Undoubtedly one of the most challenging and most popular events on our ATM Championship calendar made a brilliant return this season after five long years. The 9 Dragons in Hong Kong now looks confidently ahead to its 5th edition, which has been set for Valentine Day’s weekend 14-16 February 2025. The trademark 50/50 category and the 50km category will again be the points races for the ATM Championship ranking, while the 50/50 and the 50 Miles (87km) category can also give finishers a point for their Grandmaster Quest. Registration is open via the official event website, linked below, and interested runners are encouraged not to wait until the last moment as the 50/50, in particular, has a fixed quota and is expected to sell out in advance.

Taking place in Hong Kong’s New Territories, the 9 Dragons is one of those relatively few events in Southeast Asia that places a big emphasis on competitive performance, while at the same time showing heaps of respect towards every single finisher on Sunday afternoon. The marquee event, the 50/50, is essentially a stage race and merely turning up on Sunday morning at the start of the 50km long second stage is arguably tougher than the elevation gain to be conquered during the runs. Some runners disintegrate during the 50km, others just seem to come alive. It makes for unpredictable situations and surprising changes of fortune at the front of the race, ultimately what sports fans enjoy to see.

Kristian Joergensen in the men’s and Angie Yan in the women’s came out on top this season, after fierce battles with a.o. Lodewijk Vriens, Oleksii Melnyk, Solomon Wettstein and Arnie Macaneras, and Xie Wenfei and Wong Ki Chun. Both came from behind to secure victory on Sunday.

While the 50/50 captures the limelight at The 9 Dragons, the single 50km race also has a reputation as being one of the most competitive and toughest-to-win of the season. ATM Champion John Ray Onifa was outstanding this year, and local talent Naomi Fung managed to just keep Philippines’ Angelie Cabalo behind.

Thinking back on the 2024 edition, we can hardly wait for next February!

In a highly competitive edition of Lantau 70 in Hong Kong, reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa showed once more he is in a league on his own with a dominant win in 6h53’11” - an astonishing forty minutes ahead of Malaysia’s Milton Amat! The women’s ATM Champion Rashila Tamang on the other hand found Hong Kong’s humid conditions in combination with the famous stairs still a difficult challenge. It was Singapore-based French woman Aurore Dacier who caught the limelight with a very composed and impressive run to win the female race in 8h13’12”. The 2024 edition was 6km shorter due to a landslide so times can hardly be compared, but the original Lantau 70 course record is 8h48’45” set in 2018 by Lucinda Bartholomew. In any case, Dacier’s finish time proves we have a new racing protagonist in town!

Cloudy and temperatures hovering around 22 degrees: it looked wonderful for the 300 solo runners at the start line in Mui Wo at 8:30 am in the morning. However, humidity was high and many would pay a price for an over-ambitious early running pace. Rashila Tamang had arrived from Kathmandu with determination to win for the first time as reigning ATM Champion and put a strong women’s field under pressure immediately on Lantau Peak. She arrived first at the km 13 checkpoint and looked solid running up the stairs, and especially going down. But Aurore Dacier was not far behind. Dacier won MMTF 50 last year and also the 30km V Trail in Laos last month, so we knew she had experience in racing in South East Asia’s conditions. Angie Yan, the exciting winner of the 9 Dragons last month, and last year’s Lantau 70 winner Katrina Hamlin took a more conservative approach but kept the two leaders still within reach. In this race the aid stations are a bit further apart than in most races, so AS 2 only came at km 28 and it was Dacier who arrived first. Tamang had lost of a few minutes, and the others even more. Can the Nepalese runner return in the technical descent towards the water reservoir at AS3 (km 38)? The answer was negative but she did still keep the gap manageable at around 12 minutes. Aurore Dacier looked ever more in control, though, and did not seem to suffer at all from either her own running pace or the conditions. She cruised to victory in the slightly easier final 25km and picked up quite a few male runners on the way. Quite a statement from this sympathetic newcomer in Asia’s trail scene, of whom we are likely to see much more of.

There is another relative newbie of whom we have not yet seen the last of. Hong Kong’s Angie Yan had already shown her incredible grit in the 9 Dragons, turning defeat into victory over none other than Xie Wenfei, and she did the same in Lantau 70. Not Rashila Tamang, but Angie Yan stormed to second place and - what’s more - just 11 minutes behind Dacier! That could only have meant she ran faster than anyone else in the final sections and Strava proved that: she broke the local KOM of Veronika Vadovicova no less! Angie Yan seemed surprised at her own performance afterwards, she clearly has not yet discovered her own limits. With Dacier and Yan, the ATM womens’ championship definitely has two new contenders. And we can add local Lantau runner Katrina Hamlin in the mix, too. Hamlin outsprinted the cramping Rashila Tamang for third place. Tsz Kwan Lee finished in fifth.

