We deeply regret having to share the news that this year's Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Philippines has been postponed from 18 November to December and is therefore OUT of the Asia Trail Master Championship series' calendar. As a direct consequence, Matanao Mountain Marathon in Mindanao on 14/15 October will be the fourth and last Filipino points race event of the current ATM season until further notice. We apologise for this unexpected development, especially to all runners who had already planned to run CMU as part of their ATM Championship strategy. The last three opportunities to score points ahead of the ATM Final in Indonesia on 2/3 December are now MMTF100 & MMTF50 (Malaysia), Lam Dong Trail 75 (VIetnam) and Malnad Ultra 100 & 50 (India).
You can now watch our race recap of the Cordillera Mountail Ultra in Tinongdan, near Baguio, Philippines on 4 December. The 50km points race was won by Kristian Joergensen and Cecille Wael.
The video is available on our YouTube channel and Facebook page, or you can just watch it on our Tale of the Trail webpage.
After 7 podium places in ATM points races since the 2018, Cecille Wael delivered an impressively quick performance at last weekend’s Cordillera Mountain Ultra to claim her first major victory in her trail journey. The UGLOW runner was on fire from the start at 3am, showing remarkable speed despite still being ‘in recovery’ from the previous weekend’s MMTF 90km ultra race. Motivation and determination is key to win trail races, and Wael probably wanted to make a statement. She was nearly 20 minutes ahead of 2018 vice-ATM champion Aggy Sabanal, who had prepared well for CMU in a final attempt to get into the top 5 of the Filipino ATM ranking, and almost 50 minutes ahead of Angelie Cabalo! Cabalo, yes, the winner of MMTF a week ago who on that day beat Wael by nearly 50 minutes. All things considered, competitively-speaking, this was Ces Wael’s masterpiece run to date.
South Korea’s Boyoung Jang secured fourth place in the race, not too long after Cabalo. Boyoung is also qualified as part of Team Korea for the ATM Final on Mount Apo, together with her husband Kim Jisub, amongst others. Irish Glorioso did a great run to protect her qualification for Team Pilipinas by coming in 6th and ahead of Julie Ann Morales in seventh. Their respective results meant Aggy Sabanal and Angelie Cabalo are now in the waiting room as first and second reserves for the ATM Finals, in case either Emily Raga, Ces Wael, Rhea Batac, Irish Glorioso or Jullie Ann Morales cannot make it to the Mt Apo Sky Race in 2 weeks time. Let’s also note the surprising and interesting result of newbie Myra Montiveros in 5th place at CMU, right behind Boyoung Jang. One to follow in 2023!
The men’s race was won by Kristian Joergensen, which was no surprise and yet Arnie Macaneras was able to challenge and push the Philippines-based Dane forward all race. Macaneras, like Wael, is still searching that breakthrough victory in an ATM race after several impressive podium places. Could Mount Apo be that moment on 17 December? Macaneras’s competitive form has been rising since a number of weeks and nobody of any qualifyer for the ATM Championship knows the mountain as well as him - being a Davao resident who climbs Apo for training on a regular basis. He is part of a strong men’s team that also includes Larry Apolinario, Sean Aying and thanks to their great runs at CMU, also Poy Brilliantes and Angelito Vertudazo. The latter duo managed to jump Yojong Sacayle in the rankings. Sacayle, unfortunately, could not make it to CMU last weekend. Behind Joergensen and Macaneras, 2018 ATM Champion Alessandro Sherpa continued his comeback in Asia and claimed the third spot on the podium. His focus is exclusively on Mt Apo and CMU for him was ‘training according to programme’. In fourth and fifth we had Koi Grey - proving he is really back - and Jeffery Zonio, in his first ATM points race. Zonio has been winning domestic races in Philippines throughout the year.
Below are the two finish videos of the top competitors. Check out all the ATM race videos on our facebook channel, as well as a great photo collection by Adventure III .
