Posts tagged virtual
In 5 days: the 7 Missions Team Running Challenge
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We are nearly one week into 2021 and what everyone hopes to be a more pleasant year with - some months down the line - the resumption of (international) mass participation events. While we wait, we can get in shape. It is typical to gain a few kilos or pounds during the end-of-year festivities so here is your chance to motivate yourselves to get those running shoes back on and get out there on the trails or just on the roads. The 7 Missions team running challenge begins next week on Monday, and - in the spirit of ATM 500 - is going to be another pan-asian running community happening lasting for one week and with manageable requirements for all. Teams of four runners will be running a predetermined distance each day, with the goal of “completing the mission”. That requires three of the four team members to run the required distance (or 1 hour time on Wednesday). To add a bit of a competitive aspect, for those who like, the team that completes all 7 missions in the fastest time will be declared winner. The fastest runners and best climbers in each team will also be awarded via the Cheetah Cup and the Mountain Goat Trophy.

The 7 Missions is happy and grateful to be supported by T8, Uglow, OTSO and High Trail 9 Peaks Ulju. All sponsors will be handing out prizes to the best performing teams and to lucky draw winners as well.

We keep the registration open until Sunday night at midnight, so if you haven’t registered your team yet, you can still look for your team partners and do so in the next days via the link below on the Sportlicious Malaysia website.

Stay tuned for more news , and please also join our instagram and facebook pages to get the latest news and team presentations.

The 7 Missions opens for team registrations!
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The 7 Missions virtual team running challenge is opening for registration today. The latest collaboration between Asia Trail Master and Sportlicious Malaysia is set for 11 to 17 January 2021 as a prelude to what should become a year of optimism and international reunification after the dark months of covid-plagued 2020. The one-week virtual event follows the highly successful ATM 500 from last June, but is conceptually different and arguably more diverse. Both fun runners and elites have something to strive for. The essence remains the same, though: to take part in the 7 Missions you need to build a team of four runners.

Teams will be all-male, all-female or mixed (2+2) and feature a captain who collects the daily data and GPS files of his people. Teams will be invited to complete the daily Mission, i.e. a certain distance or timeframe to run, with minimum three of its members. It is not necessary to run together, and runners can skip three days as only four Missions are required per runner. Distances range from only 5km on Tuesday and Thursday to a 42.2km full marathon on Sunday.

After each day, the running time of the fastest three team members will be added up to produce the team time. Bonus time can be won every day, for instance when a team completes a Mission with all its four members, or when it reaches an accumulated elevation gain of 500 hm. At the end of the week, after Mission 7 - the marathon - the team who has completed all 7 Missions with the fastest time will be declared winner of the competition. While elite athletes therefore can focus on some nice sheer racing that they may have been missing out on for almost a year, the event emphasis will still lie on participation and the joy of running together as a team with a clear goal: complete the mission!

The event also offers two side-competitions designed for individual achievers. The Cheetah Cup is a point-based ranking for the fastest 15 runners, and the Mountain Goat Trophy will celebrate the runners who accumulate most elevation gain during the whole week.

Each of the 7 Missions will be thematised around a sponsor’s brand and a set of prizes will be offered to best performing teams and to lucky draw winners.

All teams will receive their minute of fame (or longer!) and will be celebrated throughout the entire week as they were during the ATM 500. The 7 Missions will launch an exciting new year of running in Asia, so… get your quartet ready and sign up to complete the 7 Missions come January!

In a nutshell, the 7 Missions: What is it ?

A new virtual team running challenge with a game-like concept that focuses on the fun of running together as a team, but also on pure athletic performances

  • When is it ?

    11-17 January 2021.

    From Monday to Sunday. Every day from midnight to 10 p.m. local time, except on the last day when all activity must end by 10 pm Singapore time (GMT+8).

  • Where is it ?

    Anywhere you like. You choose the place where you aim to complete the day’s Mission. Can be treadmill or your living room, too.

  • For who is it ?