As mentioned above, the men’s race developed into another one-man-show of John Ray Onifa. After a relaxed start, Onifa led the pack at the first checkpoint, but Milton Amat - running in HK for the first time since 9 Dragons in 2019 - and Alessandro Sherpa, second last year, followed him within three minutes. Then it was the surprising Matthew Gay, Richard Kimber, Wilsen Singgin, Marc Decamps and many others. The returning John Ellis was just inside the top 20 - making his characteristic slower start. Onifa then switched on his engine for real and quickly increased the gap towards his two main rivals for the victory. Sherpa saw Milton Amat catching him by CP2, and then dropped back - suffering from gastritis and severe dehydration - just like a fortnight ago at BUTM 50. This time, Sherpa could not salvage a podium finish, but he did walk the race out to finish in 33rd place and secure his wild card for the ATM Finals as a former - 2018 - ATM champion. Milton Amat also saw the writing on the wall and focused on keeping second place. Onifa was just out of reach. The other Sabahan ace, the in-form Wilsen Singgin, was looking good to score third place, but the more runable last sections suited Hong Kong-based Richard Kimber better. He overtook Singgin in the last kilometre. Hong Kong-based Belgium’s Marc Decamps once more ended up in the top five of Lantau 70 with a spirited and well-balanced effort. He passed David Longo in the final sector. Australians Michael Ormiston and John Ellis ran themselves into the top 8, for both a great result after all the troubles they have gone through in the last few years.

Two happy faces: Aurore Dacier for winning a great women’s race and RD Jeremy Ritcey for a superb edition

This year’s Lantau 70 promises to live up to its reputation as one of Hong Kong’s genuine classic trail races. Reigning Asia Trail Master champion John Ray Onifa is up against last season’s vice-champion Alessandro Sherpa and Malaysia’s Milton Amat on a slightly reduced course of 64km tomorrow. 2023 race winner Jeff Campbell is unfortunately still sidelined after sustaining an injury earlier in the year.

If the men’s competition looks exciting enough, the women’s Lantau race will also be a cracker with reigning ATM female champion Rashila Tamang at the start line against last year’s winner Katrina Hamlin and other in-form Hong Kong runners such as Angie Yan and Naomi Fung, and Singapore-based Aurore Dacier - winner of MMTF 50 last November.

Lantau 70 features one big loop with start and finish in Mui Wo. The course is far from easy and features quite a bit of the traditional ‘Hong Kong stairs’ , loved by some, dreaded by others. Knowing the terrain and the trails certainly helps if you want to be competing for the prizes. Here’s where John Ray Onifa and Katrina Hamlin, who lives on Lantau, of course have an advantage over the likes of Milton Amat, Wilsen Singgin, Gaetan Morizur on the one hand and Rashila Tamang or Aurore Dacier on the other.

John Ray Onifa has been unbeatable on the ATM circuit for months now and is therefore certainly the top favourite. Alessandro Sherpa ran this race a year ago and finished second behind Campbell. Over the past months, he has also spent quite a bit of time in Hong Kong and rumours are he is going very well on the stairs. Just a fortnight ago, he was running ahead of Amat and Singgin at BUTM 50 until the humidity got to him and severe dehydration set in. Tomorrow’s weather in Lantau is forecast to be cloudy and with mild temperatures, which should favour the Italian. Milton is arguably strong on longer distances, but both him and Wilsen Singgin have been working on speed and especially the latter has seen a peak in his performance curve. Can Singgin cause a surprise tomorrow? What can we expect from Gaetan Morizur, who is kind of returning to the scene after becoming a father early last year, and 2019 ATM Champion John Ellis? Ellis is trying to find back his peak performance level after a prolonged period of injury rehabilitation. It’s not been the easiest of comebacks so far, but a strava upload of 100 miles in Florida last month indicates he is in any case still very motivated. Other outsiders for the top placings in the men’s race are T8’s David Longo, Japan’s Tomohiro Mizukoshi, Richard Kimber, James Balagot and Marc Decamps.

Angie Yan and Naomi Fung both looked great in the 9 Dragons last month and are certainly able to give Nepal’s Rashila Tamang and Katrina Hamlin a run for her money. For Angie, who appears to like starting conservatively, it will be key to manage the gap to the others. Originally, Rashila had not planned to run Lantau 70 but a disappointing DNF in another major HK race in January did not sit well with her. The ATM champion is looking to set something straight, a month before her home race in Kathmandu - the Manjushree Trail. Other contenders for the top placings not yet mentioned are Katia Kucher, Meg Sterling, Kimmy Leung, Rachel Chan and Tsz Kwan Lee.

