Malaysia’s top trail runner Milton Amat ran comfortably to victory in the 110km long ultra of a well-organised Kadamaian Ultra event , also known as KAR Ultra , and is virtually assured of qualification for his country’s team in the ATM Championship Final on 14 September. That will take place in his home State of Sabah as well. Moreover, Milton won the last two editions of Borneo TMBT he started in. The ever humble and timid Milton Amat looks ready to finally become the Asia Trail Master Champion - no doubt supported highly by his own community in Sabah!

In fact, the entire Team Malaysia can dream big. Both the male and female qualifiers for the ATM Championship look very strong on paper, with also Rejlen James again proving to be unbeatable on her home trails during KAR 110. Team Malaysia will certainly try to get the Team Champions title back from the Philippines, whose runners struggled a lot with the heat last weekend at the KAR event. Poy Brillantes summed it up when he finished outside the top 25 on Sunday early morning: “it’s rainy season in Philippines now, no heat training for over a month. We will be stronger in TMBT!”

Indeed, other top Filipino contenders such as Yoyong Sacaycle and Maynard Encornal also failed to feature in the 110k race. Yoyong had started very fast and was even second still behind Gustin Tiam at the second aid station, but then he completely disintegrated and suffered from stomach cramps and the excessive heat. The same for Maynard, who now may need to add The Punisher to his race schedule to make sure he remains within the top five of his country in the ranking. Yoyong himself already set up a plan B and will run Bali Ultra this weekend.

Gustin Tiam thus set the early pace, but by AS 3 Milton Amat had caught up with him. Interestingly, he decided to continue running his own pace for the rest of the day rather than run together with good old Gustin, who himself underlined once again what competitive a season he is having. Haziq Asyraf would eventually take third place , ahead of Jailani Juhili and Wont Kudin, who became a Grandmaster as well.

Rejlen James was dominant in the women’s 110k race from start to finish and looked every bit as different as in Mantra 116 three weeks ago. In Indonesia she struggled to even make the top ten, at home she never even looked back. Adelinah Lintanga initially kept the gap much smaller than usual in long ultras, which was promising as she tends to be more prominent in the second half of races. Accompanied by the impressive Shally Yuson from Mindanao in the Philippines, Lintanga lost more and more time to James, however, as the day went on. After 76km, Yuson actually looked the stronger runner for second place until she also succumbed to heat fatigue and dozed off at a late aid station. She fell back to sixth place. Nevertheless, for her first competitive appearance outside of Philippines, Yuson proved her racing talent and can be expected to use her KAR experience to go for a high placing in the ATM Final, which after all is also shorter at 78km. Behind Adelinah Lintanga, it was then Sabah’s newcomer Dazeree Joannes who completed the female podium. Joannes had started modestly, but ran consistently all day to gradually move up the leaderboard. Great pacing! Especially, given that she kept Mary Joy Sumanda behind in the end. Sumanda, also running for the first time outside of Philippines, scored fourth and that was the best race result of the entire group who came to KAR.

The 60km medium distance category saw a great battle for victory between the ever-improving young Oswald Maikol and Wilsen Singgin. Initially, several others like Jemson Daikin, Vitus Daimi, Yasbie Ismail and Tivel Peter mingled with the front runners as well. Maikol put Singgin under pressure all the time, even dropped him a few times. But Singgin is a warrior who doesn’t ever give up when there’s a potential victory on the horizon. By km 42, Maikol again had a 2-minute gap on Singgin. He then probably lingered a bit too long in the aid station, so that Singgin again had a visual on him as he approached the same station. Indeed, Singgin wasted little time and did not let Maikol to get out his sight anymore. Ultimately, Singgin’s own attack just a few kilometres before the finish proved decisive. Maikol had given too much of himself earlier on, and could not respond. Great win by Wilsen Singgin. Yasbie Ismail completed the top three a long way behind , showing the high level Singgin and Maikol were competing at.

In contrast to the men, Shamiera Auther just seemed to cruise to victory in the women’s 60km - her second win of the ATM season. Leading from start to finish, only a bee sting brought her out of her comfort zone halfway in the race. The still very young Auther will be an interesting runner to watch in the ATM Final. Given her young age and inexperience going beyond 50-60km, Auther won’t have any pressure to perform … but she might as well create a surprise. And she is from Sabah, too.