    Anybody, anywhere in the world.

  • How can I take part in it ?

    You need to get a team together of four runners. Choose a team name and a team captain/coordinator, and have him sign up the team via our online registration form. Mandatory gear: a GPS tracker and a big smile! Oh, and please do read the conditions of entry so there are no misunderstandings.

  • How do I win?

    By taking part! … But joking aside, you can win The 7 Missions Challenge by completing all 7 missions in the fastest team time. Each day three of your four members need to finish. Score bonus time if you finish a Mission with all four members. Three categories: male, female and mixed. Oh, and by the way, the elite runners in your team can aim to win a separate points-based individual competition, too: the Cheetah Cup! And if you have a mountain goat, he could go for the High Trail 9 Peaks Trophy!

Schedule of The 7 Missions

  • Monday - Mission 1: 10 km

  • Tuesday - Mission 2: 5 km

  • Wednesday - Mission 3: 1 Hour Run For Bonus

  • Thursday - Mission 4: 5 km

  • Friday - Mission 5: 10 km

  • Saturday - Mission 6: 21.1 km (half marathon)

  • Sunday - Mission 7: 42.2 km (marathon)

For all details, regulations and conditions of entry, please link trough to our official 7 Missions landing webpage.

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Champion the Mountain - Virtual Vertical by Asia Trail Girls
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After the inaugural ATM 500 Virtual Run in June, which did not focus on any elevation gain to be done, mountain lovers can now look ahead to a serious virtual mountain run challenge. ‘Champion the Mountain’ will take place between 15 and 24 August in teams of four runners and it’s all about accumulating elevation gain!

Set up by Asia Trail Girls, the recently launched initiative by our 2019 ATM Champion Veronika Vadovicova, and Sportlicious Malaysia, the virtual event requires the teams to gain as many vertical metres as possible. Despite what some people may have thought, this is not a female-only event. The challenge is open to both genders evenly, meaning in each team of four should be at least two women.

Run at home up your stairs, run up a car park, run outdoors on an uphill road, run in the trails, up the mountain, run on a treadmill or at any place convenient to you. Each member of the team should achieve 2500 hm or metres of elevation gain within the event timeframe of ten days. The top 3 after ten days will be awarded by Sportlicious Malaysia and score prizes.

Visit the Asia Trail Girls official website for more details on race procedures, the terms and registration that will begin this Saturday on 1 August : https://www.asiatrailgirls.com/challenge .

ATM 500 - Day 14 (Final) - it's a wrap with 206 official team finishers!
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And so the first edition of the ATM 500 - Run Asia, Run Virtual team challenge has come to a fine ending. No fewer than 206 teams of four runners each completed the required distance of 500km within two weeks. Each team had its own ambitions, some wanting to finish as soon as possible, others preferred to distribute their efforts over the full 14 days and maybe try to set a high average speed, or to just get back to basics. For all teams, though, the joy of running together virtually, and an active outdoors lifestyle in general, was at the core of the whole experience. It was a wonderful time.

The last day on Sunday still added some salt and pepper to the fine dish.

The Singapore-based BSK Second Wave team completed the ATM500 Virtual challenge in less than 39 hours running time (37:55:48) and average speed of 13.18 km/h! With that amazing performance, the team still removed Sherpa’s Angels from the top spot in the Speedster Ranking! Of course, the latter team built around ATM champions John Ellis and Alessandro Sherpa, with David Longo and Chong Mei Sze, completed the 500K journey already in four days and had a significant focus on covering distance as quickly as possible. Still, it is a cute anecdote that teams from Singapore are at the top of both result lists in this inaugural edition of the ATM 500, Run Asia, Run Virtual.