We will be reporting live from Lantau 70 from start to finish on our usual channels with live broadcasts of start and finish on Facebook, YouTube and X, video updates throughout the race on Facebook and highlights on Instagram.

Rashila Tamang will be competing in her first ATM race of the season

John Ray Onifa has been unbeatable for a long time on the ATM circuit

Milton Amat won BUTM 50 just a fortnight ago

A year ago Alessandro Sherpa came in battered and bruised, but in second place.

After five years The 9 Dragons Ultra in Hong Kong truly returned with a big bang, as the 50/50 format proved its value and unpredictability once again. It’s become a bit of cliche’ to state that the real race only begins on Sunday morning when you have managed to get to the starting line for the 50km after the grueling 50 miles (86km) of the day before. But Sunday’s race showed it is quite simply the truth. Kristian Joergensen lost nearly 20 minutes to HK-based Dutchman Lodewijk Vriens on Saturday, but recovered it all by halfway in Sunday’s 50k race. The same scenario was unfolding in the women’s 50/50 race with Saturday’s fantastic stage winner Angie Yan losing her 19-minute advantage as well against China’s Xie Wenfei on Sunday morning. Whereas Vriens was unable to find his second breath and even still lost second place to the incredibly gutsy Ukranian Oleksii Melnyk, Angie Yan refused to let go and fought back like a lioness to reduce the time gap to Xie Wenfei sufficiently and win the women’s overall 9 Dragons race!

That’s only in a nutshell what happened for the victories, but it was the same for the podium and other top placings. A brave Solomon Wettstein had to be content with fourth place again, just like in 2019, while Arnie Macaneras suffered on the traditional Hong Kong stairs to finish his stage race behind Nepal’s Limbu Yamanath, who ran an incredibly strong 50k on Sunday that contrasted with a below par 50 miles on Saturday. Another top Filipino, Yoyong Sacayle, also found his debut on the HK stairs to be more challenging than expected, but managed to complete the 50/50 in 14th place. In the women’s stage race, a third runner was very much in the mix for victory: Ki Chun Wong. The local runner actually finished second behind Angie Yan and ahead of Xie Wenfei on Saturday, but unfortunately she had suffered a slight injury and limped across the finish line. A day later, Ki Chun Wong just focused on salvaging her podium spot. Angie Yan can no longer be considered a newbie in Hong Kong, but in ATM it was her debut and what stood out was her amazing fighting spirit. On both days, her ‘second split’ was ‘better’ than her first half. Xie Wenfei was surprised in the final 10km on Saturday: “she caught me and still had so much pace! I was unable to follow, and so was Ki Chun Wong.” On Sunday, Angie Yan was reported as over 20 minutes behind Xie Wenfei at some point, but at the finish the gap was hardly 9 minutes. She visibly ran her heart out to score the prestigious 9 Dragons 50/50 win - and it was very well-deserved. Both women also finished ahead of the 50km solo race podium, which shows how strong they performed this weekend .

On Sunday there was also a “solo” 50km race category, which also offered ATM Championship points, and therefore had a great competitive field, too. Reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa initially had to leave a gap to USA’s Anthony Lee, from Colorado but with roots in Macau, and also found the Indonesian youngster Risqi Kurniawan again on his tail - just like at the ATM Final early December. Once Onifa’s engine was warm, however, he went looking for the American and in no time caught and passed him. Risqi Kurniawan was unable to follow Onifa’s rush to the race lead, but he did not give up and maintained a fast and steady pace himself, which resulted in him catching Anthony Lee come halfway the race. Onifa probably did not enjoy his best of race days, yet his advantage kept growing - slowly but continuously. The question then became if he could break 6 hours, but cramps decided otherwise. Onifa scored yet another ATM race victorty in 6h05. Anthony Lee showed resilience in still beating Risqi Kurniawan for second place - both also in historically fast times for this 50k course. It was great to see the talented youngster from Indonesia bounce back so strongly after what was a disappointing DNF at the ATM Final more than two months ago. With more experience in international racing, Risqi Kurniawan has the potential to become a top star in - at least - Asia’s trail scene. KC Chan from Hong Kong, tipped by some as a challenger for Onifa beforehand, settled for fourth place, just ahead of Chi Kan Yuen. With a finish time of 6h49, these two guys showed how high-level this race was. Note; 50/50 winner Kristian Joergensen finished second overall behind Onifa… , which also underlines the superb competitive performance he put in this weekend!

