The 2nd edition of Vietnam Ultra Marathon in Mai Chau lived up to its hype as the men’s and women’s 75km were exiting races to follow from start to end. Both John Ray Onifa and Hau Ha had to work for their new triumph, making it all the more sweet, of course. The Filipino 2023 ATM Champion had to fend off a late attack by the surprising Alex Neyrinck, while the fast-starting Vietnamese 2022 ATM Champion was forced to defend a mere five minute gap against Veronika Leng the entire race. To note was also the superb third place on the podium of Nguyen Si Hieu, who ran the best race of his life to finish ahead of Lodewijk Vriens, Kristian Joergensen and others.

His 15th ATM race win also earns John Ray Onifa his wild card for this year’s ATM Championship Final at Mu Cang Chai Ultra Trail, also in Vietnam on 4 October. Hong Kong-based Briton. Alex Neyrinck, part of the T8 Team, gave Onifa a hard time in the second half of the race as he returned to the front after the long descent. Ultimately, Onifa still had a little extra in the tank for the last hill with under 10k to go to keep the advantage. He crossed the line in 7h15 , three minutes ahead of Neyrinck. Important for the rest of the season, he will run Lantau 70 in three weeks next, which may put Neyrinck in a strong position to get qualified for the Championship Final in October.

Nguyen Si Hieu, winner of VTM 70 two months ago and 6th place at the ATM Final in 2024, outgunned another Hong Konger, Lodewijk Vriens, in the final kilometres to get the podium. Amazingly, this happened just nine minutes behind Onifa. Kristian Joergensen settled for fifth place. He was always there until, a little surprisingly, he wasn’t anymore. He would finish just behind the first female, Hau Ha. Nguyen TienVo was the second Vietnamese runner in the finish, in sixth place. Also for him that was a fine result and an improvement compared to VTM in January. In 7th place, we have fast-starting Le Tan Hi. The Vietnamese runner dropped down the leaderboard after bravely trying to follow John Ray Onifa early on, but managed to catch his breath again and passed Singapore-based American Humberto Baeza, winner of Lam Dong Trail in Dalat last November, in the last section. Britain's Kristian Morgan takes 9th place, and Vietnam's Tu Do (Nguyen Duc Tuan Anh) completed the men's top 10.

In the women’s race, Hau Ha - in her new team colours - opened a small gap early on in the race and then managed to defend those four-five minutes throughout the entire 75km race. Eventually, Veronika Leng, the 2019 ATM Champion, understood the Vietnamese superstar was not going to slow down and crossed the finish line nine minutes behind her. The two global trail stars were split up in the result by Kristian Joergensen, proving what a high level they were performing at. Hau Ha was visibly delighted with her victory after a few weeks of change and turmoil, including a race defeat against the same Veronika Leng back in January. The latter nevertheless confirmed that 2025 is her definite return to the high-performance trail scene.

Third place on the podium went to China’s Wu Yuanyuan, who was basically running on an island - nobody immediately ahead of her, nobody behind her. In fourth and fifth came Tran Thu Trang and Christine Mitchell.

After Lam Dong Trail, Prenn Trail Summit, Vietnam Trail Marathon and Vietnam Ultra Marathon, all four Vietnamese points races of Season 10 have been wrapped up. The next Vietnamese event is the conclusion of our season: the ATM Championship Final at Mu Cang Chai Ultra Trail on 4 October. Runners can of course continue to score ATM points in order to qualify for that Final in all the remaining races on our calendar .

It is a trail blockbuster weekend in Vietnam with the Vietnam Ultra Marathon points race event in Mai Chau in the north, and Brah Yang Trail Summit near Dalat in the south as an ATM Candidate. Organised by the URS Team that brings you Prenn Trail Summit towards the end of each year, Brah Yang has attracted quite some Vietnamese trail stars including Loi Luong and Nghia Tran. The 60km main race stars at 9 pm on Saturday evening, meaning it is mainly a nighttime race.