The 2022 podium placers of the Cordillera Mountain Ultra 50km
Kristian Joergensen was as expected the strongest man, but Macaneras kept him focused nonetheless
Arnie Macaneras’s form is growing steadily. The Davao’s top runner scored another ATM race podium
Koi Grey in his 2nd race of 2022, just a week after a great comeback at MMTF
For the first time in over 3,5 years runners will flock to Baguio and the smaller mountain village of Tinongdan for the Cordillera Mountain Ultra, a classic on the Filipino trail calendar that has also acquired a very positive reputation in the rest of Asia and even beyond. Event organiser JP Alipio has indeed managed to put together a unique ‘boutique-style’ trail weekend in the splendid scenery the area has to offer, including homestay accommodation and local culture. The main race, the 50km, features the ascent and descent of Mount Ugo, and is natural loop without any unnecessary or artifical switchbacks to add distance. CMU, as the event is now commonly called, is living proof that 50k trail races can be very attractive, fun and challenging, too.
Normally taking place in March, the covid-19 situation early this year made that impossible and so CMU is a late-season race for the first time. While tricky for many international trail runners, the local Filipino runners do not seem to bother as the start list looks filled with the nation’s top runners, especially those with ambition to be part of Team Pilipinas at the ATM Championship Final in two weeks’s time in…. Philippines, albeit on the other side in Mindanao: the Mount Apo Sky Race. Indeed, the male and female teams, consisting of maxium five each, is not yet fully confirmed today. In the men’s Larry Apolinario and Sean Aying performed well-enough at MMTF last weekend to be safe, but the remaining three spots are still quite open for a number of runners - even John Ray Onifa. The latter does not feature on the CMU start list, however, the race he won back in 2019 ahead of Kristian Joergensen (!) and Koi Grey. Joergensen is back this weekend, following-up after his joint victory with Milton Amat last week on the 90km of MMTF. Reportedly not in a position to race Mt Apo, Joergensen might influence the others’ chances by taking points away from them this weekend. But when all is said and done, we might find Davao’s Arnie Macaneras on the #1 spot after the weekend. After a difficult start of his ATM season with the DNF at MUSPO 100, Macaneras rebounded with second place behind Kitamura at The Punisher, and a solid 3rd place at MMTF 50 last week. He is doing CMU as well now, to make sure he can don the Team Pilipinas shirt for the Final at his home in Davao. Of all the ATM finalists in the men’s race, nobody will know the terrain better than Arnie Macaneras. That makes him a very dangerous outsider and certainly a podium contender.
In the women’s race, we can expect a battle between Angelie Cabalo and Aggy Sabanal, both of them keen to get into the Top 5 of the ranking as well. Mathematically difficult given Emily Raga, Ces Wael, Irish Glorioso and Rhea Batac are safe already. Remains Julie Ann Morales, but she is running CMU to make sure she stays in, being from Davao also. Morales, by the way, could challenge for the CMU victory outright, having shown competitive improvement all season. Sabanal has been selective in her races and might be the freshest of all contenders, especially as Caballo just won MMTF a week ago. Or will eternal podium placer Ces Wael finally get that big victory that has escaped her for so long?
The ATM team will be present at CMU and reporting live on the usual channels, connectivity permitting.
Always one of the most stunning vistas every ATM season
one of the suspension bridges on the 50k course
You can now register for the Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Tinongdan, near Baguio, on 4 December. One of the classic events in our ATM series is finally making its long anticipated return after the covid crisis. The 50k race on Sunday is still the main event and will be the last chance for most runners to score points in an attempt to enter their country’s national team for the ATM Championship Final taking place two weeks later. The 50k is actually 47k and centred around Mount Ugo and has a whopping 3270hm. When the weather’s good, it is quite a runable mountain trail, though.
To reach the event you need time but your patience will be rewarded. Fly into Manila or Clark, from where event busses take you to Baguio City. Minibusses continue to the race site in Tinongdan, where runners can also book homestay accommodation. More details can be found when clicking on the button below. Further down you can also check our race summary video of the 2019 edition, held in March that season.
Despite last week’s positive announcement that said the popular Cordillera Mountain Ultra had been given an official approval from the authorities to go ahead as planned, JP Alipio of the Conservation Trust now needs to postpone his flagship event nevertheless. The envisaged new event date is 27/28 June with the 50km on Sunday, 28 June. As the new date does not conflict with any other ATM race on the calendar, CMU remains the Philippines SuperTrail with bonus points for all finishers on the 50km.