The BSK Second Wave team was led by Belgium's Vanja Cnops, who contributed the longest distance at the fastest average pace to the effort: 136km in 9h 44min, an incredible average speed of 14km/h! The other team members were Britain's David Stevenson, South Africa's Bronwyn Small and Spain's Bernabé Sánchez. Each of them contributed between 117km and 125km in less than 10 hours running time also. This was the third team from the BSK informal running group. Their friends, the BSK Marina Loopers captained by Japan's Rie Sugaya, were the only team to finish the challenge on day 1. They were followed closely the morning after by the BSK Underdogs captained by Paulina Svoboda from the Czech Republic. Each of the three elite captains put in a remarkable performance in their own way: Rie was the fastest 125km one-day completer in the winning team, Paulina lead her team to second place at the end of day 1 with 80km ran despite working a full day at the office, and now Vanja has run the longest and fastest in the speediest team. The Singapore trail queens rule!

Spaniard Bernabé Sánchez Naffziger from the abovementioned BSK Second Wave Team is the only runner who actually signed up for two different teams (to our knowledge). After he finished his 145 km contribution for the BSK Underdogs on Day 2 of the ATM 500, he took a rest for 3 days and then began running again for the BSK Second Wave team! In total Bernabe ran 270 km in the past two weeks!

On the final day we also saw the arrival of the only China-based team in our challenge: the Bund Rockets in Shanghai. They as well recorded a quick average speed of 10.73 km/h and a total time of well under 50 hours: 46: 35:06. Congratulations!

A former ATM Champion also arrived today as part of the special “ATM Team” , which participated under the name “Team Ring-a-Ding-Ding”. Malaysia’s Tahira Najmunisaa was excited to be part of a team with William, Kirk and Kris. This was an ad-hoc team due to popular demand, and they actually only got going on Day 6. Nevertheless, they made it on Sunday by more or less taking equal shares with William covering the most mileage with 140km.

All the finishing teams on the last day were:

  • BSK Second Wave Team

  • The Bund Rockets

  • Sante Barley Drago

  • Purva Pascima

  • Team Ring-a-Ding-DIng

  • JB Ultra Team D

  • Aramalt Rungry Runners

  • Banteng Srunduk

  • JB Ultra Team E

  • Ayoyo Runners

  • The Antochi

  • 4c

  • Janji Lari

  • JB Ultra Team A

  • CH Runners

  • Santai Ajak

  • Crazy Strong 2

  • Team Kampung

  • Team Huru Hara

  • Komy Samba

  • BOG Team Beta

  • Kopi2 Harimau 1

  • No Run no Beer VN

  • Team Bulaga 500

  • Takut Lapar Team

  • Komy Kayla

  • Team Ang

  • At the Feet of the Grandmaster

  • Rojak Runners

  • Rinjani Meraung

  • Nang Antap 1

Six more teams reached the 500k benchmark. However, one of their runners did not meet the minimum requirement of 75 km and therefore they are listed at the bottom the results board with an asterix.

All finishers will receive an official finisher certificate in the next days. Those teams who tried, but did not make it, will receive a “trier certificate”.

The inaugural ATM 500 is a wrap! It has been a fantastic two weeks. Both Sportlicious Malaysia and Asia Trail Master are deeply honoured to have seen so many of you getting out there being active at your own speed and with your own objectives, spread out across Asia and even Europe. As a new concept, this was a major success and we will certainly be considering to set up a second edition. Based on the experience of the past fortnight, it will be even better. Stay tuned for ATM 500, Chapter 2 and in the mean time, keep on running! We hope to see all of you soon on the real trails of Asia again!

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The three Singapore “Trail Queens” at the centre of the three BSK teams who coloured the ATM 500 for two weeks: Paulina Svoboda, Vanja Cnops and Rie Sugaya!  (pic: Itr.run)

The three Singapore “Trail Queens” at the centre of the three BSK teams who coloured the ATM 500 for two weeks: Paulina Svoboda, Vanja Cnops and Rie Sugaya! (pic: Itr.run)

ATM 500 - Day 13: 57 active teams going into the final day
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And so we enter the final day of the ATM 500 already! The two-weeks-long team challenge is coming to an official conclusion at 10pm on Sunday night, and according to the data there’s still 57 active teams trying to reach the 500k benchmark tomorrow. On the penultimate day, Saturday, we had 29 big finishers bringing the total of official finishers to 175, and six more teams are under review - mostly because one of their runners did not fulfil the mandatory 75K requirement for each.