As it is an ATM Candidate Race, there are of course no points to be scored. Loi Luong can afford to side-step away from VUM as she already has two big results in the pocket this season and is the top ranked Vietnamese female in our current Championship ranking. For Nghia Tran it is a bigger gamble. He scored a great second place in Lam Dong Trail last November, but certainly requires at least one more good result to finish the season in the top five of the men’s ranking and receive the invitation to join his country team in the ATM Finals at Mu Cang Chai Ultra Trail on 4 October. The same applies for Nguyen Van Chung, second in Prenn Trail Summit last December, and also choosing Brah Yang over VUM this weekend. And so are a few others solid local runners. Plenty of ATM points races still to go this season, however, and the attendance of many competitive runners certainly makes a great case for the new event, Brah Yang Trail Summit.

A few other expected contenders for the podium are To Tan Tai, Dau Tuan Kiet and Nguyen Dang Quang (4th in Lam Dong Trail). In the women’s 60km race, there is also Nguyen Thi Nguyet (2nd place in VTM), Truong Vo Bich Phuong and perhaps the young Kon Tap Trang.

Loi Luong choosing this weekend’s ATM Candidate over VUM

Nghia Tran

One of the female podium contenders: Truong Vo Bich Phuong

The 2nd edition of Vietnam Ultra Marathon, the newest event by the Topas Team, takes place in Mai Chau this Saturday and appears set to be one of the highlights of the season. Both the men’s and women’s 75km long main race category are filled with some of Asia’s finest trail running talent, including a number of former ATM Champions. Three weeks after winning the 9 Dragons 50km race, 2023 Champion John Ray Onifa is going for his wild card for this year’s Championship Final, but for a new victory he will also need to get passed Kristian Joergensen, Lodewijk Vriens and Nguyen Si Hieu - to name a few. In the women’s, we can look forward to a rather unique dual between 2022 ATM Champion Hau Ha and 2019 ATM Champion Veronika Leng (previously Vadovicova), who is making her first appearance on the ATM circuit since then.

VUM on paper seems to be the easiest of the four events that Topas is putting on each year. The weather can of course throw a spanner in the works. Looking at the 75km course profile, by far most of the 3300 hm is concentrated in the first part of the race, basically the opposite of last week’s V Trail in Laos. As always, this implies participants need to leave something in the tank for the more runable second part. The start and finish is in a place called Ban Lac. Flag off for the 75km is scheduled for 3 am, which implies a few hours of nighttime running.

Since the start of the year, there’s been quite a bit of hubbub around Vietnam’s leading trail star Hau Ha. First, there was a slightly disappointing result in Hong Kong, comprehensively outpaced by Sunmaya Budha and Veronika Leng, and then came the sudden announcement of a change in main sponsorship and two weeks later even a change in her coaching support. After four successful years with Mude Sports, Hau Ha has embarked on a new adventure and VUM will be her first appearance in new colours and with new support crew. How much all of that will be on her mind at the starting line this Saturday remains to be seen, but in any case Hau Ha will need to be focused on the race at hand if she wants to be victorious. Veronika Leng has clearly returned to peak form after the covid years and after giving birth. She’s even not new to Vietnam. In 2019, Veronika scored a fantastic win in Vietnam Jungle Marathon and nearly beat Hisashi Kitamura on that occasion! Side-note: it was super hot that day, too. Both runners have ascended the competitive ladder via ATM in the past and are now genuine world class trail runners. It is unlikely, and very understandably, they will not feature in our ATM Championship for the time being, but we are delighted to seeing them both compete in a race on our circuit once again. Regardless who finishes first on Saturday, the main winner will be the sport and the fans.

There is still a third spot on the podium, of course, with several potential contenders for it. China’s Wu Yuanyuan, Vietnam-based Christine Mitchell and Philippines’ Julie Mae Marquez, if she recovered from last weekend’s Mount Kalatungan 55km in which she finished a surprising second place.