The women’s 50k solo race was - yet again - a very exciting affair with alternating race leaders. Xu Zhonghuang and Angelie Cabalo set the pace earlier on, but saw Naomi Fung coming back and then accelerating. Just when Fung looked like a certain winner, Angelie Cabalo found another gear in the last but technical 10km and nearly caught the Hong Konger at the finish. Fung was 10 minutes ahead, but at the finish it was just 2’20'“. Cabalo - in her HK debut - proved once more she is a serious competitor within Asia and not only in Philippines. Xu Zhonghuang was a happy third , and Xiaojing Mo - never in the mix for podium before that - suddenly fourth and only 14 minutes behind race winner Naomi Fung.

The 9 Dragons Ultra this year will undoubtedly be ranked as one of the absolute highlights of Season IX in our Asia Trail Master Championship. While the fine running weather, especially on Saturday, is certainly also down to luck , the overall technical organisation, the great vibe between the participants , the filled and varied aid stations - some with major Filipino input - , the mobile network coverage at strategic places to allow for proper live race coverage and the respect everyone has for one another, it all just came together at this year’s 9 Dragons event. It was a blueprint of how trail running events can be a very satisfying experience for everyone even without the availability of big budgets.

Men’s Top 15 50/50

1. Kristian Joergensen 17:05:15

2. Olekssi Melnyk at 19'51"

3. Lodewijk Vriens at 21'44"

4. Salomon Wettstein at 36'28"

5. Limbu Yamanath at 1h32'59"

6. Arnie Macaneras at 1h44'08"

7. Michael Ormiston at 2h59'21"

8. Dina Nath Bagale at 3h17'49"

9. Chi Keung Chan at 3h50'19"

10.Kam Wai Pun at 3h54'03"

11. Hyun Chang Chung at 4h23'00"

12. Kwong Hang Leung at 4h29'43"

13. Jeremy Ritcey at 5h11'01"

14. Yoyong Sacayle at 5h14'27"

15. Carlo Chiong at 6h30'56"

Women’s Top 10 50/50

1. Angie Yan 20h22'39"

2. Xie Wenfei at 11'06"

3. Ki Chun Wong at 1h11'50"

4. Hayley Teale at 3h21'05"

5. Hong Kiu Kimmy Leung at 3h41'35"

6. Chamelia Suhra at 4h41'34"

7. Rhoda Cheung at 5h17'35"

8. Rachel Chan at 5h32'53"

9. Mariko Kirihata at 6h40'25"

10.Sheree Rowling at 6h42'47"

After five full years, the 9 Dragons finally return this weekend in Hong Kong’s New Territories. The unique 2-day event, featuring a 50 miles race on Saturday and a 50 km race on Sunday with the aim of combining and finishing both, has been long awaited by Asia’s challenge-seeking trail running crowd. When former participants argue that “getting up to toe the start line on Sunday morning for the 50k is the hardest part of the entire weekend” it sums up why this race is so special. While certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, the start list once again proves that organiser RaceBase managed to find a way to stand out in Hong Kong’s overcrowded trail calendar.

The 50/50 category has attracted big guns like 2022 ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras and multiple ATM race winner Kristian Joergensen, as well as several global competitors such as Lodewijk Vriens (NED), Oleksii Melnyk (UKR) and Coree Woltering (USA). Both Vriens and Melnyk have proven already before that they can deal with Hong Kong’s particular trail courses with the many stairs and are therefore very serious contenders for the podium against the perhaps better-known locals and Asians. Coree Woltering is very interesting as he actually took part in the 2019 9 Dragons and DNFd rather anonimously, despite already being a marquee trail runner at the time. It speaks volumes that Coree has decided to return to the event this weekend, and the other favourites better watch out. During those five years and the covid pandemic, the American had a battle with alcohol but has since chosen sobriety as a lifestyle. His competitive performances have reached his arguably best level yet and he is in training for the southbound Appalachian trail fastest-known-trail record attempt. In any case, Manila-based Dane Kristian Joergensen is taking the race very seriously as he has been in Hong Kong for two weeks to leave nothing to chance this weekend. Arnie Macaneras very much looked the part in VMM 70km last September, but five months have passed since. He was surprisingly beaten by Larry Apolinario in a 50km domestic race in Philippines in December, which might indicate that the star from Davao is now truly focusing on the ultra race distances, though. So much can happen in a tough 2-day race that we should also consider other podium candidates such as Hong Kong’s Salomon Wettstein, Limbu Yamanath and Hyan Chang Chung. Bukidnon’s Yoyong Sacayle is the second Filipino iron in the fire. Proven to be very resilient in tough conditions, Sacayle may lack the top speed of some other favourites, but his 7th place in the ATM Championship Final last December - not too far behind Hisashi Kitamura - shows that he can cause the upset when motivated.

