Sabahan trail stars Wilsen Singgin and Adelinah Lintanga both claimed their third ever ATM race victories at Simpur 50 in and around Brunei’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan last Sunday early morning. In what was essentially a night race, both used their technical skills, race experience and great form this season to score comfortable wins over local Bruneian Alexander Chung and fellow Sabahan ‘Butet’ Lynda Marylyn. Simpur 50 was the return of Brunei on the ATM Championship calendar after six years. As anticipated, the race course was tough and technical, typical of Brunei - the relatively small country between the Malaysian States of Sarawak and Sabah on Borneo Island.

A wonderful start and finish setting in Bandar Seri Begawan saw about 100 participants for the 50k category take the start at 9 pm on Saturday night. Absent from the scene was Milton Amat, who decided last-minute not to travel to Brunei. This left the way open for Wilsen Singgin to try and take top honours for the third time in his running career, and the first time since Penang Eco 100 Miles last year. Singgin is anyway in great shape this season and he set the pace from the beginning. Alexander Chung, winner of the Simpur race last year when it was an ATM Candidate, was following him in second place. Chung is one of the more experienced and competitive trail runners, who operated a bit in the shadow of Sefli Ahar in 2016-2018. But last weekend he ran fully in the limelight, even trying his best to catch Wilsen Singgin again at some point during the race. His efforts made sure that nobody would come back from behind in the second part of the race. Malaysia’s Mohd Sulhan was by himself in third place , and behind him was another considerable gap towards Brunei’s Jonaidi Omar and Australia’s Toby Dharan Gibson. Those two would change position still towards the end.

If the top 3 positions in the men’s race were kind of cast in stone from the beginning, that was not the case in the women’s race. Surprisingly, it was Grandmaster Yvette Chong Mi Chin from Miri in Sarawak who appeared in the lead at the first checkpoint and beyond. Yvette is an ultra distance enthusiast, but was clearly in her element in Brunei and showed a running pace that few probably had expected. Adelinah Lintanga followed from a distance, with her sister Jess Lintanga in third initally. Jess, not feeling well, would eventually DNF, which may jeopardise her chances of qualifying for Team Malaysia in the ATM Championship Final. Adelinah, on the other hand, is already certain of that and she may even rank among the favourites for a top placing at Borneo TMBT Ultra. The entire season she has looked rejuvenated and after three podium placings she reached out for the win in Simpur. She caught and passed Yvette Chong and would eventually put and hour and fifteen minutes between herself and second place. That position eventually went to the young Sabahan Lynda Marylyn, who passed Yvette Chong towards the end. Chong suffered from bad stomach cramps in the final section, but managed to hold onto third place on the podium - her first ever. For Adelinah Lintanga it was her third ATM win, her first since Penang Eco 100 Miles in 2019 - five years ago. Previously she won the 100km at the same Penang Eco event all the way back in 2016. “Narna” has been around for so long , one tends to forget how difficult it can be to actually win a real race.

Brunei’s Norazimah Mohd Zin and Pg Mas Norazlin Pg Momin completed the top five, while Singapore’s Sophia Yee took sixth. Only 45 runners reached the finish line in Simpur 50.

Simpur 50: Wilsen Singgin and Adelinah Lintanga take 3rd ATM race wins