Dark 45: Onifa storms to 5th ATM victory of the season

John Ray Onifa is unstoppable in the second half of this season! The Filipino stormed to his fifth ATM race victory of 2023 in Hong Kong’s Dark 45 in a time of 4h41! This follows a hard-fought 50k win over Kristian Joergensen in VMM just a week ago. Second place in Dark 45 - like last year - went to David Longo in 5h20, seven minutes faster than Wai Hung Wong. A performance that confirms the competitive step forward made by Longo last year, Australian but living in Hong Kong for a long time after a university spell in Central Java no less.

Ryan Whelan had to settle for fourth in 5h41, Jose Luis Alvelais was seventh. The latter is already guaranteed of a spot on Team Hong Kong for the ATM Championship Finals in Indonesia on 2 December. Interesting to note was that 2019 ATM Champion John Ellis returned from a long injury break with a 30th place finish - and finishing was the only goal.

The women’s 45 km race was won by Kit Chun Wong in a great 5h54. That was 25 minutes faster than Angie Yan. Hoi Yan Ng completed the female podium. Last week’s great VMM 100 winner Man Yee Cheung was fourth, not yet fully recovered from that tough Vietnamese race.

The second edition of Dark 45 was efficiently set up by The Peak Hunter, a young event management team, with great success. This is definitely an event-to-stay at the start of Hong Kong’s trail running season!

Photos are courtesy of Lam Sport Photos, Hong Kong

Kit Chun Wong was a great female winner , her first on the ATM circuit

Five ATM races in 2023: five wins. The top favourite for this year’s ATM title ? John Ray Onifa!

David Longo does not run a lot of races, but when he does, he is in the mix for podium these months!

Jose Luis Alvelais assured himself of a spot on Team Hong Kong for the ATM Championship Final