[Updated]
After a beautiful race at Siksorogo Lawu Ultra in Tawanmangu, Central Java, Indonesia, Philippines’ John Ray Onifa and Nepal’s Rashila Tamang crowned themselves as the 2023 Asia Trail Master champions. While Onifa dominated the 77km long men’s race from start to finish in one of his most impressive trail displays ever, Tamang battled with Singapore-based Vanja Cnops throughout the race and, eventually, won thanks to her superior descending skills coming down from Mount Lawu (3250m). Team Philippines won the ATM Team Championship.
The qualified ATM finalist runners took off in all-by-all good weather conditions at sunrise in Tawangmangu, near Solo in Central Java, Indonesia. Torrential rainfall in the days leading up to the race had caused some to fear a slow mudfest instead of the relatively runable trail course on paper. Always a fast starter, John Ray Onifa was clearly not intimidated by all the other stars and race favourites. By the second aid station he already had a gap on rising local star Risqi Kurniawan, who had scored 3 ATM race wins within Indonesia but never really competed at this level previously. Kristian Joergensen and Alessandro Sherpa followed a bit further, and then came Jeff Campbell with Hisashi Kitamura, the latter fresh from a 1:12 half marathon in Japan two weeks prior. Fastest woman was Singapore-based Belgian Vanja Cnops, just like a year ago, but Nepal’s Rashila Tamang stayed surprisingly close and immediately showed she was going to be for real. Angelie Cabalo was third, followed by Shindy Patricia - the most experienced female favourite and title candidate after her best ATM campaign ever with three race wins and a second place (Shindy Patricia is the 2023 overall female points leader in our ranking this year).
At the foot of Gunung Lawu, the highlight of the course with a long ascent and descent and its peak at 3250m above sea level, Onifa had already built up a gap of 20 minutes over his first two chasers. Looking powerful and totally lucid, Onifa already then seemed to have wrapped things up - as long as he stayed concentrated. Risqi Kurniawan on the other hand appeared to be struggling. Just before the gate to the mountain climb, he got caught by Sherpa and was even immediately under pressure by the Italian’s pace. Sherpa was having a good day - as always on the days when it really matters. Between AS 2 and AS 3 he even dropped Kristian Joergensen by a few minutes - which later even turned out to be decisive for their dual. Jeff Campbell was a bit in no man’s land by himself in fifth place, not far behind the other chasers but any hopes of still catching Onifa were fading quickly. The same applied for Kitamura, who later admitted that on a high mountain course like Siksorogo Lawu Ultra - fifth was the best result possible. The Karate Kit had to work for that, nevertheless, as Yoyong Sacayle from Philippines stayed within a minute for nearly the whole day. From a competitive viewpoint, Sacayle’s running pace was arguably the surprise of the men’s race. Known as a very skilled technical trail runner, he has found some good speed in his legs now, too, which looks very promising for 2024.
In the women’s race, Vanja only managed to open up a gap of about five minutes to Rashila Tamang as they began the Lawu ascent. Quite a long way behind them, Angelie Cabalo, Shindy Patricia, Rachel Chan and Akane Nemoto were close to each other. Siti Nuraini was further back, but on Lawu used her mountain trail abilities to bridge the gap with the aforementioned.
During the Lawu summit attack, the men’s order remained unchanged. Except that we were suddenly missing Risqi Kurniawan. Later it turned out he had made a U-turn shortly after beginning the main climb. Kudoes to the 26-year-old Indonesian for trying to keep up with Onifa and then Sherpa. It was brave to try, certainly without meaningful international racing experience. Meanwhile on the summit, Onifa had extended his lead even slightly more. Sherpa held onto second place and kept Joergensen in check by a few minutes. Vanja Cnops reached the top as first female, but as soon as they started the descent was caught and passed by Rashila Tamang. The Nepalese runner used all of her mountain trail experience to full effect to descend like a hawk and applied serious pressure on the more prudent Vanja Cnops - who still combines trail racing with road racing all year round. As they reached AS 5 following the Lawu descent, Rashila had built a lead of twelve minutes! The big question then: can Vanja switch her engine back on in the more flattish and runable remaining 25km of the race? Behind the top duo, Shindy Patricia battled her way passed Angelie Cabalo.
In the early afternoon, most participants had to cope with one or two heavy rain showers. The water affected especially those still on the Lawu trail, which became slippery and treacherous in parts. Up front, Onifa just kept powering on and in the end ran to the finish completely unbothered by anyone or anything. His finish time of 9h45 even exceeded his own expectation of 10 hours. For the second consecutive year, the men’s Asia Trail Master Championship title goes to a Filipino runner after Arnie Macaneras last year (Macaneras pulled out of this year's race a week previously citing a lack of training). 32-year-old John Ray Onifa had been dominant in our series since July with six race wins and no losses prior to Siksorogo. He has won the championship shoot-out, but also finishes the 2023 season with first place on the overall ATM points ranking.