In an emergency meeting with Brgy Tinongdan, the host of this year's Cordillera Mountain Ultra 2020, it was raised that despite the the increased risk mitigation CMU management was undertaking and despite the permit given by the Mayor of Itogon to conduct the race, many in the village are afraid of the effects of the COVID-19 virus and have raised this concern with the local Barangay officials. Many are also afraid now to offer their homes as homestays for foreigners because of fear of the COVID-19 despite CMU’s due diligence in risk mitigation. As CMU hosts over 30 nationalities they cannot possibly hold the race without the homestays, which is an integral part of the reason they do the race each year in order to provide opportunities for the locals communities.
The local council and CMU have decided to postpone the Cordillera Mountain Ultra 2020 to JUNE 27-28, 2020 once the COVID-19 threat is in hand. They have temporarily suspended registration but will reopen once everything is sorted. CMU will uphold and transfer all registrations to the new date of the race, this will include any merchandise purchases as well as transportation reservations any of you have made. For those who cannot come for the race CMU will offer a 100% refund of your registration [we will be posting the refund process here for those who choose to refund their reg] A non-competitive trail run will be held on a few sections of the CMU course on March 8, 2020 for those who cannot change their travel plans.
Given the postponement of CMU and also of Dalat Ultra Trail, there are no points races for the Asia Trail Master Championship until late April and the duo Korea 50K and Mt Apo Sky Race. All elites can therefore take a prolongued training break (stay positive!).
The 2021 ATM candidate race Mt Kalatungan Trail Ultra in Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines is going ahead on 1 March. The event organiser has let us know yesterday that they have received the approval of the local authorities and do not expect a similar situation as now with CMU.
The other scheduled Candidate Race, Alicia Ultra on Bohol island in the southern Philippines, has been re-scheduled for early April or early May with date confirmation expected later this week or early the next.
In anticipation of the ATM Championship Final in Taiping this Saturday, we look a bit further ahead and continue our introduction to the 2020 events on the ATM calendar. Three weeks after UT Koh Chang in Thailand, we have the second SuperTrail on the programme and it is the Philippines’ SuperTrail. The Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Tinongdan is the premier 50k race in the country and possibly on the ATM circuit. All short and medium distance trail lovers should mark 8 March bright red on their calendars, and ultra long distance runners might just as well come for a solid training session. CMU is tough enough.
The 50km race course will traverse around Mt. Ugo in Benguet. Topping out at 2150m it features long ridge lines covered in Pine forests as well as superb views of the West Philippine sea, the entire Agno River Valley as well as the Cagayan Valley of Nueva Vizcaya. GPS data reveals close to 3800 hm for 47km, so this is certainly no walk in the park. The long distance race starts at 4 am so runners can also enjoy a spectacular sunrise. Shorter distances are also available, and the day before - Saturday - there’s also Vertical Kilometre race for those with energy to spare. This VK race actually offers stunning scenery as well.
In 2019, CMU had a class field in both the male and female categories. John Ray Onifa ran his only ATM race of the season and took revenge for a defeat in 2018 by winning marginally ahead of a strong Kristian Joergensen. John Ellis ‘only’ came fifth and Hisashi Kitamura was even down in seventh… In the women’s we witnessed the real emergence of Veronika Vadovicova, who began her 2019 season with an astonishing win against US professional Laura Kline. Our video race report can be re-watched below.
This is a true outdoors event if you like it to be. The local community in Tinongdan provides guesthouse accommodation nearby the start/finish arena. There’s no shortage of food and drinks neither. It is essential that you reserve before hand. Guesthouse accommodation will cost from 150-300 pesos per person per night. You may also camp in the school grounds or sleep in the school for a small fee. If nevertheless you prefer a bit more comfort, in nearby Baguio we have partnered with the Podium Boutique hotel.