Resilience is also what characterises Guangzhou’s Xie Wenfei, one of the top favourites in the 50/50 female race. While perhaps no longer among the youngest competitors, Xie Wenfei has an enormous amount of racing experience - including victories - in the toughest of events worldwide. The 9 Dragons has been on her bucket list for months, so for sure she comes to Hong Kong motivated. Australia’s Hayley Teale is expected to challenge for the female victory as well, a major competitor who has notched up a series of wins. Local competitors Ki Chun Wong, Angie Yan, Kimmy Leung and Natalie Webster are not to be underestimated either.

Runners can also choose to run just one day at the 9 Dragons event, which means that also the medium distance trail stars have a 50k race to look forward to. Sunday’s 50km race also offers ATM Championship points and has attracted reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa to take part. Three weeks after winning a 30km ATM Candidate Race in Cebu, Onifa is once again squaring off against his younger compatriot Godwin Mirar, age 23, who has been incredibly impressive in his young trail running career. Keen to learn and improve his competitiveness ever more, Mirar is making his debut in Hong Kong this weekend. Can he challenge Onifa, who is perhaps less motivated these days to run the HK stairs but has years of experience on them? Another upcoming Asian talent who is seeking some form of rehabilitation after misfiring in his home ATM Championship Final race at Siksorogo Lawu Ultra early December is Risqi Kurniawan. The 26-year-old Indonesian, unbeatable in his home country on the medium distance last year, is also making his debut in Hong Kong. It will be interesting to see how he copes this time around with having potentially faster runners around and ahead of him, a learning process that all domestic ‘champions’ need to go through when they move up to a higher international level. Guided by 2018 ATM Champion Ruth Theresia - who herself will be running the 50 miles solo race on Saturday - Kurniawan has appeared relaxed as he arrived in HK. As with Godwin Mirar, however, it still remains to be seen how he deals with the stairs - it really is not something for everybody. Locals KC Chan and Fuk Cheung Tsang can deal with the specific terrain and will certainly be in the mix for the win and the podium.

The 50km women’s race has an incredibly long start list, which in itself is already a big success. It does imply we are likely to discover several new names. Amongst the well-known athletes we find Angelie Cabalo from the Philippines, 3rd in last season’s ATM Championship Final. Cabalo has always been fast on the medium distance, so she certainly starts with victory chances.

ATM will be reporting live from the 9 Dragons from start at midnight on Saturday until the finish on Sunday afternoon.

Kristian Joergensen: ready to tackle the 9 Dragons

Angelie Cabalo: victory contender on the 50km on Sunday

2022 ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras

‘Kapheer’ Xie Wenfei: the woman-to-beat on the 50/50 for women?

Indonesia’s youngster Risqi Kurniawan will be making his HK debut on the 50km

Reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa will be facing Godwin Mirar again on Sunday’s 50km

It’s been a long time coming, but at least The 9 Dragons is returning on the trail calendar in Hong Kong and in the Asia Trail Master Championship series! The unique event, with its main competition combining two separate races of 50 miles on Saturday and 50km on Sunday, is scheduled for 16-18 February 2024 - five years after its last edition in 2019. The organisation is still in the capable hands of RaceBase, and the concept has not changed either for the fifth edition of The 9 Dragons. ATM championship points seekers should focus on the 50/50 , or Sunday’s single 50km. Grandmaster runners could also opt for the single 50 miles on Saturday.

The 2024 edition will also be sponsored by ATM’s official apparel partner T8, itself also headquartered in Hong Kong. A special edition of the T8 ice tee and shorts will be available for purchase.

The 50 miles race starts at 11:59 pm on Friday, 16 February at the Po Leung Kuk Jockey Club Holiday Camp near Yuen Long and finish at Tai Po Tau Playground. The cutoff is at 19:00pm on Saturday 17 February. The 50km race starts on Sunday at at Tai Po Tau Playground and finish at Shing Fung Studios. The cutoff will be at 20:00pm on the same day. The two courses are not really a secret anymore and can be checked, alongside all other details, on the great new website of the 9 Dragons (click on the button below).

Registration is open, and keep in mind that the spots for the 50/.50 category are restricted to 250 only! No time to lose in other words.

Kaizufumi Ose was the big winner in 2019

Even in Hong Kong, Hisashi Kitamura and Milton Amat have been inseparable..

