After two intense days of racing in the New Territories of Hong Kong, John Ellis and Corinne Williams crowned themselves as the so-called 9th Dragons yesterday. Both won one of the two stages - Ellis the 50 miles and  Williams the 50k - but probably had to fight harder to score a win than ever before in their trail running careers. Australia's John Ellis from the Gone Running team always keeps everyone in suspense as he is a notoriously slow starter, but this time he had to dig deep to handle the Japanese duo of Kazafumi Ose and Kaito Kobayashi. In yesterday's 50k, the Japanese runners seemed to have recovered better than Ellis from the tough 50 miles the day before and took the fight to him, aided also initially by the strong Malaysian Milton Amat. On Saturday, Kazafumi Ose was leading the race until Ellis caught him with just 20K to go, and yesterday Ose and especially Kobayashi -third on Saturday but significantly behind on time - had that little extra left in the tank. John Ellis needed to protect a time advantage of 20 minutes on Ose, and he did just that albeit settling for third place in the 50k race. Kobayashi won it ahead of Ose. Milton Amat was fourth on both days, and showed that his joint victory in Borneo TMBT Ultra last year was no accident. Britain's Tom Robertshaw is still recovering from injury, and in that respect had a promising result with 6th place, just two minutes behind Jeremy Ritcey in the overall. 

The women's 50/50 race was arguably even more exciting than the men's and also featured a leading trio who battled each other relentlessly on this very tough and technical race weekend. Australia’s Kellie Emmerson looked like the fastest woman in the first half of the 50 miles on Saturday, until Okinawa-based Corinne Williams and local French woman Elisa Jean De Dieu turned on their engines and began to catch up. Williams was first and wasted no time to put Emmerson under pressure. However, it was Elisa Jean De Dieu from Team Uglow who suddenly became the quickest woman on the course as she bridged the gap to Williams and even took a small lead. Williams, third at Izu Trail Journey last December, rallied hard but struggled for grip with a completely destroyed shoe sole. In a descent in the final section of the race, Elisa Jean De Dieu opened the decisive gap and took a very big race victory. Williams was able to limit the damage to 2’38”, while Emmerson dropped back signifcantly in third place. Sunday’s 50K was bound to be a thriller, and yet again, Emmerson and Williams were quicker “out of the blocks” than Elisa Jean De Dieu. The duo was helped by 50K single stage protagonist Sandi Menchi, who set a quick pace in her own determination to win that race category. Elisa Jean De Dieu was again just a few minutes behind. Contrary to Saturday, however, she was unable to get to the front. In the final section of the race, she felt the accumulation of efforts more than the others and would settle for third place in the race, losing over 1 hour to stage and overall winner Corinne Williams. It should be mentioned that Chris Yee Ting Kwan from Hong Kong delivered a great performance in the shadow of the big three, by finishing fourth in an overall time of less than 23 hours, only 17 minutes more than Kellie Emmerson. 

Corinne Williams joins Ruth Theresia at the top of the ATM Championship ranking with 550 points. The 9 Dragons was a SuperTrail race, as was UTKC last week and as is Cordillera Mountain Ultra next weekend. In the men's championship, John Ellis joins Jay jantaraboon in third place behind Arief Wismoyono and Dean Perez, who both already ran two points races this season. 

The 50 miles single stage category was another battleground last Saturday. In this one, Thailand-based Briton Harry Jones opened his ATM account with a great but hard-fought win over China’s Deng Guomin and Austria’s Michael Skobierski. Deng Guomin, from Shenzhen, proved to be the strongest climber of the trio, yet missed a marker, went off-trail and saw his advantage disappear like snow under the sun. Jones and Skobierski caught up and would not give him a second chance in the final 20K of the race. Jones attacked at the start of the final section and managed to pull away from a resilient Deng Guomin, while Skobierski settled for third. Jones finished in 10:41:22, 1’40” ahead of the Chinese runner. Harry Jones is on the start list of Cordillera Mountain Ultra next week, and hopes to be recovered for that by then. 

Itsuko Uemiya was the fastest woman in this category, which was the B-race and therefore still valid for points in the ATM championship.  The 50K category was not valid for points. 

The 9 Dragons proved again to be one of the hardest trail races in Hong Kong, if not the hardest. Current unofficial (!) finish rates are pending but are likely to be well below 50%. Not only are the two race courses as tough as they get in this part of Asia, but the CUTs are tight as well. To ease the pain, the organisation made sure all refreshment stations are appropriately stocked. 

John Ellis won the 50 Miles on Saturday and hung onto his time bonus on Sunday

Elsa Jean De Dieu and Corinna Williams put up a fantastic show in the women's 50/50! 