This event takes place in a remote mountain area so obviously you need to plan enough time to get there. However, the organisers of the Cordillera Conservation Trust offer a great bus service with Victory Liner from Manila to Baguio, which takes a lot of hassle out of the trip. You can make online reservations with Victory Liner: https://www.victoryliner.com . Once arriving in Baguio you have several options for public transportation to go to Tinongdan:
-Jeepney from the Jeepney terminal of Tinongdan beside Jollibee along Magsaysay avenue. The cost should be less than P50-100/person and should take about 1 hour –There is only one jeep a day that departs after lunch when full so you need to be there earlier.
-Taxi hire: A taxi rental from the city to Tinongdan should cost approximately P1000-P1500 and should take between 1-1.5 hours. Best to split the fare between 4 people.
-We will arrange a jeepney from Baguio City on Saturday March 7 in the morning going directly to Tinongdan for a small fee.
Most runners leave on Sunday afternoon and manage to get an early morning return flight in Manila airport.
The registration for the race is open and can be done online via https://myrunti.me/register?fbclid=IwAR2OiQQtD9F_hMwj4FArjduMNTMO_uu-DdhJ86UQf-o-X2o3SWUfGxbJwsg#/cmu-2020
The organisation communicates a lot via facebook, so join their facebook page to get the latest infos.
Typical bridge crossing a river in the valley
Veronika Vadovicova emerged on the international scene at CMU last year by winning against Laura Kline
John Ray Onifa and Kristian Joergensen delivered an awesome battle at the end of the Philippines SuperTrail in the 2019 Asia Trail Master Championship, the iconic Cordillera Mountain Ultra. With just a few km of the 47km left to run till the finish in Tinongdan, Joergensen caught Onifa, who had been dominating the proceedings almost from the start. However, the Filipino still found an extra gear to outsprint Joergensen again in the last Kilometre downhill towards the suspension bridge that leads back to the main village! Onifa’s time was an amazing 5:31. Last year he came second in this race behind Harry Jones.
Koi Grey finished in third place a bit later. The home favourite opted for a quiet start but returned to the front relentlessly. Third place is a fantastic result confirming his come back to competition once more. He could have been the new leader in the ATM Championship as well, had it not been that Anders Iza Rekakoetxea and John Ellis were next in the finish. The Manila-based Spaniard Rekakoetxea was overtaken by Koi Grey in the last few kilometres, but fourth was good enough to become the new ATM points leader! Earlier this season, he was 3rd in the 50 miles race of the 9 Dragons in Hong Kong.
John Ellis ran very well after five weeks of rest, and fifth is a strong result for him. He left Davao’s Elias Tabac and Japan’s Hisashi Kitamura behind at the end. Ellis, Kitamura and leader Rekakoetxea are scheduled to compete again in the Dalat Ultra Trail next week, the Vietnam SuperTrail in the ATM Championship.
Filipino Arnie Macaneras was brave to follow Onifa for roughly 8 km, but paid the price at the end. Macaneras, who won Fifty Mapawa last season in a time faster than Onifa’s in 2017, arrived back in Tinongdan in 8th. Miguel Lopez and Malaysian Azuan Asmuni rounded up the men’s top ten of a fantastic racing day.
In the women’s, Veronika Vadovicova scored a highly impressive victory in 6:31. The whole morning she had a small margin over American Laura Kline. When the young Slovakian ex triathlete briefly went off course, Kline took the lead but eventually could not respond to Vadovicova when the latter caught her again. Sandi Menchi did well to finish third, even when the two western ladies proved too fast. Cheryl Navarro comes in as fourth and is the new points leader in the Asia Trail Master Championship! Navarro was second in last month’s Akyathlon. Fredlyn Alberto is fifth today, and misses just 11 points to claim that points lead. Alberto was second in the 9 Dragons 50 miles race earlier this season.
Outstanding battle between John Ray Onifa and Kristian Joergensen
New face in the female championship: Veronika Vadovicova impresses in her winning run
Ander Iza Rekakoetxea is the new ATM Championship leader after scoring 4th in CMU
Cheryl Navarro finished 4th in CMU and grabs the ATM Championship lead
It is only the fourth points race of the 2019 season but the Cordillera Mountain Ultra will heat up the championship significantly this coming Sunday. The Philippines’ SuperTrail has attracted lots of regional and intercontinental top runners to Baguio for the meanwhile classic 50k race on and around Mount Ugo. We will see a number of races-within-the race, too, and in particular the inter-filipino battle between John Ray Onifa, Elias Tabac and Koi Grey for the unofficial honour of fastest 50k trail runner in the Philippines!
