A bit of a sensation at last weekend’s Akha Trail in the far north of Thailand, on the border with Myanmar. Bangkok-based Tara Savage managed to win the tough and technical race overall and by quite a margin over Amorn Kimnguan. The American ran away from her female and male competitors already before halfway into the 80km race and increased the gap to more than one hour at the finish line. She won in 14h19'26", with Amorn Kimnguan as the men's winner in 15h28'33". Both are also the expected category winners this weekend, but it not in this order 🙂

It is Tara Savage's second ATM race victory of the season, too. Back in April she won the gruelling Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths 100 in Vietnam. Earlier, she was also 5th in VTM - also in Vietnam. She will be great asset in Team Asia Expat next month at the ATM Finals.

On the female podium with her yesterday was Patchara Buagun in second, who is also qualified for Team Thailand in the Finals.

The men's winner Kimnguan, his first ever ATM race victory, is also qualified like last year. He was joined on the Akha 80 race podium by Santi Phongsraphang - qualified for the finals - and Malaysia's Kenneth Mun Keat Yow. The latter trying his best to win and get a spot in Team Malaysia. He jumps ahead of Wont Kudin in the ranking with a total of 1135 points compared to Wont's 1115. But Haziq Asyraf is just out of reach with 1190. Nevertheless, Kenneth is first reserve and perhaps more importantly - he is now a 3-star Grandmaster! Akha 80 was his 15th ATM ultra he has completed. A separate announcement is coming soon.

Munintaran Sundram, also Malaysian, scored fourth place yesterday. A great achievement for the 2-star Grandmaster as well. He was followed by Somchai Chaosakorn.

The 2nd edition of Akha Trail in the far north of Thailand, on the border with Myanmar, sees an international field of runners for the 80km points race, the last one of the season together with Punisher in the Philippines. Akha Trail was a remarkable entry in last year’s championship and saw a fantastic winner in John Ray Onifa. This season’s start list is arguably more modest from a competitive point of view, but offers the chance for several runners to score useful points for their country’s championship. ranking and their individual Grandmaster Quest. Kenneth Mun Keat Yow, in fact, is going for his 3rd Grandmaster star this weekend, and should the Malaysian manage to win or finish in the top three in the race and collect the equivalent number of points and the 50-point ‘abroad bonus’, he’d also jump ahead of Wont Kudin into the Malaysian Top 6. That implies he is first reserve in case someone ranked ahead of him decides not to join Team Malaysia in TMBT. . That’s not an easy task, but we have seen plenty of times already that when trail runners have a goal in sight, they suddenly run twice as quick as usual.

The men’s 80km race in any case appears wide open. Brunei’s Ismail Firdaus is another podium contender who aims to qualify for his country at the ATM Championship Final next month. And so are a couple of Thai runners, such as Amorn Kimnguan, Santi Phongsraphang and Somchai Chaosakorn.

Celebrated 4-star Grandmaster Masafumi Yamamoto is also in the race, just two weeks after KAR ULtra 110, and could likewise cement his position in the top 5 of Japan’s ATM ranking.

The women’s 80km sees Bangkok-based American Tara Savage as a favourite to win, alongside Patchara Buagun. Savage has been in great form this season and might be a considerable top ten candidate for next month’s women final, in which she will compete for Team Asia Expat

The 3rd Grandmaster star for Kenneth Mun Keat Yow is awaiting , and so could be Team Malaysia

Tara Savage is arguably the woman-to-beat on the 80km women’s race this weekend

What a run by John Ray Onifa last weekend along the Myanmar border in the far north of Thailand! The Filipino trail star gave a pure demonstration on the wet and slippery mountain forest trails of Akha Trail to win his second ATM race in a fortnight in an incredible time of 9h57. That’s 80 km with 5500 hm elevation gain! Onifa finished nearly four hours ahead of second-placed runner, Thosaeng Kunno, at this moment. He finished just before midnight, unfortunately when the whole village had already gone to sleep. It's the 7th career ATM victory for Onifa, which is one fewer than Hisashi Kitamura's eight wins.

Two weeks after comfortably winning MUSPO 100 in Philippines, Onifa felt confident from the start and immediately opened up a gap during the first, steep kilometre uphill through the Ban Pha Hee village. The others never saw him again. Young and upcoming talent Thosaeng Kunno - winner of Trail of Man in Chiang Mai six weeks ago - did not resist and focused wisely on his own pace in his first ‘long’ trail race ever. Kunno was joined by Chanil Thanguan and Wanna Sri Ati, with Hungarian Miklos Viczena a bit further back rounding up the top five. The weather conditions deteriorated halfway into the race as rain fell harder down on the forested hills. Wanna Sri Ati was unable to keep the pace up and would eventually DNF, leaving the podium to Kunno and Thanguan. Onifa was unbothered by the slippery conditions and kept running impressively forward, eyeing a sub-10 hour finish. Despite the high pace, it looked like Onifa still had an extra gear left should that have been needed to win the race. He is truly in contention for this year’s ATM Championship title now.

The women’s race was also dominated by one runner: Soingern Teekayu led from start to finish as well. Teekayu is still a relative newbie in trail, and this was her first ATM podium and so also her first ATM race victory. A finish time of just over 18 hours and eighth place overall is certainly a fine statistic for Teekayu.

A new mountain trail in Thailand this weekend by the established event organiser teelakow along the border with Myanmar. There’s quite a bit of mystery hanging over the race courses, but one thing seems certain: it will be tough. The 80km is the category that matters for ATM Championship and Grandmaster points, and on the start list we find none other than John Ray Onifa, just two weeks after his splendid victory in MUSPO 100.

Akha Trail stems from the people inhabiting the mountain region, an ethnic group spread out over mountain areas in Thailand, Myanmar, Yunnan (China) and Laos. The Akha people are quite well-known on the tourist trail for their colourful and distinctive traditional customes. Their home terrain here in Thailand , where the event takes place, is spectactular mountainous jungle with a number of caves in the mix as well. Runners will face a challenge, especially on the long distance of 80km with over 5500 hm. The course goes up and down, although there’s one long uphill climb, too, that follows a long descent to the second checkpoint at km 14. The last 20 km will be a test of strength, for sure.

John Ray Onifa, Filipino but highly familiar with the Thai trails, will logically be the one to beat. Despite only a fortnight since MUSPO, he says he also feels good as he didn’t go full throttle in Bukidnon. Potential challengers are podium contenders Miklos Viczena, in-form Narin Kongsiri and Thosaeng Kunno, the surprising young winner of Trail of Man in Chiang Mai six weeks ago. For Kunno this race will be a step into the unknown - his first long distance trail,and a technical one. The Chiang Mai resident is keen to learn fast, though, as he enjoys competing against the best. The Thai trail community vibe also suggests there’s quite a lot of as yet unknown talent on the start list.

In the women’s race, Thailand’s Issaree Kengnok will be trying to score her 3rd ATM race victory and her first since 2017. Her last ATM performance was 2nd in UTCR 125km in 2020. 

We will be reporting live from the start at 14:00 local time on Saturday on our usual channels (ATM Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) with further multimedia updates also on ATM Instagram.