VTM: Godwin Mirar challenging the established guard

Just like a year ago, Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau opens the new year in the Asia Trail Master Championship series. An incredibly scenic 70km points race, some four hours away from capital city Hanoi, organised by the famous team at Topas. This year, the men’s race will see some of the most accomplished Vietnamese trail runners up against Filipino coming man Godwin Mirar and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Frenchman Gaetan Morizur.

It will be Mirar’s second Vietnam appearance in just two months. However, at November’s Lam Dong Trail in Dalat he was together with Kristian Joergensen when a marshal pointed them into the wrong direction. An unfortunate DNF, and Mirar is keen to set the record straight this Saturday. After all, he has done very well in Vietnam before despite his young age of still just 24. In 2023, he was third behind Onifa and Joergensen in VMM 50km. Trying to win and score a solid result is the objective for the Filipino from Bukidnon now. He is up against some of the most competitive local runners, such as Nguyen Si Hieu - sixth in last season’s ATM Championship Final - , Nguyen Tien Vo, Nguyen Duc Tuan Anh and last but not least Nhon Trong. A few years ago, the latter would arguably be the top favourite on this distance and this type of course - overall quite runable. But Nhon Trong has shifted his main focus on the 100 miles and long ultras in recent memory. Let’s see how much speed and explosivity he still carries on the 70k. Calling Gaetan Morizur a ‘dark horse’ would be weird, but the Frenchman is kind of on the comeback trail as a podium and victory challenger after taking a break as a fresh father. If Morizur is on cue again, then all the others better watch out. He did win races like Dalat just a couple of years ago. Let’s also see what Trung Nguyen can do this weekend. Technically Singaporean but now again living in Hanoi, Trung is also one of those who on any given day challenge for a podium finish.

The women’s 70km also has no 100% clear favourite, and many contenders for a win. Giang Thi Linh is being mentioned quite a bit, and there’s also Vy Le Phuong , Tran Thu Trang and Nguyen Thi Nguyet. In any case, there’s a good chance we will celebrate a new race winner in our ATM series’ history. There’s no Hau Ha or Loi Luong this weekend.

The 2025 edition of VTM has a very big start field for the 70km , with well over 300 participants on the longest distance category. This includes many international runners, so we never really know if someone amongst them can cause the upset. What we do know is that it will be a rather chilly edition, with temperatures forecast not to rise much above 10 degrees. That’s always interesting in a South-East Asian country, where “winters” by default are short. The course is actually a bit short of 70km, and has an estimated elevation gain just shy of 3000 hm. Most of that comes in the first part.

ATM will be reporting live from VTM in Moc Chau from start to finish on our usual channels facebook, youtube and instagram. The 70km race starts at 5am.