On this penultimate day, we also saw the arrival of a very fast squad from the Philippines: The Untouchaballs, consisting of Dan Sagayap, Jeric Occiano, Jeff Suazo and Dio Cerujano - all established distance runners. Their team strategy was for short stints on basically each day of the past nearly two weeks. Short stints with speed! Their total team time is 44:55:10 or an average speed of 11.13 km/h. That is slightly slower than Sherpa’s Angels on the Speedster List, but ahead of Tokyo Nomads and Team Uglow Asia 1. Of course, those two teams also had a focus on more distance per day, but still. Outstanding effort from this filipino team! Their sister team, The Untouchaballs 2, were also a finisher on day 13 and only slightly less quick in total: 49:20:02. This is a team built around Ray Cabanig, whom we also have seen performing well in ATM points races before already. Also Team Infinity Runners (53:35:42), Lahud Data Trail Newbies (54:35:50) and MKRC Not Fast Just Furious (55:51:25) had a lot of pace in them during the past two weeks.

The other finishers on day 13 were:

  • Kupi Kupi 76

  • Spartan SGX Kalabaw

  • SVR

  • Raya Perantauan

  • Garliari 05 ITB

  • The Kouros Club

  • MKRC To Infinity and Beyond

  • Team BJRC

  • Indonesian Spartans 6

  • PhilSKy Team B

  • LD Mix Runner

  • RIOT

  • Team UK

  • Coq Udang

  • Santai Tapi Sampai

  • SHEI Angels

  • BOG Charlie

  • ARA Venger’s Runner

  • RMC Virtual

  • Retro 1

  • Kopi Harimau 2

  • SolarCell Team

CONGRATULATIONS to all runners and we hope you had a great Saturday night celebration! To the 57 teams still out there trying to make it on the final day: GODSPEED!

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ATM 500 - Day 12: into the last weekend with 84 teams yet to finish
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The inaugural ATM 500 Run Asia, Run Virtual Team Challenge is approaching its conclusion this coming Sunday night. We enter the final weekend with 147 official finishers, 5 more finishers under review and 84 other teams still on the virtual course heading for the 500k mark. A few teams have DNFd, mainly due to injury of one of their runners. Generally speaking, these are fantastic results that outperform our expectations by far. Congratulations and many thanks to all of you for making this pan-asian community challenge such a success!

It is perhaps very fitting that the end of the virtual ATM 500 coincides with the first ‘real’ race in four months: at 10 pm on Friday, the main 100k race of the Dalat Ultra Trail event in Vietnam started with a big bunch of enthusiastic runners. We all know that Dalat is unique and that we will need to wait another three months for the next ATM Championship event, but both the ATM 500 and Dalat prove that Asia Trail Master and trail running in Asia have a bright future ahead.

The finishing teams on day 12 were:

  • Team Kouprey Cambodia

  • The One Peace

  • SuperFit Global Team 2

  • Running Therapists

  • Team Ana

  • Brutal Enduro

  • Indonesian Spartans 3

  • 005 MTA

  • LoukPongRunner

  • SG Trail Mix

  • Run For Beer

  • Indonesian Spartans 4

  • Ascent Tomatic

Kuddos to all! Two teams managed to stay below 50 hours as a team, running relatively short stints each day but still. Once more a team of Cambodia, Team Kouprey, stands out , but also the One Peace Team. Thumbs up also for the Run For Beer Team including Amy Khor and Robert Butcher, the latter doing an excellent job just coming out of recovery. The beers at the end of the day were well-deserved, indeed!

Last night in Spain, the ‘Los Angeles de Charlie’ also finished their 500k journey. The only full-European team has earned itself a special note and in the coming days we aim to find out more about the runners in the team, and how they got involved with the ATM 500.