Just how long can they keep up with the men, by the way? John Ray Onifa normally tends to go out very fast, but in recent months he has been showing a lot of maturity and perhaps more clever race tactics than ever before. Onifa knows all of his expected competitors for this Saturday very well. If he allows Kristian Joergensen and Lodewijk Vriens to set the pace initially, it may boost the chances of Nguyen Si Hieu to get in the mix for the biggest prize. Si Hieu is a master-tactician and is coming off a great victory and confidence-boost in Vietnam Trail Marathon last January. For Dutchman Vriens, VUM will be a slight step into the unknown. Based in Hong Kong, we know him from winning the first stage of the 9 Dragons last year. Ahead of Kristian Joergensen that day. Positions were reversed the day after, but it does mean Vriens has the speed to give everyone a run for their money. Let’s also see what Singapore-based American Humberto Baeza can do this weekend. Baeza is the joint overall points leader in the ATM Championship ranking together with Chris Timms. He won Lam Dong Trail 75 in Dalat last November, and also scored a 2nd place in the more technical Dieng Trail Run in Indonesia at the start of Season 10 late September 2024.

Hau Ha: a fresh start this weekend

Back on the ATM circuit for the first time since her title-winning year 2019: Veronika Leng

Winner of VTM 70 two months ago: Nguyen Si Hieu

John Ray Onifa: outstanding at 9 Dragons three weeks ago

MEDIA RELEASE. - We are very happy to announce that the 2025 Asia Trail Master Championship Final will be held in Vietnam at the 5th edition of the incredibly scenic Mù Cang Chải Ultra Trail event in Yen Bai province, in the Northwest of the country. Mù Cang Chải was part of our 2022 ATM calendar and has only grown more in popularity since. The 2025 edition is scheduled for 4 October, making it a perfect host for the conclusion of Season 10, which began in Indonesia late September 2024. The ATM Championship Final race will take place on the 75 km long course with qualified runners in national country teams and with a separate start time. . The event programme of course also features other categories that are open for the general public, and three of those also offer a point for the ATM Grandmaster Quest: 100 miles, 100km and 75km. Less ambitious runners can also sign up for the 55km, 25km and 12km, implying that all ATM Finalists can bring lots of friends to Mù Cang Chải in moral support!

It will be the first time the ATM Championship Final takes place in Vietnam. Over the past few years, Vietnamese trail runners have become increasingly competitive and visible. Not in the least thanks to Hau Ha, the young woman and single mum, from nearby Sapa, who burst onto the ATM trail scene in 2022, winning our women’s championship on Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines. It was the beginning of Hau’s remarkable success story on the world stage . So far, Hau Ha is the only Vietnamese trail runner who has managed to win our championship, but great athletes such as Nguyen Si Hieu, Loi Luong and Julia Nguyen Thi Duong have been contenders and podium placers. With Mù Cang Chải as host of this Season’s Final, the Vietnamese community has home advantage and an excellent opportunity to show there is more than only Hau Ha!

Mù Cang Chải Ultra Trail is organised by the company Viet Jungle and is located in Yên Bái province, northwest of country capital Hanoi. It’s a large area famous for its spectacular rice terraces and hiking trails. It is mainly populated by the Black Hmong, a subgroup of one of Vietnam’s largest ethnicities.

As per tradition, the ATM Final will be held with all top runners together in one and the same race. The 75 km long course includes the best and most scenic parts of the Mù Cang Chải trail network and has a total elevation gain of 3700 hm. There are technical jungle trail sections, but the majority of the trails are quite runable, subject to weather conditions, of course. The race will start at Khuôn Viên at 5:30 am, roughly half an hour before sunrise. The finish line is at the same location.

