The fifth edition of the Manjushree Trail Race in Kathmandu, Nepal, shows an extensive and highly international start list for the various distance categories this coming weekend. It is the second year the event is part of the Asia Trail Master Championship and Grandmaster Quest calendar and following last year’s great runners’ feedback, ‘MTR’ is now a proper highlight of the Nepalese trail scene. Runners will hit the Kathmandu Valley Rim for a challenging race at altitude and with considerable elevation gain. Nearly all Nepalese trail stars will take part in either the 100 miles, 100km or 50km, of which the 100 Miles and the 50km are the two distances that offer points for the ATM Championship Ranking, which determines the qualifiers for the ATM Championship Final in Vietnam on 4 October. Given it’s still not so straightfoward for Nepalese runners to travel abroad, MTR and Jumla Rara Ultra in May are their two great opportunities to score as many points as possible.

While the 100 Milers already start their competition on Friday, a lot of attention will go to Saturday’s 50km race featuring reigning ATM women’s champion Priya Rai. After winning the title in impressive style at Borneo TMBT Ultra in September, it will be her first appearance on the ATM circuit since. Priya won the MTR 50 last year already, ahead of then-champion Rashila Tamang and Chhoki Sherpa, in what was - with hindsight - a first milestone in her development as a competitive trail runner in Asia and future ATM Champion. Now part of the T8 Team, Priya aims to qualify again for the Championship and defend her title in October. For this, she only needs to finish two ATM races this season, just like Rashila Tamang. Contrary to last year, there won’t be a dual between the two on Saturday, as Rashila has opted to run the 100km race. Nevertheless, several Nepalese and other runners will be trying to make a statement. Jumla’s Rajya Laxmi Rawal, for example. At 20 Rajya is even younger than Priya, and one of the next upcoming talents. In her home race Jumla Rara last year, she raised eyebrows by forcing Priya to dig very deep and scoring a superb second place in her debut. This season, Rajya has already scored her first ATM victory and she even did it abroad: she won the Malnad Ultra in Karnatika, India, last November - finishing third overall and proving she is not only skilled on mountain trails, but also fast on runable trails. Chhoki Sherpa is also in the 50k once again, and so is another very young talent, Mimu Budha.

The men’s 50km has Man Kumar on the start list. This exciting hopeful won the 100k last year, and is also working on his development as a competitive international runner. Very keen to get into Team Nepal at the ATM Championship Final, Man Kumar is likely the man to beat on Saturday. However, there’s also Lokendra Rai, who showed great speed at Borneo TMBT last September, before fading in the last 30km towards the finish. 50k could be more his thing , also he is still very young for a trail runner. Observers are also curious for the performance of Philippines’ John Mahinay in his ATM points race debut. Mahinay, from Davao, eyes the podium on Saturday and hopes for a breakthrough-performance on foreign soil.

The 100 Miles starts on Friday morning already and of course does the entire Valley Rim. Last year’s winners are back in action: Arjun Rai Kulung in the men’s and Nirmala Rai in the womens’s. They are the race favourites once again, but victory is anything but a done deal. Shashwat Rao leads an interesting contingent from India, and from Japan we have the experienced Yuta Matsuyama, a triple race winner in ATM and double ATM Finalist for Team Japan over the past few years. Nirmala Rai will probably meet up with Anita Rai again, like last year. A lot can happen in a 100 Miles race in the high mountains, and so the many ATM Grandmasters from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Philippines on the start list may also have a chance for a podium spot.

ATM will be reporting live from Kathmandu as of Thursday, with pre-race photography by Adventure III, and video from the start and the races as of Friday morning local time.

Manjushree Trail Race featuring Priya Rai more international than ever!