Hong Kong of course means a lot of staircases..

John Ray Onifa is unstoppable in the second half of this season! The Filipino stormed to his fifth ATM race victory of 2023 in Hong Kong’s Dark 45 in a time of 4h41! This follows a hard-fought 50k win over Kristian Joergensen in VMM just a week ago. Second place in Dark 45 - like last year - went to David Longo in 5h20, seven minutes faster than Wai Hung Wong. A performance that confirms the competitive step forward made by Longo last year, Australian but living in Hong Kong for a long time after a university spell in Central Java no less.

Ryan Whelan had to settle for fourth in 5h41, Jose Luis Alvelais was seventh. The latter is already guaranteed of a spot on Team Hong Kong for the ATM Championship Finals in Indonesia on 2 December. Interesting to note was that 2019 ATM Champion John Ellis returned from a long injury break with a 30th place finish - and finishing was the only goal.

The women’s 45 km race was won by Kit Chun Wong in a great 5h54. That was 25 minutes faster than Angie Yan. Hoi Yan Ng completed the female podium. Last week’s great VMM 100 winner Man Yee Cheung was fourth, not yet fully recovered from that tough Vietnamese race.

The second edition of Dark 45 was efficiently set up by The Peak Hunter, a young event management team, with great success. This is definitely an event-to-stay at the start of Hong Kong’s trail running season!

Photos are courtesy of Lam Sport Photos, Hong Kong

Kit Chun Wong was a great female winner , her first on the ATM circuit

Five ATM races in 2023: five wins. The top favourite for this year’s ATM title ? John Ray Onifa!

David Longo does not run a lot of races, but when he does, he is in the mix for podium these months!

Jose Luis Alvelais assured himself of a spot on Team Hong Kong for the ATM Championship Final

At midnight, Saturday to Sunday, Dark 45 takes place on the famous Maclehose Trail in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It’s the second HK points race in the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series after Lantau 70 in March. Last year, this event signalled the return to trail racing after the covid pandemic, but in 2023 the event is under a new management: The Peak Hunter. That’s the team led by the famous Wong Ho Chun. Many of Hong Kong’s trail stars are signed up, including former ATM Champion John Ellis, who is making a bit of a come back after a long period of injury. Still, Ellis is not hopeful of a top result this weekend, indicating that the road - or trail - to real competitiveness will be long.

In the absence of Jeff Campbell, the man-to-beat will be John Ray Onifa. The Filipino is back at his best level, recently, and only his enthusiasm may propel him to yet another race victory - just a week after winning VMM 50 against Kristian Joergensen. His main challengers are expected to be Ryan Whelan, first and foremost, and also David Longo, Jose Luis Alvelais and Stone Kit Chan.

The women’s race seems more open, but has a lot of contenders for the win. Flora Wing Yee Chin, Angie Yan can dream of it for sure. Man Yee Cheung may be the biggest name on the start list, but she did run and win a tough VMM 100 just a week ago.

One of the great newcomers on the ATM scene last year was Dark 45 in Hong Kong’s New Territories. A nighttime race on the famous Maclehose Trail between Shui Long Wo and Tsuen Kam Au Rotary Park, one of the most popular sections of that long trail. A year ago it was the first bigger event in Hong Kong that was permitted to take place following the covid period. Now it will be organised by a new team, however. The Peak Hunter is a local trail community and charity foundation founded by Hong Kong trail ace Wong Ho Chun, and also including rising trail star AND cancer survivor Angie Yan. Rendez-vous at midnight on Sunday, 1 October.

For Hong Kong trail runners, Dark 45 is the second ATM points race of the 2023 season after Lantau 70 in March. No 9 Dragons yet this season, so for Hong Kongers these two are the only options to score points at home and get potentially qualified for the ATM Championship Final in Indonesia on 2/3 December (minimum two Top 25 race finishes). For non-Hong Kongers, this is a 45k with quite a bit of spice in it as the 2800 hm of elevation gain indicates.

Jeff Campbell was the fastest runner in Dark 45 last season. It was a race that saw the emergence of David Longo as a serious podium contender in any race, and also the renaissance of injury-plagued and then-still reigning ATM Champion John Ellis. Meg Sterling took the women’s victory after a nice battle with Natalie Webster.

Details can be consulted via the Peak Hunter’s Instagram and facebook pages. Registration opens shortly.

