After the inaugural ATM 500 Virtual Run in June, which did not focus on any elevation gain to be done, mountain lovers can now look ahead to a serious virtual mountain run challenge. ‘Champion the Mountain’ will take place between 15 and 24 August in teams of four runners and it’s all about accumulating elevation gain!

Set up by Asia Trail Girls, the recently launched initiative by our 2019 ATM Champion Veronika Vadovicova, and Sportlicious Malaysia, the virtual event requires the teams to gain as many vertical metres as possible. Despite what some people may have thought, this is not a female-only event. The challenge is open to both genders evenly, meaning in each team of four should be at least two women.

Run at home up your stairs, run up a car park, run outdoors on an uphill road, run in the trails, up the mountain, run on a treadmill or at any place convenient to you. Each member of the team should achieve 2500 hm or metres of elevation gain within the event timeframe of ten days. The top 3 after ten days will be awarded by Sportlicious Malaysia and score prizes.

Visit the Asia Trail Girls official website for more details on race procedures, the terms and registration that will begin this Saturday on 1 August : https://www.asiatrailgirls.com/challenge .

Our reigning female ATM Champion Veronika Vadovicova has launched her own Asia Trail Girls project , as recently already announced via our social media channels. Just before the start of ATM 500 Virtual team challenge, the project’s website was also officially launched. Originally from Slovakia in Eastern Europe, Veronika has been living in Asia for quite a few years already - mainly in Shanghai and now in Hong Kong. As she discovered the trail scene and the Asia Trail Master circuit, she found out that the percentage of women in trail running events is still quite on the low side in most countries here in the region. Asia Trail Girls is a project to foster the growth of women’s sports on the continent.

“Asia Trail Girls is a platform which is trying to help girls and women from all over Asia to discover the beauty of trail running. It is a platform where we encourage each other, give each other advice and share knowledge and experience.”

People are encouraged to contribute and blog about their own experiences in trail running, and the website will also serve as an information pool on community events and trail races across Asia. Conveniently, there is also a possibility to sign up for the newsletters so you can always stay up-to-date.

For the inaugural ATM 500, Veronika managed to sign up three all-ladies teams and inspired others in Asia to do the same. Her own “Trail Girls on Fire” managed to complete the 500k distance in just two days and with a higher average speed than the other teams on that day!