The host village has changed from Dalupirip to Tinongdan this year but the race course has remained 70% the same as it used to be. The long ascent and descent of Mount Ugo defines CMU and is a scene set for breathtaking trail running. On top, the mountain villages in this part of the Cordillera were hit heavily by typhoons during the wet season last year and running events like CMU are a great and necessary boost for the local community.
The list of protagonists for the race win in both the male and female category is so long we cannot name them all. Starting with the women, Baguio hero Sandi Menchi returns to CMU for the first time since winning it in 2017. She knows the trails like the back of her hand and has shown to be in good form in this early part of the year. Several other filipino women can make her life difficult, though. Cheryl Navarro comes to mind. Navarro is always a contender wherever she starts, which she illustrated only last month again with second place in the Akyathlon. It makes Navarro the likely new ATM championship leader after CMU, subject to a fine result of course. Cecile Wael, third in Akyathlon, is also on the start list but is reportedly unable to race. Maria Sepe is a southern filipino athlete who can also be expected to challenge for a podium spot, as well as local Gretchen Felipe, who won this race in 2016. Arguably the fiercest competition for Sandi Menchi will come from foreign athletes such as Laura Kline, who is flying in from the USA, and Shanghai-based Slovakian Veronika Vadovicova, who is more and more making the switch from triathlon to trail running, similar to last year’s winner Carole Fuchs, who cannot take part on Sunday.
The men’s race is bound to be action-packed with the pinoy trio of John Ray Onifa, Elias Tabac and Koi Grey squaring off against each other for the first time since they reached the top of their game. Onifa is arguably the man-to-beat, especially as he has the experience of last year when he finished second behind Harry Jones. But the four-year-younger Tabac has been hot on his heels and is familiar with Mount Ugo, too, winning last year’s Akyathlon. Koi Grey is the local hero and most experienced trail runner of the three, and completely rejuvenated of late after being out of the scene for two years. On top of it all, to spice the race up even more, they all come from different islands in the Philippines.
The three pinoys will push each other forward on Sunday. It will be needed, too, because there’s a lot of other victory contenders! Hong Kong-based Australian T8 runner John Ellis has been looking forward to CMU for a long time. Kristian Joergensen is in the best shape of his life and has done this race before, too. Tomohiro Mizukoshi will find a course and a distance that should suit him, and then he is always a dangerman. Anders Iza Rekakoetxea is a Manila-based Spaniard who is capable of causing an upset. Perhaps the biggest dark horse comes from Malaysia: Mohd Azuan Asmuni. Azmuni is a triathlete / runner who raised quite a few eyebrows last year when he defeated Mohamed Affindi by nearly half an hour in a technical 30 km trail climbathlon in Malaysia. The profile of that Mt Tahan Climbathlon is similar to CMU, albeit shorter. Still, Azmuni - who two weeks ago won the Johor Bahru Duathlon - should not have an issue with the distance and his technical skills are clearly phenomenal. For runners such as Ellis, Joergensen and also Hisashi Kitamura, 50k may actually be just a little too short for their characteristics. But who would ever bet against John Ellis?
Another race-in-the-race will be between five runners for the ATM Championship lead. Virginia’s Chris Miller tops the ranking, but John Eruel Oquino - who will be doing his 3rd of the 4 ATM races so far this season), John Ellis, Anders Iza Rekakoetxea, Hisashi Kitamura and Koi Grey all have chances to claim the lead in their second race of the season.!
We will be following all the action at CMU as usual via our social media channels, with video on facebook as well. A separate ATM Trail TV episode is also planned for Saturday evening (subject to connectivity).
Sandi Menchi will try to win CMU again after 2016
Thailand-based pro runners Harry Jones and Carole Fuchs took top honours in a fantastic edition of the Cordillera Mountain Ultra 50k in Dalupirip last Sunday. The Philippines SuperTrail lived up to the high expectations and saw fantastic running by the stars of the trail, and the many hundreds who made up the field. The scorching heat and the re-designed hillier final section made sure everyone was happy to see the finish line. Dean Perez and Majo Liao left the Cordillera as points leaders in the Asia Trail Master Championship.
