Bagtit Ultra in Philippines becomes points race in new season
On 10 February 2024, Bagtit Ultra will open the points accounts for many Filipino runners in the new season of the Asia Trail Master Championship series. Organised by The Pace Republic, the former Candidate Race replaces Santa Ines on our calendar and features 100km and 50km categories valid for championship points. The 100k of course also offers a Grandmaster point.
“Bagtit’ is the Ilocano translation of the word “crazy”. Ultra trail runners are often called ‘crazy’ , but what makes this event crazier is the difficult and technical trails of Mt. Damas and Mt. Sem-ilya. Mt. Damas is situated near the border of three Tarlac municipalities: Mayantoc to the southeast, Camiling to the north and San Clemente to the west. The usual trek starts at Barangay Papaac in Camiling known as the Papaac Eco Trails. One can experience a panoramic view of the Tarlac and Pangasinan plains and Mt. Arayat from afar. Mt. Damas may arguably have the distinction of being the most scenic mountain in Tarlac. On the other side, not far from Mt. Damas summit is Mt. Sem-ilya which was less explored. There are also trails from Sitio Dueg in San Clemente that would lead to Barangay Labney in Mayantoc, the jump off of the Mt. Tapulao Traverse route. These trails will be the highlight of this event. This year, the route will be extended to Anzap Twin Falls in Mayantoc and Sitio Tala in San Jose, making the longest category to 100km, instead of the 80km half a year ago.
Flag off is in Mayantoc and the 100km has a total elevation gain of nearly 5000hm. The 50k has about half of that. Mayantoc is located just under 2 hours drive from Clark international airport, itself a few hours north of Manila. Guidelines on how to get there are mentioned in detail on the website linked below.
In the Candidate Race last June, Julius Iglesias came out on top together with Arnulfo Aquino. Shekinah Velasquez was the strongest woman.
The event will help in promoting tourism and healthy lifestyle in the community. The Pace Republic is also active in the discovery of local talents in trail running and provide them with more racing opportunities and venues. Registration is open via the website linked below.
