tran in VMM 100 miles last month, and beating the others this weekend would raise his international trail profile quite a bit.

Normally speaking, in-form Vanja Cnops will be tough to beat in the women’s 70k race. For the Singapore based Belgian, this race is also a bit of an advanced training for the 75k race on Mount Apo in December, the ATM Championship Final. Vietnam’s Julia Nguyen Duong Thi and Thi Lan Huong Vu are also podium contenders.

VJM: Fire in the hole