The 2nd edition of Vietnam Ultra Marathon, the newest event by the Topas Team, takes place in Mai Chau this Saturday and appears set to be one of the highlights of the season. Both the men’s and women’s 75km long main race category are filled with some of Asia’s finest trail running talent, including a number of former ATM Champions. Three weeks after winning the 9 Dragons 50km race, 2023 Champion John Ray Onifa is going for his wild card for this year’s Championship Final, but for a new victory he will also need to get passed Kristian Joergensen, Lodewijk Vriens and Nguyen Si Hieu - to name a few. In the women’s, we can look forward to a rather unique dual between 2022 ATM Champion Hau Ha and 2019 ATM Champion Veronika Leng (previously Vadovicova), who is making her first appearance on the ATM circuit since then.

VUM on paper seems to be the easiest of the four events that Topas is putting on each year. The weather can of course throw a spanner in the works. Looking at the 75km course profile, by far most of the 3300 hm is concentrated in the first part of the race, basically the opposite of last week’s V Trail in Laos. As always, this implies participants need to leave something in the tank for the more runable second part. The start and finish is in a place called Ban Lac. Flag off for the 75km is scheduled for 3 am, which implies a few hours of nighttime running.

Since the start of the year, there’s been quite a bit of hubbub around Vietnam’s leading trail star Hau Ha. First, there was a slightly disappointing result in Hong Kong, comprehensively outpaced by Sunmaya Budha and Veronika Leng, and then came the sudden announcement of a change in main sponsorship and two weeks later even a change in her coaching support. After four successful years with Mude Sports, Hau Ha has embarked on a new adventure and VUM will be her first appearance in new colours and with new support crew. How much all of that will be on her mind at the starting line this Saturday remains to be seen, but in any case Hau Ha will need to be focused on the race at hand if she wants to be victorious. Veronika Leng has clearly returned to peak form after the covid years and after giving birth. She’s even not new to Vietnam. In 2019, Veronika scored a fantastic win in Vietnam Jungle Marathon and nearly beat Hisashi Kitamura on that occasion! Side-note: it was super hot that day, too. Both runners have ascended the competitive ladder via ATM in the past and are now genuine world class trail runners. It is unlikely, and very understandably, they will not feature in our ATM Championship for the time being, but we are delighted to seeing them both compete in a race on our circuit once again. Regardless who finishes first on Saturday, the main winner will be the sport and the fans.

There is still a third spot on the podium, of course, with several potential contenders for it. China’s Wu Yuanyuan, Vietnam-based Christine Mitchell and Philippines’ Julie Mae Marquez, if she recovered from last weekend’s Mount Kalatungan 55km in which she finished a surprising second place.

Just how long can they keep up with the men, by the way? John Ray Onifa normally tends to go out very fast, but in recent months he has been showing a lot of maturity and perhaps more clever race tactics than ever before. Onifa knows all of his expected competitors for this Saturday very well. If he allows Kristian Joergensen and Lodewijk Vriens to set the pace initially, it may boost the chances of Nguyen Si Hieu to get in the mix for the biggest prize. Si Hieu is a master-tactician and is coming off a great victory and confidence-boost in Vietnam Trail Marathon last January. For Dutchman Vriens, VUM will be a slight step into the unknown. Based in Hong Kong, we know him from winning the first stage of the 9 Dragons last year. Ahead of Kristian Joergensen that day. Positions were reversed the day after, but it does mean Vriens has the speed to give everyone a run for their money. Let’s also see what Singapore-based American Humberto Baeza can do this weekend. Baeza is the joint overall points leader in the ATM Championship ranking together with Chris Timms. He won Lam Dong Trail 75 in Dalat last November, and also scored a 2nd place in the more technical Dieng Trail Run in Indonesia at the start of Season 10 late September 2024.

All-star cast at Vietnam Ultra Marathon