As in the past three years, runners need to qualify for the ATM Championship Final by scoring ATM points throughout the season. Per Asian country, maximum five male and five female runners - the highest point scorers - will receive the invitation to join the Final. Former ATM Champions can score a wild card independent of the points ranking. A minimum of 2 ATM race finishes is required for everyone. The invitation includes 3 nights accommodation (1 in Hanoi, 2 in Mù Cang Chải), shuttle bus Hanoi-Mù Cang Chải-return, free race entry and the usual race pack collection perks. The top 10 male and female, plus the best performing team, will be invited to the ATM podium ceremony after the race.

The reigning ATM Champions are Jeff Campbell (Canada/Hong Kong) and Priya Rai (Nepal). Both are scheduled to defend their respective titles at Mù Cang Chải . The defending team champion is Team Nepal.

Below is the Mù Cang Chải event facebook page, where you can find all details on the event and also find the link to register for the open public races.. All specific information and details about the ATM Championship Final will be published, as usual, on the ATM Website on our dedicated webpage, and shared via our social network.

To get excited already, have a look at the 2025 teaser video and gallery below!

All details on the ATM Championsip Final will be made available on this dedicated web page.

Hau Ha is the only Vietnamese ATM Champion in our 10-year history

Last year, Loi Luong scored a great 4th place in the women’s ATM Championship Final in Malaysia

Nguyen Si Hieu was 6th in last year’s men’s ATM Championship at Borneo TMBT in Malaysia

We are happy to announce a new Candidate Race in Vietnam, organised by the Unique Events & Media team that also brings you Prenn Trail Summit. Brah Yang Trail Summit takes place in Di Linh in Lam Dong Province and features 60km, 35km, 27km and 10km options with the longest category scheduled to start on Saturday night. .

Brăh Yàng Mountain is a place with a lot of spiritual value in the region. The race will go through the wild terrain of Brăh Yàng peak and other large and small mountains in the middle of the vast Di Linh plateau. The trail course will see a lot of green tea hills, but also goes through coffee fields and villages of the K'Ho Sre ethnic group. Those choosing the 60km need to be aware of the elevation gain in the race: 3900 hm, which is quite serious. The highest altitude is 1848m above sea level, so runners should also be mindful of potential chilly conditions.

Information on accommodation options and transportation can be checked on the comprehensive event website, linked below via the button. Important to note for international runners is that you can fly to Liên Khương International Airport in Đức Trọng, which lies between Dalat and Di Linh. From Ho Chi Minh City there is a bus travel time of approx 7 hours, so you might wish to opt for the domestic flight instead.

A very cold edition of VTM with temperatures barely rising above ten degrees celsius saw two impressive race winners in Nguyen Si Hieu and Giang Thi Linh. Both were not necessarily surprising, yet the way they accomplished their feats deserves a big round of applause. They also opened their Season 10 points account with 500 , which can be significant further down the line with the season’s championship final anticipated to take place in October. More than 2000 runners took part in this year’s Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau, with over 300 on the longest distance category of 70km - also the category that offered points for the ATM Championship ranking and Grandmaster Quest.

The men’s race was expected to be quite open with several local runners up against the young coming-man Godwin Mirar from Philippines and France’s Gaetan Morizur for the prizes. Mirar and Nguyen Si Hieu were fastest out of the blocks and had a small advantage over Nhon Trong and Le Quang Hoi, with Adam Nguyen Tien Vo, Gaetan Morizur and Tu Do a little further back. Tomohiro Mizukoshi, fresh from a 4th place at Prenn Trail Summit three weeks ago, was flirting with the top ten. Over halfway, on the way to CP 5, Mirar arrived first by himself with a couple of minutes advantage over Si Hieu. The latter had not yet given up, however. Gaetan Morizur was moving up the leaderboard and was beginning to threaten the leading duo as well, as Le Quang Hoi, Nguyen Tien Vo and Tu Do lost a bit of contact with the fight for podium. The last 20km proved dramatic for 24-year-old Godwin Mirar, as the cold temperatures really got to him and resulted in cramps and an overall drop in performance. Nguyen Si Hieu came back to him by CP 6 and opened up a gap immediately aftewards. Meanwhile, Morizur kept on closing in and would soon also catch and overtake the fading Mirar. When Si Hieu heard that Morizur was chasing him down, it turned out he still had an extra gear and upped the pace again himself. That settled it. He took his 4th career ATM race win with Morizur in second. Nhon Trong also had a strong end of the race and still caught the unfortunate Filipino to complete the podium in third place. Newcomer Le Quang Hoi did well to secure fifth, just behind Mirar at the finish and just ahead of Tien Vo.