CMU is more than just a sporting competition. It is a weekend in the outdoors with hardly any mobile network, let alone Wi-Fi. The people of Dalupirip are such welcoming hosts, though, that no one regrets staying there for one or more nights. The village itself is set in an idyllic landscape, roughly 90 minutes by jeepney away from Baguio City. It was the third edition of CMU and race director JP Alipio has stayed true to his original idea, fine-tuning the event and the race course over the past two years only slightly in order to produce a fully matured trail running event that can be considered pure promotion for the sport - even if you deem 50K too short for trail.
The event begins on Saturday morning with a Vertical Kilometre, which was won by Hiroaki Matsunaga and Majo Liao, two of the protagonists for the 50K race on Sunday as well. That race started at 4.a.m. , which meant at least one-and-a-half hour would be run in the dark and in cooler temperatures, before the sun would heat up the Cordillera like an oven. Perhaps that was the motivation for Harry Jones and especially John Ray Onifa to go full speed from the gun. They quickly opened up a gap to Hiroaki Matsunaga, the Japanese elite and organiser of Kushigata Wind Trail and Echigo Country Trail, who was battling to keep the distance between him and the leading duo limited on Mount Ugo. The other contenders, including an in-form Dean Perez, followed a bit further back. Jeffrey Alligan, though, did not have the pace that brought him 2nd place in the Akyathlon last month. Aligan even suffered from heavy cramps late in the race and decided to DNF with just over 5k left to go. In the long descent of Mt Ugo, Jones upped the pace even more, dropping Onifa and making sure Matsunaga would not return to the front. Jones dashed solo to the finish for his second ATM points race victory in a week after the 50 miles race of the 9 Dragons Ultra. His time was 5:20, a few minutes faster than the course record although this year’s edition was slightly longer and had an extra climb in the final 5 km. Harry Jones, who lives in Chiang Mai, had many good things to say about his closest chaser John Ray Onifa, the Filippino youngster who finished approx 16 minutes later. Both Jones and Onifa could fight some more interesting trail battles with each other later in this ATM season. Jones’ next points race will be Sungai Menyala Forest Trail in Malaysia.
Matsunaga ran a very consistent pace and crossed the line seven minutes behind Onifa to complete the podium in what was his first ever visit to the Philippines. South Korean marathon ace Byeungwwon Park, who has a personal best of 2:19, missed the winning move in the beginning. Running his fourth trail race only, Park had not realised Jones and Onifa were up ahead when he caught up with Matsunaga late in the race. Still, a second stumble pushed him back again and fourth place was the maximum on his ATM debut. In fact, both Wilnar Iglesia and Dean Perez still came very close to the South Korean. Iglesia had lost the right trail earlier in the race, something that happens perhaps too often with the likeable Filippino, but once again he proved to be in great shape by catching up and passing runners in the second half of the race. Dean Perez is the first of the top runners to finish 3 ATM points races so far. The Vancouver-based Pinoy had a great race on Sunday and his 6th place puts him back at the top of the championship ranking. Perez is now returning to his resident country, yet endaveours to return to the ATM tour in the second half of 2018 to reach the plateau of five races, which is a must to get a high ranking in the championship at the end of the year.
Hiroaki Matsunaga
Last year’s winner Arnold Lozano and CMU Podium Man Alison Telias performed well and placed themselves in the top 10 with Telias in 7th and Lozano in 9th. Between them was American Casey Weinman and the first woman.
That first female finisher was France’s Carole Fuchs. The former professional triathlete turned out to be class on her own, perhaps aided by the late DNS of ATM Champion Kim Matthews. The Australian suffered a nasty hip injury in a fall on training and was unable to make the trip to Philippines. In fact, Matthews announced she will not be running the Dalat Ultra Trail neither in a fortnight. The third race favourite, Indonesia’s Ruth Theresia still felt jelly-legged from the grueling UTKC race in Thailand 2 weeks ago and decided early into the race to reduce the revs and take it easy. Theresia would finish (with her local friends) in 33th place, which also meant she lost the lead in the championship ranking. New points leader is namely Majo Liao, even though the latter did not have the best race neither. Liao finished down in 7th place, lacking power. Of those running their second race of the season, it was good enough however, because Rizal Mountain Run winner Aggy Smith Sabanal arrived further back in 8th place.