Lolita Lintanga underlined the competitive progress she has made over the past months to score her first ever ATM race podium. Just like her elder sister Adelinah, Lolita finished second. That’s ahead of Lynda Marylyn in third.

KAR Ultra was part of the ATM Championship calendar for the first time and proved to be a great addition, highlighted by the fantastic arena setting , abundant aid stations, some interesting innovations and welcoming atmosphere. After TMBT and BUTM, Sabah has another trail event to look out for every year.

This weekend is the last points race event of the current championship season in Malaysia, the country hosting the big final in September. Kadamaian Ultra, also known as KAR Ultra, even takes place in the same State of Sabah on Borneo island and can therefore be considered as a real dress rehearsal for Borneo TMBT Ultra. Taking place out of Kota Belud, KAR also has a great competitive field in both the 110k and 60k categories led by ‘usual suspects’ Milton Amat, Wilsen Singgin, Adelinah Lintanga and Gustin Tiam. It is the first time the event features on our ATM Championship calendar after a successful Candidate Race edition in 2022.

Team Malaysia is one the most difficult teams to qualify for given the large number of regular and competitive runners in the country. It is therefore no surprise that this weekend will probably be very decisive. While a few runners can already rest on their laurels achieved this season, e.g. Adelinah Lintanga and Mohd Sulhan, Sabah’s top star Milton Amat, and also Gustin Tiam and Shamiera Auther, are gambling to qualify with just 3 ATM races. Given their usual performance level, that may work out well, but it remains tricky nonetheless. Runners such as Teck Shuin Chong, Hijazi Rija and Wont Kudin, Chong Mi Chin, tend to collect decent amounts of points over four races and therefore may sneak into Team Malaysia. At KAR Ultra, Milton Amat therefore better gets the victory. Wilsen Singgin is in a better position with three good races under his belt this season, and should qualify without any problems - as long as he finishes with an okay result.

The battle for points is also still going on in the Philippines. The Punisher 80k is still coming up on 10 August, but quite a few Filipinos are making the trip to KAR Ultra as well this weekend. Maynard Encormal is one who could give the established Sabahans a run for their money. Also in the women’s 110k race, Rejlen James and Adelinah Lintanga will face a challenge for the victory by in-form Shally Yuson and Mary Joy Sumanda, amongst others.

ATM will be reporting live from KAR Ultra, with the 110k and 60k races starting at 5:20 am and 5:30 am on Saturday.

Milton Amat is the logical top favourite at KAR Ultra 110k this weekend

Already 2 ATM race wins for Gustin Tiam this season!

Leading the women’s ATM ranking: Adelinah Lintanga

Shamiera Auther will be looking to add another 50k victory to her record

Shally Yuson has been one of the revelations of the current ATM season in the Philippines

Looking to qualify for Team Pilipinas again: Mary Joy Sumanda

Milton Amat continues his reign in his home state of Sabah. On Saturday, the local hero won BUTM 55km in 6:05:06 after catching and overtaking a fading Alessandro Sherpa around km 40. As often, the 2018 ATM Champion had started out fast and put distance between himself and the other competitors. Despite cloudy weather, the temperature and humidity were still very high and plenty of participants suffered from dehydration at some point during the day. Sherpa included. His pace dropped significantly and he even contemplated retiring from the race at aid station 4 while lying on the ground trying to take in sports drink. Both Milton Amat and the once again surprisingly fast Wilsen Singgin had just passed him at that point. After some time, Sherpa got back up and continued for the final 11km to the finish line. He still managed to score third on the podium, staying ahead of Yasbie Ismail by 13 minutes. Milton Amat took the victory, but it is a stretch to say he was just cruising home. It had clearly been a working day for Amat, and he also admitted as much. Wilsen Singgin had also kept the pressure on, actually running faster than Amat in some sections and finishing just ten minutes later. Are we going to see Wilsen Singgin finally exploiting all his talent this season? In the three months since the end of last season, Singgin has looked remarkably fresher and more competitive as already illustrated by his 50k win over Sefli Ahar in Brunei two weeks ago.