The race summary of last weekend’s Lantau 70 in Hong Kong is now available for your viewing pleasure on YouTube and Facebook and here below. In the 10th edition of the classic event, Jeff Campbell managed to beat Alessandro Sherpa and reigning ATM champion Arnie Macaneras in a splendid finishing time. Local favourite Katrina Hamlin won the women’s race ahead of Flora Wing Yee Ching and Aggy Sabanal.

Note: our new telegram channel has apparently been hacked and is currently unavailable..

The 10th ‘physical’ edition of Hong Kong’s classic Lantau 70 had everything you would expect from an exciting competitive trail race. Several victory candidates, both local and foreign, a great and varied course and challenging mixed weather conditions. The races even had to be interrupted for 45 minutes around noon due to a serious thunderstorm with lightning strikes - not what you want when running on open hill ridges. Safety first and kudos to the organisational team of the Trail Hub for managing the situation in an efficient, clear and non-confusing way. There was clearly a plan for such potential situations. As such, races were able to continue without much ado after the storm had passed. For everyone affected, net running times were recorded by chip.

In fact, the first six runners probably never realised that behind them people were instructed to stop running. Jeff Campbell, Alessandro Sherpa, Arnie Macaneras, James Balagot, Hua Zhaohong and “Marc” Marc all passed CP 2 already when the race director made the decision and the storm unleashed its force on the area.

Up until CP2, which was km 28, the battle for the race victory had already been reduced to two of the three top favourites: Jeff Campbell and Alessandro Sherpa. ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras made his debut in Hong Kong and struggled with the traditional “stairs”. The sympathetic Filipino looked strong and was running with them for over 20 km but then had to let go. On the way to CP3 - in the pouring rain - Sherpa also had to admit Jeff Campbell is the ‘stair master’ and the gap opened up in the most technical section of the race, mainly downhill. Running the Hong Kong stairs is indeed a very specific skill.

Campbell opened up a gap of 10-12 minutes, and it says a lot that once passed CP3, Sherpa maintained the same pace as Campbell for nearly the entire rest of the race. Only when he made an unfortunate and quite nasty tumble towards the finish did Sherpa lose more time. Jeff Campbell underlined his great victory with a finish time of 7h34 - the second fastest ever despite the weather conditions! Only China’s global elite Yan Longfei went quicker in 2018 (7h03). It was the Canadian’s 6th ATM race victory as well, which puts him on the same level as Sefli Ahar, Milton Amat, Hisashi Kitamura and John Ellis in the ATM Race Win table.

A bloodied Sherpa came in in 7h57, which is the fifth fastest time ever. The 2018 ATM Champion is also already qualified for the ATM Final this year. Even a smiling Arnie Macaneras’ third-place time of 8h40 is still the 13th fastest of all time - despite him calling the Hong Kong stairs as ‘crazy’ after the finish. Let’s add the surprising American newcomer-on-the-scene James Balagot in fourth place, just seven minutes behind the ATM Champion in 8h48. According to the LT 70 record books, Balagot is now faster on this course than John Ellis and Ryan Whelan, for example.

Fifth place went to Hong Kong’s Kwong Ho Lee ahead of the Belgian ‘Marc’ Marc. Kwong Ho Lee was the first of the runners who got stopped at CP2. Later, he ran the remaining part of the race in a faster time than Marc and -with adjusted race time- ended up fifth in the race result.

The women’s race was tight, and yet one runner seemed always in control: Katrina Hamlin. Living in Lantau and very near to the race venue in Mui Wo, Hamlin felt the pressure from a string of female runners early on, but always came first at the checkpoints. The more the day progressed, the further she would then pull away from the others. A strong win for Hamlin in 9h36 - third fastest female time ever. The battle for second in the end was decided between Aggy Sabanal-Marte and Flora Wing Yee Ching. Both exchanged places a few times, and when it looked Sabanal would get the upper hand, Wing Yee Ching came back and snatched second place by three minutes only. Philippines’ Sabanal - the 2018 vice-ATM champion - struggled with digestive issues, but was delighted with her podium in Lantau 70. Before giving birth, Sabanal was known as a pure mountain climber. Since her comeback to the trails last year, she has also shown ever increasing running pace. Her podium this weekend is testimony to that.

Katia Kucher was fourth ahead of Jinko Takeshige, who both overtook Indonesia’s Ruth Theresia in the latter stages. Theresia’s first ATM race in three years did not go entirely as planned. Early on she was still in the mix for the podium, but then her hip began to hurt. After the finish, the former ATM champion said it’s been an issue since last week and therefore she did not want to push for the remainder of the race.