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Run For Beer Tea: Robert Butcher prefers Guinness after the team’s successful challenge

Run For Beer Tea: Robert Butcher prefers Guinness after the team’s successful challenge

The Run For Beer Team: Amy goes for Belgian Hoegaarden upon completing the 500k

The Run For Beer Team: Amy goes for Belgian Hoegaarden upon completing the 500k

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ATM 500 - Day 11: last 3 days begin with 134 finishers
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As we enter the final three days of the ATM 500 Run Asia, Run Virtual team challenge, no fewer than 134 teams have already completed their running journey. On day 11, thirteen squads had the honour of announcing their arrival, coming from several countries. Among the better known elite athletes today was Pablo Diago Gonzales, the Singapore-based Spaniard and multiple race winner in the ATM series over the years. Gonzales formed a team called “Doctor Pain” with his pals in Singapore and it looks like he pulled them forward . Despite being busy on the bike in recent months, Pablo collected an amazing 210 km by himself. Running on nearly a daily basis he only required 20:11:49 for that mega distance. His teammates Fran, Raquel and Ramon did their shares nicely, too. A great effort.

Other teams who finished today were:

  • Rukut Rukut Team in less than 60 hours

  • OFRA Running Squad

  • KetaKebal I

  • BOG Alpha

  • SuperFit Global Team I

  • JB Ultra Team A

  • JB Ultra Team C

  • Bandung Runderground

  • Brutal Racing

  • Indonesian Spartans 5

  • SPR Virtuathlon

  • Vertical 2 Sky Mountain Runners 3

25 more teams are now within striking distance of that epic 500k mark and can be expected to reach it tomorrow!

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ATM 500 - Day 10: another 16 teams reach the virtual finish!
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On day 10 of the inaugural ATM 500 Run Asia, Run Virtual, no fewer than 16 teams from across Asia reached the virtual finish line. Team Hallasan from South Korea included. The team built around Been Lee initially looked like it was going to finish very early, but eventually the team took their time to complete the last dozens of kilometres. Still well within the time limit of 14 days, so congratulations to the full Korean team!

Arnie Macaneras, who finished a superb second in UTKC 100 last February, brought his Vertical 2 Sky Mountain Runners 4 home today. An all-women team called Limbang Ladies, presumably from Sarawak in Malaysia, also completed the 500k today - and even with decent pacing, too.

Other teams that finished on Wednesday were:

  • Indonesian Spartans 1

  • TDA Runners

  • Monte Alba Team

  • Pinoy Runners Japan

  • Team Happy Fit

  • ARA Kura

  • KedoDOrun Melata

  • Night Walkers

  • KedoDorun Professor and Prodigy

  • Ketakebal 2

  • Self Awareness Runners

  • Team US

  • US Underdogs

It is great to see so many teams completing their journeys this week. We now have 121 official finishers, meaning nearly half of the teams that started last week on Monday. We have no doubt that the remaining teams will likewise do everything possible to fulfil this challenge!

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ATM 500 - Day 9: 15 new finishers!
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On day 9 of the inaugural ATM 500 - Run Asia, Run Virtual team challenge, no fewer than 15 teams managed to complete their journey. Among those was Team Javan Hawk Eagle Trail from Indonesia, which also set a very quick total time of 47:51:48. This team also focused on running short but sweet each day, rather than on absorbing a big ultra on one day. Congratulations to Bugi, Rani, Azizul and Mujialif!

Team ROTW from Sabah came into finish, including well-known athetes Bernardo Sanchez and, of course, Wilsen Singgin - who won the Ultimate 230K in Chiang Rai, Thailand last October. Together with Rhey Yang and Emily Andrew they completed their 500k challenge on Tuesday.

The Vertical 2 Sky team from Mindanao in the Philippines, headed by experienced runner Rexel Aguirre arrived home as well. Aguirre himself ran no less than 234 km for his team!

