On Saturday night, the first Thai points race of the 2023 ATM Championship season will take place in Chiang Mai City. Trail of Man is a 55km race catering for medium distance specialists who don’t mind running at nighttime. Most of the course will be on the trails used in last year’s world championship event. With start and finish very near to the city centre of Chiang Mai, it makes for a great weekend trip to northern Thailand.

With the sudden forced cancellation of UTKC in January, it’s indeed taken nearly six months before Thai runners get a chance to open their ATM 2023 points accounts. Luckily, after Trail of Man there’s also still Akha Trail early August and the classic Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in October. Nevertheless, several Thailanders are already on the points board. For example, Jay Jantaraboon won Korea 50k, and Narin Kongsiri won the V Trail 55km in Laos. Kongsiri fearures on this weekend’s start list, too, and ranks among the several podium candidates. So does his countryman Amorn Kimnguan. But there’s quite a number of international runners who will be challenging them. Ho Chi Minh City-based Frenchman Gaetan Morizur is on the start list. Having won several races in Vietnam since covid, Morizur took a break from trail running after VJM last season as he became a father. Let’s see if he is already back in shape to fight for a victory in Chiang Mai. Hong Kong-based Jose Luis Alvelais will be starting his 4th ATM race of the season and a win would put him on top of the men’s overall ranking. In any case, Alvelais is making it clear he wants to be part of Team Hong Kong at the end of the year in the ATM Final in Indonesia. Firmeza Washington and Chris Devoize are also contenders, having already scored a top placing in earlier ATM races this season. From Vietnam, the young Tran Van Nghia is one to watch out for.

In the women’s race, KL-based Filipino Roan Biguasen, already twice on the podium this year, is also competing for the fourth time and could reclaim the overall ATM points lead at the expense of her compatriot Irish Glorioso.

Trail of Man sees the return of Gaetan Morizur