The women’s 50km was entirely dominated by the youngster Shamiera Auther. Leading from start to finish, Auther proved her competitive progress and maturity in taking her first ATM race victory ahead of experienced runners such as Kona Laiu , Vicki Zhu and the Lintanga sisters Lolita and Jessica. Auther even had an advantage at the finish of over 50 minutes! Jessica Lintanga, who still had the upper hand over Auther in TMBT half a year ago, ran together with her younger sister. It was the first time Lolita entered the top five of an ATM race.

The 105km ultra looked like a bird in the hand for local hero Daved Simpat. The obvious pre-race favourite also seemed very much at ease on the trails on Saturday morning, leading by quite a long margin over e.g. Oswald Maikol, Sulhan Mohd, Gustin Tiam and Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Chung. But in the afternoon drama unfolded as Simpat retired himself from the race at WS6, citing two spells of ‘fainting’ earlier on. Even Sabah’s own top runners are not immune for the heat and humidity! With Simpat out, suddenly a number of runners were looking at a potential prestigious victory. Another Sabah veteran, Gustin Tiam took control and opened up a gap towards Sulhan Mohd, a relative newcomer in the ultra scene who last year won UTOP 100 in Penang. By the last aid station, Tiam looked like he was safe to grab victory - his first ever in ATM at the age of 48. A fantastic performance, indeed! Sulhan Mohd ran an amazing final sector to reduce the gap to Tiam from nearly 30 minutes to 18 minutes at the finish. Did he leave it just a bit too late? Nevertheless, Sulhan looks like a solid new name in the Malaysian ultra scene. Sabah’s Oswald Maikol dropped back after a fast start and would settle for third place, just like in TMBT 100 last season. Maikol had to dig deep at the end because Wont Kudin ran a fantastic final few hours emerging into the top ten and finishing fourth eventually, ahead of Muhammad Hazim, Nguyen Van Chung, Haziq Asyraf and Atsushi Ito, for example.

The women’s 100km also had a bit of a thrilling conclusion. Pre-race favourite and last year’s winner Rejlen James was in control of the race from the start and built up a nice gap towards the other competitors. However, also she as a local began to suffer from the conditions and found it increasingly difficult to manage her fluid and food intake. James’ advantage was melting away and she had to stop several times feeling sick. A well-trained Adelinah Lintanga, in her best race since winning Penang Eco in 2019, came ever closer , but James held on by 13 minutes at the finish in the middle of the night. The rejuvinated Lintanga was pleased with her own return to form and second place, but also realised she had come close to a big win. Just like with Sulhan in the men’s, did she leave her ‘attack’ too late? This year’s BUTM 100 looks like a nice case study in ‘how to manage your efforts and the time gaps to your competitors’ . In third place, we found the still quite young Lynda Marylyn, who showed her ultra distance talent again. Last year, she already came 2nd in the Borneo Miler - also behind Rejlen James. The very experienced Celeste Teo took fourth, and Penang’s Pei Fen Goh fifth.

An important mental victory for Milton Amat with a view on what’s to come later this ATM season

The 100 km men’s podium with Gustin Tiam, Sulhan Mohd and Oswald Maikol

The 100 km women’s podium with Rejlen James, Adelinah Lintanga and Lynda Marylyn

Shamiera Auther: first victory in ATM for the Malaysian youngster

As usual, the Malaysian Asia Trail Master season starts a bit later and typically BUTM is the first big appointment in the country. Alternating with The Borneo Miler, BUTM is once again a points race event with the spotlights put on the traditional 100k and 50k races. The trail stars from Sabah are all expected to run - based on the start list - and also vice-2023 ATM Champion Alessandro Sherpa has planned to open his ATM account this weekend.

BUTM is often called the ‘little sister’ of the classic TMBT in September, but it is definitely wrong to underestimate the event as such. The typical ingredients of a Sabahan trail race are there - deep jungle alternating with ethnic village and river crossings, Kinabalu views and humid conditions. Trails are generally more runable than some other rainforest races, but that also implies hydration is essential in this race. Plenty of runners each year drop out due to major cramps. As TMBT, BUTM is mainly a daytime race with the start at 6am. That means the races are very scenery-friendly and is probably why they also keep attracting a lot of non-Sabah runners, including foreigners.

Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin both warmed-up for this weekend’s home event in Brunei a fortnight ago. At the BDUTM loop race, they both won their respective races and especially Singgin impressed by beating local hero Sefli Ahar in the final kilometres. He is known to be at his most competitive at long and tough ultras, but Singgin seems to be changing tactics and working on developing his running speed. This Saturday he will be running the 50km and not the 100km. The same applies for Milton Amat and for Alessandro Sherpa, which confirms the recent trend that sees elite trail runners shying away from the ultra distances in favour of running more medium distance races. In theory, the trio of Amat-Singgin-Sherpa are the most likely victory contenders, but we won’t be surprised if they first need to chase the traditional fast-starter Sefli Ahar first again. And let’s not forget that the more runable BUTM course suits the Bruneian more than the BDUTM loop two weeks ago. Chris Timms could get himself in the mix, too. The Singapore-based Britain has been away from the ATM scene for a while due to professional obligations, but we remember how fast he is on 50k. Plenty of new names on the start list of nearly 300 runners for the 50k, so who knows someone pulls a surprise , too.

The women’s 50km could see a battle for victory between Jess Lintanga and Shamiera Auther, with also Kona Laiu as a standard contender for the prizes. Last time out at TMBT, Lintanga still had the better of the young Auther. Plenty of unknown names on the start list here as well.

Looking at the 100km ultra, Daved Simpat appears to be the one-to-beat, certainly if he shows the same kind of pace and grit as in winning TMBT half a year ago. Simpat had arguably his best competitive performance in five years on that day, and if he can replicate that form again it is hard to see who could follow him. Hisashi Kitamura won’t be there, the usual Japanese challenger will be running Tokyo Marathon this weekend instead. Perhaps Vietnam’s young Nguyen Van Chung can make Simpat nervous? Van Chung is an up-and-coming talent in Vietnam who recently won the Prenn Ultra Candidate Race in Dalat. What can Davao’s Rexell Aguirre do at BUTM 100? Aguirre looked great winning the 100 miles race at Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in Thailand last October. Malaysia’s Moo Sat, Bernardo Linus and Gustin Tiam will be in the mix for the podium, as well as Japan’s Atsushi Ito. Fuminori Kondo is another Japanese runner who is returning to the ATM scene after several months out due to injury sustained at Mantra 116 last year.

Rejlen James is the obvious favourite in the women’s 100km race. Last year she won the so-called Borneo Triple, which includes BUTM 100, The Borneo Miler and TMBT 100. However, it did seem to take something out of her, too, as she ‘only’ came fifth at MMTF and the ATM Championship Final turned out into a competitive disappointment with James even failing to reach the top ten. Presumably a few months of rest will have done her some good. Celeste Teo and Adelinah Lintanga are logical podium contenders, and let’s see what the younger generation like Pei Fen Goh and Lynda Marylyn can do this weekend.

ATM will be reporting live from the BUTM event from start to finish on our usual channels.

Alessandro Sherpa starts his 2024 ATM campaign this weekend

Milton Amat: will 2024 be the year the Sabahan scores the championship title?

Rejlen James: unbeatable on home soil last year

Shamiera Auther: among the 50k favourites this Saturday

The island of Borneo is increasingly promoting itself as a trail running centre in South East Asia. Thanks to Mount Kinabalu and the former Climbathlon race, and the still very popular TMBT event, the Malaysian State of Sabah on the northern part of Borneo has been crucial in this development. No surprise that ever more trail events are being organised, and in a fine way, too. We are happy to announce therefore that Kadamaian Ultra, a.k.a. KAR Ultra, will be joining the ATM Championship calendar in 2024. Already a Candidate Race in 2022, the event enters our calendar on the last weekend of July, i.e. 27/28 July, with the 110km and 60km races offering points for the ATM Championship ranking.