Fuchs was outstanding in front and her winning time says a lot: 6:26. She actually still passed Al Telias in the last 3 km. Fuchs, who won the 50k at UT Panoramic last December, is planning to climb Mount Everest next - possibly taking Ultra Trail Nepal on 28 April en passant. The second woman into the finish was a surprise for most: Novena Manaces in 7:23. Hailing from the more northern Cordillera mountain areas, Manacnes had stormed past Bitbit Baby Marites Sotto in the descent to snatch that silver. While Stephanie Davidson was a great fourth in her debut on the 50K distance, local star and former winner of CMU, Gretchen Felipe, probably had expected to finish higher than fifth place. Maria Luisa Prado did well to stay ahead of Majo Liao, Sabanal and also Diorella Cerujano and Patricia Ann Morota.
As CMU came to a close, so did the first six rounds of the 2018 Asia Trail Master Championship. The spring campaign begins in 2 weeks in Vietnam and the Dalat Ultra Trail 70k with Dean Perez and Majo Liao as leaders in our points championship.
UT Nan organisers Pom and Suwit were also running the CMU
This weekend’s Cordillera Mountain Ultra is the third and last SuperTrail of this early part of the Asia Trail Master Championship, and contrary to UTKC and 9 Dragons, CMU caters for the quicker legs on the medium trail distance of 50K (approx 2650 hm). The 3rd edition of the event in Dalupirip, Benguet, Philippines has smashed all records when it comes to registration numbers. Close to 800 people, of which 400 for the long distance race, will take the trouble to travel to the remote venue in the Cordillera mountains, including runners from 26 nations! Not only the quantity is impressive, so is the quality in both male and female competitions that also have the ATM Championship points lead on the line this Sunday.
Looking at the men, the list of favourites for the podium is nearly endless, which does not happen often in a South East Asian trail race. And they come from different places. Harry Jones (Great Britain,residing in Thailand) and Hiroaki Matsunaga (Japan) are two internationally known runners who both showed excellent form in the past fortnight. Jones, of course, won the 50 miles race at 9 Dragons and collected a solid 432 ATM Championship points in that effort. He had to dig deep in that Hong Kong ultra, but if Jones is recovered the others will have to get by him to win on Sunday. Matsunaga himself is on the rebound from a 100k in New Zealand two weeks ago. Our organiser of Echigo Country Trail and Kushigata Wind Trail (both points races for the ATM Championship) is making his first ever appearance in Philippines and is seemingly not letting anything disrupt his concentration and prepration for the race this weekend. South Korea’s Byeongwon Park is a dark horse, and that could as well be an understatement. Coming to make a name for himself, Park belongs to the recent wave of fast road runners who like to get a taste of trail, like it and indulge in it ever since. The same seems to apply to a local Baguio runner who was the surprise-second behind the surprise-winner at Pilipinas Akyathlon a month ago. Jeffrey Aligan is over 40 and no longer the youngest runner in the field, but if he can repeat the performance he showed then he won’t be far off the podium. Current weather conditions may actually play in favour of the faster legs: it rained today for the first time in two months in Dalupirip, which by Sunday could have made the trails harder and more compact to run on. The likes of Aligan will love that, yet he is not the top favourite on the pinoy front: John Ray Onifa from Visayas has been making headlines ever since he won UT Mapawa last October, and has developed into the next big trail thing coming from Philippines. By winning a wet and muddy Rizal Mountain Run, Onifa proved he is also resilient and tough when more is required than pure speed. Fighting this weekend for the points lead in the ATM Championship, winning CMU would be another big scalp in his young trail career. A new element for him is that all Filippinos now know him and watch him.