Warrior look: a nasty tumble towards the finish actually illustrated perfectly Sherpa’s determination to challenge Campbell during the race, also for him resulting in a fantastic sub-8 hour finish time

Winner in the second fastest finish time ever behind China’s Yan Longfei in 2018: Jeff Campbell

ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras found the Hong Kong stairs ‘crazy’ , but still scored podium in a very solid time himself. That also made James Balagot’s performance in 4th and just 7 minutes behind exceptional

Katrina Hamlin was delighted to win her home race at last: she lives in Mui Wo, start/finish venue of LT 70

Flora Wing Yee Ching captured second place by overtaking Aggy Sabanal in the last kilometres

Aggy Sabanal-Marte confirmed once more her leap forward in competitive performance with a podium spot despite significant digestive problems before and during the race. Proof she no longer needs big technical high mountains to score a podium

It’s been over three years since Hong Kong’s trail classic Lantau 70 was announced as a new points race for the Asia Trail Master Championship and finally the weekend has arrived. LT 70 starts at 8:30 am in Mui Wo on Saturday and plenty of great runners will be toeing the line, including local favourite Jeff Campbell and reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras.

It will be the first of two scheduled points races for this season’s ATM Championship ranking, with the second one - Dark 45 - set for 1 October. The start and finish may be beachside, but unfortunately the weather forecast indicates the possibility of rainfall in the morning. This will certainly have its impact on the runners and the technicality of the 70km course, which has most elevation gain and loss in the first half.

Jeff Campbell always starts a 70km race in Hong Kong as the man-to-beat, and it is no different this year. However, the Canadian-born will almost certainly be pushed forward by a wide field of other strong victory contenders. Davao’s Arnie Macaneras - who is now supported by T8 - is keen to show a solid performance tomorrow, three months after his fantastic ATM Championship title win on Mount Apo. As a newcomer, we always need to see first how he will handle the many steps and stairs that are so typical of Hong Kong’s trails, but purely on running pace Macaneras should be a good match for Campbell on a distance of 70 km. 2018 ATM Champion and in great shape lately, Alessandro Sherpa, will also have a few words to say. The Italian has been based in Hong Kong since his victory in Dalat Ultra Trail three weeks ago. Just a week ago, he picked up another win in a local 50k race despite significant digestive issues during that race. Winning Lantau 70 would be a big thing, and we know Sherpa likes this type of challenge. There’s plenty of other podium candidates tomorrow, and who knows one of these pulls of an upset. Switzerland’s Salomon Wetstein has been a Hong Kong trail star for many years now, and he is a previous winner of Lantau 70 in 2019 - the last ‘normal’ physical edition before covid. Furthermore, there’s the likes of Julien Bonnard, Dennis Theodosis and China’s Hua Zhaohong.

The women’s 70km race promises to be a cracker, too. The race victory will be contested between many Hong Kong based top runners and others who have been protagonists in ATM for several years. The 2018 ATM Champion from Indonesia, Ruth Theresia, is back on the ATM scene for the first time after three years. The covid crisis was also for her a big life-changer, and Ruth has had to be a lot more selective in her trail races. Still, she hasn’t lost her competitiveness at all as we can tell from her recent victories in local Indonesian races. Tomorrow she will be up against the likes of Aggy Sabanal-Marte - the still young Filipino who was actually Ruth Theresia’s first runner-up in the aforementioned 2018 ATM Championship season. Aggy has become a mother since then, and just like Ruth been working on the way back to the front of South East Asia’s trail races. As with Ruth, that has translated already in a couple of race wins back home, including MUSPO 100 last July. What struck us last season is that Aggy Sabanal is now more than a strong mountain climber, she has actually developed a good running pace, too. It will be very interesting to see how she fares on Lantau. Dolores Salles is another Filipino who will throw her hat in the ring, and who knows obstacle racer Rozel Vivero produces the upset? Japan’s Tamae Harada is usually in the mix for a podium place, and so is Singapore’s Vincere Zeng - winner of Cameron Ultra 100 last year. Zeng is a busy bee and mainly a high mountain enthusiast, but that Malaysian victory shows she can also run fast. We are curious to discover how local favourites such as Rhoda Cheung, Alice McLeod, Katia Kucher, and Katrina Hamlin will fare against the aformentioned.

We will be reporting live from Lantau 70 from start to finish on our usual ATM channels, including YouTube, subject to connectivity. Absent from tomorrow’s start field is John Ellis, who is out of action with a nasty achilles injury. John will be present, however, and we hope he can share a lot of insight into this race during our video recordings tomorrow.

In addition, 30 elite runners will carry our GPS trackers, so you can follow the action as it happens via https://live.asiatrailmaster.com/2023lantau70/ . The platform works on both mobile and laptop.