KAR Ultra is centered around Kota Belud, roughly an hour north of Kota Kinabalu. It is supported by Kadamaian Tourism with the medium and long-term ambition to make the area the main sports and adventure hub in Sabah. Local communities are engaged in the event as well, and will be supporting all the participants. Cultural and culinary programmes, to taste the local cuisine, are also foreseen. The start venue is Kampung. Tambatuon, which is situated at the foot of Mount Nungkok (also known as Mount Kinabalu's child) and directly leads to the valleys and hills of the Kadamaian area. Participants will see the beautiful scenery along the trail, including hills, clear rivers, rice fields, and even Aki Nabalu. For those who wonder, the race courses are indeed different from TMBT.

Runners can book themselves into a hotel in Kota Kinabalu as well, because a shuttle van can be booked while registering for the races. The vans will depart as scheduled from Likas Square on the north side of KK City. As is custom in Sabah, the 110km and 60km points races will start around sunrise (5:20/5:30 am) - so come prepared if heat is a concern for you.

Registration is open and can be done easily via the usual Checkpointspot platform in Malaysia.

Obviously, Sabah’s #1 trail runner Milton Amat has already added himself to the list of winners at KAR Ultra

A little later than usual due to very heavy workload over the past few weeks, here is the Tale of the Trail video of the 11th Borneo TMBT Ultra from just over a month ago in Sabah, Malaysia. The 100 km and 50 km races were points races for the Asia Trail Master Championship ranking. Local Sabahans Daved Simpat and Rejlen James gave the home crowd great wins on the 100km, while John Ray Onifa and Vanja Cnops were unbeatable on the 50k. For Simpat it was his third 100k victory at TMBT after 2015 and 2018. Hisashi Kitamura bit the dust in second place for the third consecutive time. For Cnops it was her second consecutive victory on the 50k. Rejlen James successfully concluded her ‘Sabah Triple’ as this season she had already won BUTM 100 and Borneo Miler. Onifa broke the course record on the 50k, despite just ‘warming up’ in the first 15km of the race - leaving good old Bruneian Sefli Ahar, making his comeback, alone out in front for half of the race before reeling him in and dropping him by over fifty minutes. TMBT 2023 had a lot of big stories!

Borneo TMBT Ultra was part of our original series in 2015. After a brief hiatus, the event returned on our calendar in 2018 and has been there ever since.

Organised by Borneo Ultras, TMBT will return to ATM also in mid-September 2024 as well as BUTM in March.

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.

What was still a 100 miles category at BUTM in 2020 is now a stand-alone event: the Borneo Miler will see 146 registered athletes attempt to complete a trail running adventure in and around Kota Belud in Sabah, Malaysia. Without some of the State’s and the country’s biggest trail stars like Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin, as they are in Austria to give it a go at the World Championships next week. This implies the Borneo Miler is wide open from a competitive point of view, and for several participants it will in fact be their very first ‘miler’ experience.

Among those is Amir Zaki, a great fourth only just behind Mohamed Affindi two weeks in Koboi Malaya. Zaki has planned his inaugural 100 miles meticulously, and if he can manage his efforts during the long race may be a top contender for sure. Zaki’s ‘teammate’ at Sportlicious Malaysia and Team Crampfix Jeffery Budin is another one who is likely to be in the mix, even though he seems to be downplaying his own chances. Budin won UToP last October and had a similarly great race at the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo. Bernardo Linus is capable of a surprise, being a local Sabahan. Another local is Gustin Tiam, definitely not to be excluded from the long list of potential winners in the men’s race. Amierul Amin Shamsul Kamal (5th in Koboi!), Ahmad Tanjong and Dzul Izwan Siri Ee (6th in Koboi!) will also attract attention. And so are Brunei’s Ibni Nudin - second his home country’s ATM candidate race Simpur Ultra last February, and Australia’s Andrew Farmers - one of the Finalists on Mt Apo last December. Farmers knows the Borneo trails very well. Last year he scored 6th and 10th in BUTM and TMBT respectively.