The women’s race also saw three, four runners competing tightly for most of the race. However, Giang Thi Linh was always in the lead by herself. Nguyen Nguyet and Malaysia-based Filipino Ritzy Amor were just a few minutes behind and kept the pressure on, even when Linh later admitted she had no idea they were so close. Nguyen Nguyet would more or less keep pace with Linh until the finish to score a great second place. Amor, just like her compatriot Mirar, struggled in the final 20km with the temperature and also lost the podium still to Tran Trang. It’s not always ‘too hot’, it can also be ‘too cold’ for some runners…

The next Vietnamese points race is the Vietnam Ultra Marathon in Mai Chau on the second weekend of March.

Just like a year ago, Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau opens the new year in the Asia Trail Master Championship series. An incredibly scenic 70km points race, some four hours away from capital city Hanoi, organised by the famous team at Topas. This year, the men’s race will see some of the most accomplished Vietnamese trail runners up against Filipino coming man Godwin Mirar and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Frenchman Gaetan Morizur.

It will be Mirar’s second Vietnam appearance in just two months. However, at November’s Lam Dong Trail in Dalat he was together with Kristian Joergensen when a marshal pointed them into the wrong direction. An unfortunate DNF, and Mirar is keen to set the record straight this Saturday. After all, he has done very well in Vietnam before despite his young age of still just 24. In 2023, he was third behind Onifa and Joergensen in VMM 50km. Trying to win and score a solid result is the objective for the Filipino from Bukidnon now. He is up against some of the most competitive local runners, such as Nguyen Si Hieu - sixth in last season’s ATM Championship Final - , Nguyen Tien Vo, Nguyen Duc Tuan Anh and last but not least Nhon Trong. A few years ago, the latter would arguably be the top favourite on this distance and this type of course - overall quite runable. But Nhon Trong has shifted his main focus on the 100 miles and long ultras in recent memory. Let’s see how much speed and explosivity he still carries on the 70k. Calling Gaetan Morizur a ‘dark horse’ would be weird, but the Frenchman is kind of on the comeback trail as a podium and victory challenger after taking a break as a fresh father. If Morizur is on cue again, then all the others better watch out. He did win races like Dalat just a couple of years ago. Let’s also see what Trung Nguyen can do this weekend. Technically Singaporean but now again living in Hanoi, Trung is also one of those who on any given day challenge for a podium finish.

The women’s 70km also has no 100% clear favourite, and many contenders for a win. Giang Thi Linh is being mentioned quite a bit, and there’s also Vy Le Phuong , Tran Thu Trang and Nguyen Thi Nguyet. In any case, there’s a good chance we will celebrate a new race winner in our ATM series’ history. There’s no Hau Ha or Loi Luong this weekend.

The 2025 edition of VTM has a very big start field for the 70km , with well over 300 participants on the longest distance category. This includes many international runners, so we never really know if someone amongst them can cause the upset. What we do know is that it will be a rather chilly edition, with temperatures forecast not to rise much above 10 degrees. That’s always interesting in a South-East Asian country, where “winters” by default are short. The course is actually a bit short of 70km, and has an estimated elevation gain just shy of 3000 hm. Most of that comes in the first part.

ATM will be reporting live from VTM in Moc Chau from start to finish on our usual channels facebook, youtube and instagram. The 70km race starts at 5am.