Alessandro Sherpa secured second place by keeping a charging Kristian Joergensen behind until the finish. A fine performance by the 2018 ATM Champion, who last year scored third in the Mt Apo Final. With three ATM Championship podiums, Sherpa is the most successful runner in our series ever. Staying ahead of Joergensen and Jeff Campbell - on sheer pace - certainly raised a few eyebrows and further boosts his legacy as a competitive trail runner in Asia - where he is now staying just a few months per year. Kitamura secured his anticipated fifth place, just ahead of Malaysia’s Wilsen Singgin - who once again came to the foreground in the second part of the race. Singgin managed to grab sixth just ahead of Yoyong Sacacle. Another Indonesian, Akhmad Nizar, did well with 8th ahead of Yuta Matsuyama and Alex Tilley, who rounded up the men’s top ten after Malaysia’s Amierul Amin suffered from nasty cramps in the final kilometers.
Vanja Cnops pushed as much as she still could and did come closer, but in the end not close enough. Rashila Tamang is the first Nepalese ATM Champion. A wonderful success and proof of all the good things we had seen and heard of her during the season. While not exactly a newbie with already six years of experience, also for Rashila it has not been easy to get the required travel documents for racing internationally. Her visa for Indonesia only arrived three days before the race and just in time to catch the flight from Kathmandu. Let’s see if her ATM Championship title inspires many more Nepalese runners to raise their game and compete for international podiums against fellow-Asian athletes. In any case, we may have a points race in Nepal next April: the Jumla Rara Ultra was a solid Candidate Race this season…
Always smiling, Vanja Cnops expressed her happiness with second place, one place better than in the Final a year ago. While everyone at the finish line was expecting Shindy Patricia to take third place, it was instead Angelie Cabalo who appeared and crossed the line. The Filipino had shown great mental resilience by chasing and then overtaking Shindy again in the final five kilometres. A few minutes later, the experienced Indonesian admitted that Cabalo just had too much running pace in her still. Fourth place for Shindy, just like last year. ATM points leader 2023 is her price of comfort. Siti Nuraini scored fifth place with a great second half of the race. Akane Nemoto, struggling in the rainy descent, had to settle for sixth in her ATM debut season. Hong Kong’s Rachel Chan, second in MMTF 100 four weeks prior, took seventh place. The top ten was completed by Tamae Harada (fine result!), Yustina Wardhani (third Indonesian in the top ten!) and Mary Joy Sumanda, who stayed ahead of her compatriot Cecille Wael in another unexpected performance boost.
Team Philippines took over the ATM Team Championship title from Malaysia. While the Indonesian women scored a fantastic team result, two of the men in their team DNFd, which eliminated their chances. Thailand had a decent overall performance but without a stand-out performer in the top ten it was always going to be hard to win the team competition. Defending champions Malaysia knew beforehand it was going to be difficult this year as some of the country’s key runners were missing from the roster for a variety of reasons. On top, Amir Zaki had returned sick from a business trip to Europe and Rejlen James - a serious podium candidate for the women’s race - unfortunately had her day of the month on race day. Team Pilipinas was the favourite, and they delivered in great style with Onifa, of course, but also Cabalo, Sacayle, Versola and Sumanda as ‘over achievers’, compensating somewhat for Sean Aying and Cecille Wael, who both had a tough time on Lawu. Great team work!
ATM Championship SLU 77km - Men:
1. John Ray Onifa (PHI) - New Asia Trail Master Champion
2. Alessandro Sherpa (ITA/Asia Expat)
3. Kristian Joergensen (DEN/Asia Expat)
4. Jeff Campbell (CAN/Hong Kong)
5. Hisashi Kitamura (JPN)
6. Wilsen Singgin (MAS)
7. Yoyong Sacayle (PHI)
8. Akhmad Nizar (INA)
9. Yuta Matsuyama (JPN)
10. Alex Tilley (GBR/Asia Expat)
ATM Championship SLU 77km - Women:
1. Rashila Tamang (NPL)
2. Vanja Cnops (BEL/SIN)
3. Angelie Cabalo (PHI)
4. Shindy Patricia (INA)
5. Siti Nuraini (INA)
6. Akane Nemoto (JPN)
7. Rachel Chan (HKG)
8. Tamae Harada (JPN)
9. Yustina Wardhani (INA)
10. Mary Joy Sumanda (PHI)
ATM TEAM Champions : PHILIPPINES
John Ray Onifa
Yoyong Sacayle
Avelino Versola III
Sean Aying
Angelie Cabalo
Mary Joy Sumanda
Cecille Wael
Irish Glorioso
Roan Biguasen