It’s almost perverse that we need to push top runners such as Wilnar Iglesia, Dean Perez, Al Telias, Kristian Joergensen. Dean Lim and last-but-not least, Arnold Lozano - the CMU winner last year! - to the back of this race preview. That is how deep the field is in terms of quality. Anyone who gets in the top 10 of CMU on Sunday is a race winner. Iglesia was very quick catching up after losing the right trail in Akyathlon. Al Telias finds in CMU his best race course and was on the podium here the past 2 years. Perez is doing his 3rd ATM points race of the season and keen to show the best of himself before returning to Canada. Joergensen is in the shape of his life, and looked strong in finishing 2nd in Rizal behind Onifa. Can he narrow that 30-minute gap this weekend? Maybe with the help of Lozano. Winner last year in a spectacular dual with Marcelino Sano-Oy, he was disappointed with himself for being too relaxed in the early stages of the Akyathlon. If he’s more alert on Sunday, he won’t easily let go!
Unfortunately, some of the local favourites will, ironically, not be there at this great trail party. New entrepreneur Manolito Divina has not yet picked up his regular training and has postponed his racing campaign to April, and Marcelino Sano-Oy is still running with pain after a nasty fall early in the Akyathlon (a race he continued to finish 3rd on the podium). In the women’s Baguio’s own Sandi Menchi - winner at CMU last season - will not be competing.
The female race will be very strong nonetheless, even when ATM Champion Kim Matthews has also announced her DNS today. Matthews fell badly on her hip a week ago during training, and is not in a position to run in the next few weeks. She even already scrapped her “home” race, Dalat Ultra Trail, on 17 March off her race calendar. The season is still long and Matthews already has 500 championship points in her bag for winning Tahura Trail at the beginning of the 2018 season.
Still, one of her main competitors for the championship has a great opprtunity to open up a points gap this weekend. Two weeks after being victorious in UT Koh Chang, Indonesia’s Ruth Theresia is back for her second SuperTrail of the season. Were the Bandung Explorer lady to win also CMU, it would very much be a perfect start of her championship campaign! However, Ruth Theresia will face stern opposition on Sunday from the locals, but also from Thailand-based French runner Carole Fuchs. Fuchs is making her debut on the ATM scene, but has announced previously she might prioritise our championship this season. Known to be tough and fast, Fuchs for sure will give all others a run for their money. Among the others we find 2018 race winners Aggy Smith Sabanal (Rizal) and Majo Liao (Akyathlon), 2016 CMU winner Gretchen Felipe and the ever-improving Patricia Ann Morota. Home advantage is a thing, yet it did not help local Felipe last month when she followed Sandi Menchi going the wrong way at Akyathlon. However, more reason to shine on Sunday. Other potential podium runners are Maria Luisa Prado, Diorella Cerujano and Bitbit Baby Marites Sotto.
A big trail party is in the making in Dalupirip for the Philippines’ SuperTrail of the Asia Trail Master Championship. But if there’s one thing Dalupirip is not known for, it’s for the mobile connectivity. Measures have been taken to improve the speed, so that proper broadcasting and multimedia services can be done live. Please bear with us, should the mountains and its weather decide otherwise.
As in the past two years, maximum six races will be credited as SuperTrail in the 2018 Asia Trail Master Championship series. Each SuperTrail offers 50 bonus points for finishers of the race and this can be important for those runners chasing a high ranking in the championship. Following popular demand by 'protagonists' in our series, we are now introducing a few changes to the SuperTrail selection in two countries: Philippines and Indonesia. The main argument being that also top runners sometimes like to see something new and breathe some fresh air during their trail campaign. As such, the Philippines SuperTrail in 2018 will be the Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Dalupirip, organised by the Cordillera Conservation Trust on the weekend of 3/4 March. It is also the shortest SuperTrail on our calendar, as CMU measures "just" 50k but does feature considerable elevation gain (2640 hm) with the ascent of Mount Ugo. Most importantly, for two years in succession, runners and spectators are raving about the event!
In the past two years, the races were hotly contested with Marcelino Sano-Oy winning in 2016 and Arnold Lozano this year. Will Manolito Divina add his name to the record books in 2018? The women's race was won by Gretchen Felipe in 2016, while Sandi Menchi took one of her three 2017 ATM wins in Dalupirip.