Reigning ATM Champion Jeff Campbell has won his first points race after winning our title in September at Prenn Trail Summit in Dalat, Vietnam. The Hong Kong-based Canadian was clearly faster than the others in great weather conditions,, clinching victory in 5h23 - half hour ahead of Chris Timms, based in SIngapore. . The surprising Ho Van Binh scored third ahead of Japan’s good old Tomohiro Mizukoshi and Nguyen Thanh Loi in fifth. For Campbell this is a useful first ATM race just before the end of the year. As all past champions in our series, he can score a wildcard for the next ATM Final by just finishing two ATM promoted races during the season. Also for Chris Timms and Tomohiro Mizukoshi, Prenn proved great in that respect. Timms already won UTOP 60 in October and, given his tight working and travel schedule, should not need to stress himself out too much for the remainder of the ATM season. The same applies for Mizukoshi, even though competition to enter Team Japan is growing. As the 2025 ATM Final is likely to take place in Vietnam in October, the third place of young local talent Ho Van Binh may also prove very important for qualification into Team Vietnam later on.

The women’s 55km points race went to Nguyen Thi Kim Anh in a time of 7h44, just six minutes ahead of Tran Thi Hanh An and Chu Thi Vinh Lien.

The 180km race category - also a championship points race - was won by Vietnam’s own Tran Minh Tuyen in 38h17. He finished over 1 hour ahead of Le Trong Nghia in second place. Third place is for Nguyen Van Chung, ahead of Hoang Huu Thang. Strong performances by all four of them. The women’s 180km had a bit of controversy, even though race rules are what they are. Loi Luong, fourth in last season’s ATM Final, ran a wonderful first miler and crossed the finish line first, but got herself relegated to the bottom of the women’s result for having missed a checkpoint earlier. The same applied to the other female star runner Le Thi Hang. It is very hard, but also hard to argue with. At least, in ATM context, both will still collect a decent haul of championship points as not many female runners completed the 180km race course - just five to be precise. Nevertheless, the official race win went to Japan’s Risa Kamiya - her first ever. Risa was an ATM Finalist at Borneo TMBT , so not entirely unknown and she did well staying ahead of Cao Thi Cam Van, Malaysia’s Yvette Chong Mi Chin and Philippines’ Shekinah Velasquez.

The next Vietnamese points race comes up very soon: Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau on 11 January.

Le Thi Hang and Hoang Huu Than

Loi Luong ran a wonderful first-time ever “miler+”, but by missing a CP recording got herself relegated

Japan’s Risa Kamiya scored her maiden ATM race victory at Prenn 180

The last points race event of 2024 is upon us this weekend. Starting on Friday morning already, Prenn Trail Summit in Vietnam’s meanwhile famous Dalat offers 182km and 55km race categories for ATM Championship points, while Grandmaster Quest runners can also go for the 100km category. Prenn is a new event on our main calendar, following a successful Candidate Race review last year. It takes place in a different area than the currently still better known Dalat events. Organiser James Nguyen, who has been running in ATM promoted events himself, and Unique Events are ambitious and keen to provide stellar experiences for their participants. Prenn is a tea resort, acting as the base for the event.

Despite being a very much end-of-year event, Prenn Trail Summit has attracted quite an international field of runners, and even including our reigning ATM Champion Jeff Campbell. The Hong Kong Canadian will be making his first appearance as champion on the 55km , a distance he has always loved to attack on. It’s been three months since he narrowly outgunned Hisashi Kitamura in a brave race at Borneo TMBT Ultra, but recent performances within Hong Kong suggest he is still very much “on call”. He should be in any case, because also Chris Timms will be running the 55km in Dalat this Saturday. Timms is in the best shape of his life, which he illustrated at the same ATM Final race, coming in in fifth place, and a month later at Ultimate Trails of Penang, winning the 60km race - his first ever victory in our series. Timms will find the Dalat trails also very much to his liking. Campbell has Vietnamese trail experience and certainly starts as the favourite, but Timms will make sure he stays focused. Another ATM regular who can contest the podium is Japan’s Tomohiro Mizukoshi. As with Timms, Dalat should suit him. No longer the youngest of the competitive bunch, but a podium is definitely a possibility. Besides, Mizukoshi is just 1 point away from becoming a 4-star Grandmaster. It won’t happen this weekend of course - 55km is not the minimum required distance of 70km - but it illustrates how much experience Tomohiro has gathered running mainly outside of Tokyo.

