The inaugural edition of The Borneo Miler was a genuine success thanks to a solid and detailed organisation that provided exciting races and winners on a beautiful running course, despite very hot and dehydrating weather conditions. Amir Zaki celebrated his second ATM race win in his 100 miles debut - jointly with the more experienced Australian Andrew Farmers - , and local star Rejlen James confirmed her rising status in the Asian trail scene with a dominating performance in the women’s competition.
When you run 100 miles on Borneo island, you will always feel like a boiled egg at some point, but a race start at 6 am ensured the 140 participants enjoyed fantastic scenery from the get-go. This is not a race to be taken lightly, but when you are properly prepared physically AND mentally, you will have a Southeast Asian trail running experience you won’t forget any time soon.
The battle for the win in the men’s race rather quickly involved five runners, who would not give away much to each other for many hours. Amierul Amin, a nice fifth in Koboi Malaya Classic just two weeks ago, took the bull by the horns and took the lead by himself on Bukit Bongol, the first serious hillclimb of the race with the second aid station at the hilltop after 25 km. Andy Lee and Andrew Farmers came a few minutes later. Amir Zaki, had been running together with them, but took a wrong trail during the climb and lost approx 20 minutes as a result of his misjudgement. Good old Gustin Tiam, from Sabah, was a bit further back.
Amierul Amin pressed on and stayed ahead for the next couple of hours, until in the late afternoon Amir Zaki would return to him just when Andy Lee began to suffer big time from leg cramps. Farmers and Tiam stayed close, and at AS 5 on Saturday late afternoon, the leading quartet found themselves together in the aid station. In a rather suprising move it was Gustin Tiam who left that station first and so the eldest of the quartet effectively took the lead of the race! That next section, however, was a flat and runable section, which was at the mountain climber’s disadvantage. Amir Zaki and Andrew Farmers caught up with him, but Amierul Amin had a bad moment and lost touch with the three others as he hiked where others could run. For Andy Lee the cramps became too severe and he threw the towel in the ring.
Amir Zaki increasingly looked like the most comfortable runner, but his inexperience running ultra made him also seems nervous. Andrew Farmers had had already completed a number of ‘milers’ and kept pace with Zaki, albeit two to five minutes back. Farmers caught up with Zaki at each aid station. At dawn the next morning, it looked like Zaki would finally try to keep the gap conquered on Farmers by spending less time at the aid stations. When he left the final aid station 12, Zaki had 3 minutes on Farmers and with 7km left to go. And yet, there was long straight uphill bit, and Farmers - using poles - went all-out to try and still catch Zaki. Amazingly, he even managed to bridge the gap and with 3 km to the finish, Farmers and Zaki were back together! Those who were looking forward to an exciting sprint finish were left disappointed, however, as the duo came across the line celebrating together. The regulations of The Borneo Miler allow for a joint finish (but not the ATM points regulations, according to which Amir Zaki receives the winner’s points haul of 500 as he was ahead at the last CP. Farmers collects 450). For Kuala Lumpur’s Amir Zaki it was his 2nd ATM race victory after Doi Nhok Trail 58km last autumn. Zaki was already 4th in Koboi two weeks ago, so his 2023 ATM campaign is indeed going very well. Securing a spot in the national country team of Malaysia is one of the toughest in Asia. For Farmers it was his first ever.
Their winning time was 27h52’52”. The podium was completed by a visibly exhausted Gustin Tiam half an hour later. Amazingly, it was the 48-years-old Tiam’s first ever ATM podium finish. Amierul Amin did well to hang on to fourth, also emphasising his chances to earn a place in Team Malaysia at the end of the season.
Another two hours later, the first woman arrived at the Kadamain Square near Kota Belud as fifth runner overall: Rejlen James. This year’s superb BUTM 100 winner - not a points race this season - had secured the lead at AS 3 when Singapore-based Czech runner Paulina Svoboda slowed down and eventually decided to DNF a while later. Svoboda had looked solid early on, but inexperience and a lack of preparation meant that ultimately it would always have been very hard to keep James behind. James kept on going and keeping a steady pace throughout. No other woman even came close to her. James crossed the line in 32h53’ , seven hours ahead of the second-placed woman, newbie Lynda Marylyn - herself a podium placer at BUTM. Marylyn actually was impressive herself on her debut, and coming from way outside the top 5 early on to overtake established ATM frontrunners such as Ann Jilian Pulanco, Irish Glorioso and Emily Raga. Adelinah LIntanga was looking at a podium spot, when she suddenly felt unwell at night and decided to call it a day. Marylyn, who belongs to the Lintanga’s Kolumpa Team, did not show any signs of slowing down and finished over two-and-a-half hours ahead of third-placed Celeste Teo. The latter also came back from a significant slump in speed in the middle part of the race. The Filipinos did not have an easy time on Borneo - from a race competitive point of view. Pulanco, who won last month’s Sierra Madre Trail Ultra in her best ATM showing ever, suffered from the heat and could not unleash her full potential. In the end, she had to settle for sixth. Still a good points haul for her. Irish Glorioso never featured in the top 5 and came across the finish line in 9th place just ahead of Yvette Chong. Emily Raga had a good second part of the race and moved up the leaderboard to finish 5th, behind the Malaysian Edna Robert - a new name.
The next ATM points race event in Malaysia is Penang Eco on 11-13 August, where the 100 miles and the 100km categories offer points.