Kaito Kobayashi won the 50K, and had his private refreshment station the whole weekend

The podium of the men's 50 miles single stage with Harry Jones as winner

Just one week after Ultra-Trail Unseen Koh Chang in Thailand we have the next SuperTrail already this weekend. The 9 Dragons Ultra is a new entry in the 2018 Asia Trail Master Championship and has immediately been assigned the label of SuperTrail. By looking at the start list of the 50/50 stage race in particular, there could have been no other way. It’s a field of not only Asian and Hong Kong elites, but several top runners from other parts of the world are flying in to try and slay the 9 Dragons. 

9 Dragons in Mandarin Chinese is Jiu Long, or indeed Kowloon in Cantonese. The event takes place on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong and runs across the New Territories, roughly from west to northeast and starting at the Po Leung Kok Jockey Club at midnight on Friday. Essentially a two-day stage race, runners will cover 50 miles on Saturday and 50k on Sunday. The stage race is where most ATM championship points will be scored by finishers (550 for the winners), although with 432 points in his bag the winner of the 50 miles single stage will also return home happy. There are NO points to be scored on the 50k single stage. The rules of the event stipulate that any finisher on the 50 miles on Saturday who decides not to start on the 50k on Sunday, will be ranked as a finisher of the 50 miles race instead of the 50/50. If a runner, however, starts the 50k and drops out during it, he will be ranked as a DNF for the 50/50. In other words, championship points chasers signed up for the 50/50 need to know what they are doing on Sunday morning. 

Tom Robertshaw, always a potential race winner in ultras

On the start list plenty of well-known names, including regular top 10 placers and ATM race winners such as Pablo Diago Gonzales and local Isaac Yuen Wan Ho. The latter begins his season this weekend after a lengthy period of rest that began following his Izu Trail Journey finish early December last year. From Philippines, Gene Olvis is one to watch out for and from Sabah in Malaysia, Milton Amad is an interesting name to follow as well. Of course, it will not be easy for them to compete against the established elite in Hong Kong on their home soil. Britain’s Tom Robertshaw won HK168 last season and could collect his 3rd ATM career win as he also won UTHK100 two years ago. But there’s also John Ellis from the Gone Running team, who could score his first race win the ATM Championship. Among the many international elites we also pick Harry Jones, who lives in Thailand and who could play a major role in this season’s championship. Jones is scheduled to run also next week in the Cordillera Mountain Ultra as well as Sungai Menyala Forest Trail in April. 

The women’s event also features big names such as Marie McNaughton, winner of Korea 50K last year, and Elsa Jean de Dieu. 2017 Asia Trail Master champion Kim Matthews had planned to start the 50 miles race as well, but has pulled out. It’s still Chinese New Year, which does have an impact on air fares around the region. 

As usual we will be reporting live from Hong Kong via our social media network. 

One of the exciting newcomers in the 2018 Asia Trail Master Championship series: the 9 Dragons in Hong Kong on 24/25 February. Organised by the reputed fellows at Racebase Asia, the 9 Dragons has quickly established itself as a must-run race in a place already overloaded with trail running events. We are delighted to have it as part of our championship series and credit the 9 Dragons as the Hong Kong SuperTrail, which means bonus points for all finishers.

The event's main competition is the combination of the 50 miles race on Saturday with the 50k on Sunday. In principle we are thus talking a stage race with two stages, which makes it rather unique. The extra hours of rest in between the two stages will be welcoming for some, while others may feel very worn out when going to the start of Sunday's 50k stage. This being Hong Kong, elevation gain is of course also respectable. 4000 hm on Saturday during the 50 miles, another 3000 hm for Sunday's 50k!   The combo race is limited to 150 runners and you need to prove some credentials when you sign up for it. Registration for the 50/50 combo opens today, and you better be quick. Those who prefer to do the 50 miles single stage can sign up soon. 

In the context of the Asia Trail Master Championship, please note that points will be given to all finishers on the 50/50 combo stage race and on the 50 miles single day race, but not on the 50k single stage. It goes without saying that those who complete the combo will benefit from additional 50 bonus points. Be aware that if you sign up for the 50/50 and decide to quit after the first stage, you will only get finisher points for the first stage (150) and no performance points. 

For more information about the 9 Dragons, please visit the official event website, where you can also sign up. A comprehensive interview with race director Steven Carr will be posted on our channels in the upcoming weeks. Runners who have specific questions directed to him can let us know via info@asiatrailmaster.com before 10 August. 

https://www.the9dragons.asia/