Vietnamese ‘elites’ are primarily going for the longest race distances, in this case the massive 182km. Last year’s Prenn winner Nguyen Van Chung will be there, as well as Hoàng Hữu Thăng and Trần Minh Tuyê. However, it’s Loi Luong who captures the attention on the female start list. The best-placed Vietnamese runner in the 2024 ATM Championship - finishing 4th in Borneo TMBT - is aiming for her first ‘Miler’ and it’s even a ‘Miler+’. She will have a good guide in Le Thi Hang, the leading lady in Vietnam of the long ultras. There’s more strong women, though. Risa Kamiya from Japan and Yvette Chong Mi Chin from Sarawak in Malaysia both can aim for a podium finish. In recent months, Yvette’s running pace has clearly increased and if she can manage her energy tank over the full 180km she should not be underestimated. The same applies for Philippines’ Shekinah Velasquez. Her first long ultra of this kind , but she comes in with proven credentials obtained in races where the going gets tough.

ATM will be broadcasting and updating live from Prenn Trail Summit in Dalat starting on Friday morning at 8:30am local time. Stay tuned on our facebook , youtube and instagram pages.

Jeff Campbell, reigning ATM Champion

Chris Timms, fifth in the 2024 Asia Trail Master Championship

Loi Luong , 4th in the 2024 Asia Trail Master Championship

Tomohiro Mizukoshi could be aiming for another ATM podium this weekend on the 55km

Singapore-based American runner Humberto Baeza took his maiden ATM race victory on the 75km at Lam Dong Trail in Dalat, Vietnam, last Saturday. Baeza inherited the race lead halfway through when Kristian Joergensen and Godwin Mirar were, unfortunately, pointed in the wrong direction by a confused marshal. As they got onto the shorter and just-as-marked 45km course, they did not realise it in a situation reminding many of last year’s Korea 50k, where the same happened. Still, it takes nothing away from Baeza’s great performance to finish the course in 8h43’ and half an hour ahead of Vietnam’s coming man Tran Van Nghia. After already scoring 2nd place in Dieng Trail Run in September, Baeza is now the overall points leader in our Season 10 ranking and he has already fulfilled the minimum requirement of two race finishes for qualification for the ATM Championship Final next year September. The women’s 75km race also had a remarkable winner in the sense that the very experienced Julia Nguyen Thi Duong showed recent coming-girl Loi Luong she is still around as a competitive athlete.

Behind Baeza and Tran Van Nghia, another SIngaporean runner took third on the podium: Scott Pugh from the Endurance Asia podcast. A great performance by him as well, especially when seeing who he kept behind. Nguyen Dang Quang and India’s only ATM Grandmaster Shashwat Rao both have a considerable competitive pedigree in our series.

Julia Nguyen Thi Duong finished ten minutes ahead of Loi Luong and they were sixth and eighth overall, respectively. It proves both their talent as competitive trail runners. For 35km, Malaysia’s 2-star Grandmaster Yvette Chong was looking good for third place, but cramps in both her legs decided otherwise. Pham Ngoc Dan Chau scored the women’s podium in the end.

Kristian Joergensen and Godwin Mirar topped the leaderboard early on until their misfortune

Scott Pugh managed to score his first ever podium in an ATM points race

Julia Nguyen Thi Duong had never left, but made sure everyone remembers she is still here

Humbero Baeza : first ATM race win and second podium in two months

The 75km race started at 3am

Loi Luong had to settle for second

Pham Ngoc Dan Chau got herself third on the women’s podium

After a short break since UTOP in Malaysia, Season 10 of the Asia Trail Master Championship continues this weekend with the 3rd edition of Lam Dong Trail in Dalat, Vietnam. The 75 km race is the one that counts for both championship points and Grandmaster points, and we are looking forward to a very competitive men’s race with Quang Tran - winner of the previous two editions - facing none other than Kristian Joergensen, Godwin MIrar and in-form Nhon Trong - himself already twice second in Lam Dong.