Other teams who reached the conclusion of the ATM 500 were:

  • Cebu Mountain Goats

  • Team Brutal Strike

  • Bara94jul

  • Tutong Brunei

  • Team MCO

  • Team Long Distance Relay-tionship

  • Sayap Kiri Squad

  • Meratus Team

  • 4 Sekawan

  • UN Sonsog

  • KedoRun Glinding

  • Team Ariwo

CONGRATULATIONS to all runners in each of the above teams, indeed!

Day 9 brings the total of finishing teams to 103. With five more days to go, will the remaining 140+ teams also make it? We certainly believe in it!

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ATM 500 - Day 8: Vietnamese runners already claim the spotlight
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The second week of the ATM 500 - Run Asia, Run Virtual team challenge started how it will also end next weekend: with the spotlights shining full on Vietnam. The Dalat Ultra Trail is coming up this Saturday, the first ATM Championship race in four months and the only one for the coming three months as well. Vietnamese runners are clearly getting excited and are finalising their preparation for the big event in the cool southern highlands of the country. No fewer than three Vietnamese teams completed their ATM 500 journey on Monday - most likely no coincidence. Grand Dory & 3 Turbo Team, Team Run n Beer and RnB Dream Team 10 were happy finishers and with a few days of rest are likely to hit the trails in Dalat full on! Congratulations to all those runners!

A second team from neighbouring Cambodia also reached the virtual finish line of ATM 500. Team Phnom Penh thus follows into the footsteps of Team Kim KoK, illustrating that Cambodia has entered the regional running community in great style!

In Thailand, the CS Thailand arrived home and Canadian Michael McLean guided his Smiling Assassins home from his current base in Phuket as well. McLean is the captain of an elite squad that focused on training rather than competing over the past week, though. Fredelyn Alberto - co-ATM championship leader at the moment - ran three marathons in a row with a more-than-solid pace, something that even last year was still her weak point as an elite trail runner. Kristian Joergensen prepared himself in Denmark for his ‘Everesting’ attempt to the benefit of Medecins-sans-frontieres this coming weekend, and Tahura Trail winner Jeff Campbell put in a 35K in a time of 2:24 on day 1… In case anyone was wondering if this quartet had turned out-of-shape ..

Team Pyxis from Philipines was the only team from their country to conclude on Monday. Big thumbs up to them!

In Indonesia, the Lombok team RIOT was an excellent finisher on Monday. Lombok, the fantastic-for-sports island to the east of Bali is facing a particularly difficult year as the tourism industry has collapsed, so we hope that the performance of this running team inspires the local community to stay strong. Another team from Indonesia, this time from the main Java island, Team Wong Edan reached the virtual finish line as well. This team consists of two female ATM Grandmasters: Ina Budiyarni and Sri Wahyuni, the latter also known for ranking third in the 2018 Asia Trail Master Championship. The two experienced ultra runners were joined for the occasion by David Wahyu and Gandha Kristyandi. Especially for Sri Wahyuni, the ATM 500 turned out to be a very welcome pleasant experience. On her personal instagram, the Surabaya-based runner reported to have miscarried not so long ago, with all the emotional devastation that comes with it. The virtual ATM 500 challenge was her comeback to running, also thanks to the encouragement of her three teammates in Team Wong Edan. Given this background, it is amazing that Sri Wahyuni ran 140K for her team in the past week!

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ATM 500 - Day 7: first week ends with 78 official team finishers!
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The first week of the inaugural ATM 500 - Run Asia, Run Virtual team challenge is a wrap! For seven days we have seen great excitement throughout Asia and we are happy to see that no fewer than 78 out of 250 teams have already reached the virtual finish line, i.e. the 500 km mark. On Sunday, 22 teams joined the others on the official results board (see below PDF file), of course taking advantage of the weekend leisure time.

