MTKU: Godwin Mirar scores 1st ATM win while Angelie Cabalo confirms her status

After a DNF in Lam Dong Trail and a 5th place in Vietnam Trail Marathon, Filipino youngster Godwin Mirar has finally gotten his 2025 ATM Championship season really on track. Mirar won the tough Mount Kalatungan Ultra Trail 55km in his native Bukidnon region against an established field and with margin. He led the race nearly from start to finish, despite suffering also from blisters and a fall in the descent of Kalatungan, at 2880m one of the highest mountain peaks in the Philippines.

Almost 30 minutes later, Roberto Cain III finished second to kickstart his 2025 ATM campaign. Perhaps for Cain the 55km distance is a bit on the short side as he has recently been excelling in longer ultras. Kik Suello took third place, just one week after also finishing third in BUTM 100 in Malaysia! That’s a great start of his campaign to once again try to be part of Team Pilipinas in the ATM Final in October. Suello was 7th at TMBT last September - his best result to date. At Kalatungan, he was marginally ahead of Jevie Cagatin - winner last year of MTKU 85 and also an ATM Finalist in 2024.. Newcomer Johnkisler Lamigo came in an excellent fifth!

In the women’s 55km race, Angelie Cabalo confirmed her pre-race favourite status by taking a convincing win without too much pressure from the others, which was impressive when seeing the names of those. The number 3 of the 2023 ATM Championship Final missed out on last year's team qualification, but she launched her 2025 campaign in the best possible way, collecting 500 ATM points for her victory. It's Angelie's 4th career win in ATM.

A good hour behind her, Julie Mae Marquez scored her best performance in an ATM-promoted race with a superb second place. Last year’s race winner Julieann Morales took third on the podium this season. Shally Yuson settled for fourth place and in fifth, we had a nice performance by Belinda Ortiz.

MKTU also had a longer 85km distance, which this year was only relevant for the Grandmaster Quest. This category was won by 2022 ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras, who only needs to finish two ATM races to collect a wild card for this year’s Final. The women’s 85km saw a very popular win by local Kimberly Flores.

The next Filipino points race is scheduled for 5 April, one of the young ‘classics’ in the country, the Sierra Madre Trail Ultra in the Rizal mountains near Manila.

Roberto Cain III : second best male behind Mirar

Eye-catching performance by Julie Mae Marquez: second in the women’s 55k behind Cabalo

After 3rd in BUTM last week, Kik Suello scored another 3rd at MKTU

2022 ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras ran the 85km (Grandmaster-point-only) and won it easily

Local hero Kimberly Flores was fastest woman on the 85km