The women’s race may have a couple of runners who arguably have one star more than others in the list of contenders. Rejlen James was a superb winner of BUTM 100 last March - ahead of Sally Yap! - and is a local. The one who can follow her will be close to the victory on Sunday. Manila’s Ann Jilian Pulanco, fresh from her very first ATM race win at Sierra Madre a month ago, is an ultra specialist and may be James’ biggest challenger. But there’s also Paulina Svoboda - fast and strong when in form -, Adelinah Lintanga - who appears keen for this race -, Irish Gloriso - who may take the ATM points lead again this weekend with her 4th race of the season already -, Siriporn Leumathong from Thailand and - according to some - a local dark horse from the Lintanga sisters’ Team Kolumpa: Butet Lynda Marylyn.

We will be following the Borneo MIler from start to finish. A live broadcast of the 6am start on Saturday and the finish of the winners, with multimedia updates throughout the two days on our usual ATM channels. The Borneo Miler also have live GPS tracking of the lead runners on https://live.asiatrailmaster.com/borneo100miler2023/

First time 100 Miles for Amir Zaki this weekend

Dzul Iswan Bin Siri Ee was 6th Malaysian in Koboi just two weeks ago

Adelinah Lintanga won Penang Eco 100 Miles in 2019. Can she add her home Borneo 100 Miles to her record?

Ann Jilian Pulanco was in great shape at Sierra Madre just a month ago

Long ultra distance lovers will have a number of opportunities this ATM season to wet their appetites. Two new 100 miles points races are on the programme in 2023 with Deep Japan Ultra on 24/25 June and the inaugural Borneo 100 Miler in Malaysia three weeks earlier on 4/5 June. Both events are now open for registration.

The Borneo 100 Miler was first introduced in 2020 as part of the long-running BUTM event. It was an extension of the 100 km course to reach the total distance of 100 miles with a total elevation gain of close to 8000 hm. The 2023 edition will be a "stand-alone" event on an entirely new race course. The new race course has been designed to be mostly runnable over variable terrain ranging from gravel and dirt roads through forests, along paddy fields and wetlands and over open grasslands. There are also trail segments through forest and up over hills with spectacular views to both Mt. Kinabalu and the ocean. There will be aid stations every 10-20 km mostly set in quaint native villages.

Needless to say, this is a race you need to be physically and mentally prepared for. While in Deep Japan Ultra temperatures can be low and you might even encounter snow, the conditions in Sabah tend to be hot and humid for most of the race.

To register, go to the website of The Borneo Miler. We also add again the button that leads to Deep Japan Ultra in Niigata.

Fervent followers of our ATM channels may have already noticed a new entry on our 2023 Championship calendar called ‘The Borneo Miler’. A lot of speculation has been going around, and we are happy to confirm that the new event is indeed scheduled on the long weekend of 3 to 5 June and features a proper 100 miles race in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. In fact, The Borner Miler is not entirely new and is roughly based on the 100 miles race of the BUTM event in March 2020, just before the lockdowns. Rather than include it again under the BUTM event programme in March, event organiser Claus Pedersen from Borneo Ultra Trails decided to turn the 100 miles into a stand-alone event in early June. A real and dedicated feast for the ultra long distance trail runner, in other words. There won’t be any 100km, 70km or 50km that weekend. At ATM, we support the idea and have included the Borneo Miler as a points race for the Asia Trail Master Championship ranking, replacing BUTM.

According to the event director, planning for the Borneo 100-Miler is progressing well. An indicative course profile is provided below, ranging from almost sea level up to 600 m with spectacular views over the surrounding hills and river valleys as well as to the sea and Mt. Kinabalu. The course is mostly on runnable dirt tracks and gravel roads with some sections on smaller trails. The course passes through a variety of terrain ranging from paddy fields and wetlands to open ridgelines with spectacular views.

Stay tuned for more details and the opening of registration in due course. Meanwhile, if you like 100 miles races, mark this one hot red in your race calendar for 2023.