Team SoFARsogood from Singapore, consisting of Zen Chew, Sean Tat, Low Mun Cheong and Neo Lay Peng managed the quickest pace of those 22 teams with a total time sub-50 hours. This team also adopted a strategy of seven relatively short daily stints rather than going for an ultra long distance on any given day. Sean Tat ‘s 42K marathon was the highest in distance, but a time of 3:46 indicates a fine run, indeed! The Malaysian Baby Shark Dududu Team and the second Uglow team from Hong Kong, featuring a.o. Matt Leung and former Vietnam Mountain Marathon winner Sayaka Matsumoto also finished their 500k challenge with a similar approach.

People adopt the strategy best suited to their running characteristics. Several people even hike on mountain trails rather than run on flat roads. In the ATM 500 Run Asia, Run Virtual, all is possible. What counts is to cover a distance of 500k within 2 weeks.

The other teams who completed their journey today were:

  • THK2 Runners

  • Team Falcon

  • Butterflies

  • Ultra Trail Girls

  • Sakieu Ge Uyuhan

  • BOG Delta

  • Run4Life Davao

  • RFI Trail Virtuathlon

  • Team Pinoy

  • Antam Saja

  • MKRC Squad Ghouls

  • Team Otucan

  • Vertical 2 Sky II

  • Liposu logot2

  • Wong Edan Kui Kebas

  • Ular Sarkodes

  • Mana Mo Lari

  • Team Achilles Davao

  • Running Buddies 2601

  • Retro 2

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ATM 500 - Day 6: Office Girls On The run steal the limelight
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Day 6 brought another 12 teams to the finish of the inaugural virtual ATM 500 Team Challenge. One team in particular caught the attention: Team ‘Office Girls On The Run’ from Philippines. An all-ladies team who completed their 500k journey in an amazing time of 45:38:28, or an average speed of 10.96 km/h..

Of course let it be clear that the ‘Speedster List’ is just a gimmick. Teams who finished the ATM 500 on the first couple of days were obviously more focused on distance than on running pace. Nevertheless, it is a striking effort from this Filipino quartet consisting of Seannah Swift, Rose Russell, Nhea Barcena and Edna Agoo. They clearly had a dedicated strategy for this 500k challenge, and broke it up in six relatively short stints each per day. The longest stint was delivered by Barcena on day 1: 38 km in a time of 3:54, already indicating a solid pace. The rest of the week clearly did not tire her too much - maybe it was quiet in the office during the days - because on Saturday she recorded a stunning 15 km in 59 minutes 23 minutes! They were all flying on their last day, reportedly motivated to break the time of Sherpa’s Angels. Agoo did 32K in 2:44, Russell did 20K in 1:51:59 and Swift a 26K in 2:14:50! We certainly hope to see them back soon on the trails of the Asia Trail Master Championship!

2015 ATM Champion Arief Wismoyono led his Bandrex Bajigur team from Bandung in West Java home on Saturday as well. Wismoyono showed great form this week with fast times, such as 83K in 8:12:41 on Day 1 and a very fast 5k in 20:20 on day 3. It is great to see that Wismoyono still has that kind of speed in his legs, after two years were exactly that key element of elite running seemed to have gone missing. His protege in Bandung, Yusuf Aprian took the team’s lion share with 153km and Alan Maulana also proved his running velocity with 95K in 9:41:27. Novita Wulandari did great in completing 125k in a time of 20:53:39.

Over in the Davao area of Mindanao, the first of five Vertical 2 Sky teams reached the finish, and ironically it was “team five”. It’s the team led by Manolyn Mamugay, multiple race winner in her home region. Marjones Abugan, Marvin Concubierta and Henry Seron Jr flanked her for the past six days.

Also the Borneo Running Team, Team BisaKol, The Expandable Runners, Team Pace Siput Runners and Team AyuLizanCicaWeda were great finishers on Saturday.

The Borocay Spartans from Philippines, ASIA 2 from Thailand, TSRT from Brunei and Lari2ID from Indonesia all showed some quick times of their team’s respective members during the week. Those teams also completed their challenge now.

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