The Valley of Love just outside the city centre of Dalat features again as the host venue for the event. Runners will do a 75km counterclockwise loop through hilly pine forests with start in the early hours of Saturday morning. Weather permitting, this is quite a runable course as usual in Dalat, with cool temperatures and clear forest trails. That benefits the likes of Quang Tran, of course, but he will certainly face a stern challenge this year with Joergensen and Mirar, both based in Philippines. Joergensen was third in last year’s ATM Championship and has already collected 7 ATM race wins since 2016. There is a question mark about his current performance level, however, following a nasty fall in training a couple of weeks ago. Godwin Mirar is the coming-man in Philippines, still just 24 years old. He still focuses on short distances mainly - and rightly so - but in Dalat he would like to give the 75km a try. He is not new to Vietnam: in 2022 Mirar already took third place in VMM 50km , not far behind the aforementioned Kristian Joergensen and his idol John Ray Onifa. Nhon Trong and Le Phi Lanh are the other two Vietnamese trail stars who could battle for podium. Nhon Trong is in good form lately, but has been focusing on the long ultras. Does he still have the speed to fight for the highest rankings in a 75km race? Let’s certainly also keep an eye out for India’s Grandmaster Shashwat Rao, who on his day can be very quick, indeed. Rao has won the upcoming Malnad Ultra on a course that can be compared somewhat to Lam Dong. Also Singapore’s Scott Pugh from the Endurance Asia podcast should finish among the top runners.

In the women’s 75km race we could see a nice dual between Loi Luong and Julia Nguyen Thi Duong . Both have won Lam Dong before, and for Loi Luong it was actually her competitive breakthrough last year. The Mude Sports runner and teammate of Hau Ha outran Angelie Cabalo a year ago, a performance she has backed up since a few times, including fourth place in the latest ATM Championship Final at Borneo TMBT in September. There’s several other contenders for podium, including Malaysia’s 2-star Grandmaster Yvette Chong Mi Chin, who has recently shown strong pace on medium distance trails, resulting a.o. in a podium spot at Simpur Ultra 50 in Brunei in June.

Last year’s podium with Quang Tran ahead of Nhon Trong

Nhon Trong has placed second twice in this race

Loi Leung was the surprise winner last year, but has more than confirmed this feat afterwards

Kristian Joergensen: is his current form good enough for an 8th ATM race win?

The latest brainchild of David Lloyd and his team at Topas Travel is called Vietnam Ultra Marathon and joins the Asia Trail Master Championship and Grandmaster Quest calendar on 8 March 2025. The second edition of this event in Mai Chau, roughly three hours southwest of Hanoi, features a 75km category that is the one to focus on. VUM therefore joins VTM, Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau, in January on our current 2025 event calendar.

The events organised by Topas, spearheaded by VMM in Sapa, are among the most popular in Southeast Asia every year and we are indeed delighted that we will again have two of them with races for ATM points. Runners who took part in the first edition of VUM last March gave rave reviews of stunning landscapes on beautiful trails between remote villages. As the website describes, the route climbs up to the fabled land of Hang Kia, where Hmong communities live not far from the border with Laos. For many years, this area was completely off the tourist map. Now you can run here and discover another side of Mai Chau.

From a competition point of view, the 75km race profile shows the toughest sections with most elevation will be tackled in the first half. Pure mountain and technically skilled trail runners may need to use these, before the speedsters can get their running pace to work in the second half.

Registration is open already and can be done via the official website of VUM linked below. As usual, there’s travel packages on offer that take the hassle out of everything. Transport from Hanoi departs from the Turtle Lake Brewing company, same as for the other events organised by Topas.