At last, we have the 10-year-anniversary of Borneo TMBT (‘The Most Beautiful Thing’) around Mt Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia this weekend. Cancelled twice due to covid, it’s been a rough two years for the event organisers of this Southeast Asian trail classic, and we are all delighted it’s back on, and with a large and attractive start list as well. The main event is of course the 109 km race, but for the first time runners will also score ATM Championship points on the equally competitive 50k race distance this year. Still, the eyes of most people will be on the meanwhile popular dual between local hero Milton Amat, winner in 2019 and 2017, and Hisashi Kitamura, second three years ago after a fantastic fight. The Japanese Karate Kit was in the lead at the last checkpoint, but had no answer when Milton Amat found an extra gear on the long moderate uphill climb to the finish line. Beforehand, Kitamura had announced he “would beat Milton in his home race”, which of course enhanced the spectacle for the Sabahan running communities and all the fans. This year, Kitamura has proven to be even better as a trail runner and has naturally again stated that TMBT is marked red hot in his race agenda of 2022. During the course of the season, Kitamura has proven to be more confident on technical trail courses, and running smarter and more tactical when the situation permits. But. There is a ‘but’. In August, Kitamura showed signs of fatigue, both physically and mentally, at the Punisher in Philippines and at the Jagoi Heritage Run in Sarawak, an ATM candidate race. In fact, the Jagoi 50k race course suited him perfectly, and yet it was … Milton Amat who won the race! Milton has been running exceptionally well this year, too, and clearly has increased his general running pace on flatter trails. The two went head-to-head until the finish at BUTM 100 in March half a year ago (Milton won after Kitamura got penalised for mandatory gear infringements), but since then it would appear that Milton has kept his top form and Kitamura’s has been slightly going backwards since winning Cameron Ultra 100 in mid-July. Was that planned and deliberate to take the edge off for several weeks? Kitamura is being coached, so it is certainly possible that we may see the very best Kitamura again this Saturday. And that would make for a superbly exciting race, which everyone can follow via our GPS live tracking platform (link https://live.asiatrailmaster.com/tmbt2022/).

There are of course other top Asian runners on the 109 km start list. To begin with the other Sabahan aces, Daved Simpat and Wilsen Singgin. Simpat has been running much better and consistent than before the covid crisis and has remained injury-free. A former winner of TMBT, can he score an upset tomorrow using all his experience and, who knows, his friendship with Amat should the latter have an off-day? The youngest of the Sabahan trail stars, Wilsen Singgin, has not yet shown the level of speed that is probably necessary to win a race like TMBT. But who knows? Singgin was an impressive winner of MMTF mid-December last year, and if the trails are indeed more wet, muddy and technical than usual following extensive rainfall of late- according to the race director- , Singgin might be in his element here.

From peninsular Malaysia, Akmal Adzmi is a podium contender, and so is Singapore’s Deric Lau, who was second in UT Chiang Mai just three weeks ago. Two other expats should be considered: Mark Steacy from Ireland living in Kuching, and Yakov Kozlov, Russian living in Kuala Lumpur. Steacy ran great behind Amat and Kitamura to third place in the previously mentioned Jagoi 50k race, and Kozlov is a known fast guy from the MKRC team.

In the women’s 109km, we can expect a battle for the victory between Sally Yap, this year’s new name in Malaysia, and Izzah Hazirah. Other podium contenders are on paper Isabelle Bedard, local hero Adelinah Lintanga, Laslin Sarawi and Siti Hajar Razali.

On the 50k start list, we find some big names of runners who have already scored wins in ATM races this season. Mohammad Affindi even already has two victories on his record. He will be up against Sapirin Suming, Malachy Kirwan and Moo Sat, but also Pierre Victor Morales, French but based in KL from the aforementioned MKRC Team. And in the women’s 50k, Singapore-based Belgian Vanja Cnops will aim to get another ATM points race victory after BTR in Bali in May. Cameron Ultra 100 race winner Vincere Zeng is also on the start list, and so is TMBT’s arguably best-known ambassador: Jassica, aka Jess, Lintanga.

Running back in time… 2019 - Race Finish of Milton Amat

Muhamad Affindi has already won 2 ATM 50k races this season. Hattrick this Saturday?

Last week Ha Hau beat all the men during VMM 100, can Vanja achieve the same on TMBT 50?

Jess Lintanga has been one of the ‘faces’ of Borneo TMBT Ultra since many years. She has podiumed a number of times, this year she will try again on her favourite distance, the 50 km