The Altai Ultra Trail in Siberian Russia certainly ranks among the more remote trail races in Asia, yet over 200 domestic runners made the trip to race 100 km, 50 km or 30 km in the mountainous border region between Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Altai Ultra Trail was a Candidate Race for the 2017 Asia Trail Master series.  

Despite rather chilly and cloudy weather, the event went very well. Race director Pavel Rozanov: "The 1st edition of Altai Ultra Trail exceeded our own expectations, it was great! Most runners told us afterwards they will return next year, which is the best feedback we could have imagined."

Mikhail Kozyr from Novosibirsk proved to be the outstanding athlete on the longest distance, as he completed the 100 km in 15:46:41, nearly two hours faster than his nearest competitors Viktor Krasnousov and Renat Zharmulhambetov. Best woman was Sofia Beitzel in 19:58:54, ahead of Tatiana Maslova and Nadezhda Bondareva. We are looking forward to see all these runners also compete for points in the Asia Trail Master championship soon. 

On the event website of Altai Ultra Trail, you can find several photo sets and videos of this year's event. 

Eastern Russia is also represented in this year's Asia Trail Master series via the Mount Falaza Ultra Trail in Primorye, close to Vladivistok,  on 16 October. The race there goes through pristine autumn forest and the climb of Mt Falaza. Read more about the Mt Falaza Trail Challenge here. 

It was to be expected that the new version of MRU, named Rinjani 100, would be the ultimate challenge for any trail runner, and so it proved to be except for one outstanding athlete: Jan Nilsen. The Norwegian living in Thailand had made this 100k race with 9100 metres of elevation gain one of his goals of the season, and he succeeded big time. And as icing on the cake: Nilsen was the ONLY finisher of the race within the 36 hour cut off time, completing the race in 26 hours and 35 minutes. And that just proves his dominance last weekend. Taking into account that 2015 Asia Trail Master champion and winner of last year's MRU 52k, Arief Wismoyono, threw in the towel just over half way the race, Jan Nilsen's victory in the Rinjani 100 has gone down as one of the greatest sporting achievements in the still short history of the Asia Trail Master series. This is how trail legends are made. 

It was not that people did not try. They were 52, the runners who took up the challenge last weekend. Other than Nilsen and Wismoyono, also reputed runners such as Yohanis Hiareij, Alan Maulana, Regis Cabaret, Ali Ajis Rasil, Hendra Hiswanto and Abdul Aziz Dermawan were present. Abdul Aziz Dermawan and Siswanto did actually complete the course, but two hours outside the time limit. Mila Marlina aimed to win the female race and get her Asia Trail Master season in a higher gear, but she fell and unfortunately suffered an injury. Other than the tough climb to the Rinjani summit, the course had several very technical parts. 

Jan Nilsen was also impressed by the race course: "The Rinjani 100 is a brutal race. Reaching Rinjani summit is so tough mentally and physically. The loose sand and the altitude/ elevation gain combined with the steepness is brutal and you don't really have anything left for the rest of the climbs. The organisation did a great job with clearing trails and the marking was good. However, the aid stations only had water and some fruit at a few places. I hear they ran quickly out of water at aid stations, but that was no problem for me as I was 1st all the time."

Even the 60km B-race proved to be a serious task. Only fifteen  runners completed the race within the cut off time. France's Vincent Chalias, no stranger to Indonesian trail racing, was fastest in a time of 16 hours and 30 minutes. His compatriot Laurent Tuffi came second 37 minutes later, and Singapore's Guo Zhengjin completed the podium in third place. Malaysian runners Fikry Md Nawi and Ahmad Shukri Rahman were the next other two men in fourth and fifth place. Indonesia's own Patricia Shindy was the only woman to reach the finish within time. She won the 60km as the only woman to finish in 19 hours and 44 minutes, 16 minutes ahead of the cut off. Earlier this season, Shindy also scored 4th place in Ijen Trailrunning, so she is now the best placed female Indonesian runner in the Asia Trail Master ranking! 

The 36km race was won by Spanish Indonesian Carlos Paz, third at Ijen Trailrunning in May, and by Vera Breuer from France. 

Big congratulations to all finishers, and kudos to everyone who took up the challenge of Rinjani 100! 

Patricia Shindy - only woman to finish the 60 km race last weekend! 

Unfortunately outside the time limit, but well done to Abdul Aziz and Hendra Siwanto for completing the Rinjani 100 course

Race Director Razif Yahya flanks female champion Tahira Najmunisaa and Abdul Rahman

The 2nd edition of the Magnificent Merapoh Trail, new in the Asia Trail Master series this year, saw over 600 runners from 25 countries compete along the border of Malaysia's largest national park, Taman Negara, roughly 250km northeast of Kuala Lumpur. The event was organised to boost eco tourism and protect the natural environment and the ancient and impressive cave complexes of Merapoh from logging and destruction. On offer were trail race courses of 100, 60 or 30km with limited elevation gain (1400 hm for 100km), but enough technical sections to challenge each single participant. 

Those sections included running through three caves, as well as a river crossing of no fewer than 3 km in length, halfway in the race that started at 9 p.m. While race day was dry, heavy rainfall in the days preceeding the event had elevated the water level and this meant a somewhat less comfortable experience for runners shorter in height. The race direction team had a plan B prepared, but decided to go ahead with the original course including the river. It turned out to be a good call, as the river crossing was the topic of many "warrior stories" after the race!  No accidents happened. 

The Merapoh Trail is in general a fast course and that also resulted in a very competitive race with several people in contention for the win and the podium places till very late. Britain's Jason Robinson and American Jeremy Verstraete were the fastest starters and opened up a lead in the first 21km until Persik Cave. When Verstraete suffered from stomach problems, Hong Kong's Isaac Yuen Wan Ho - whose aim was primarily  to regain the points lead in the Asia Trail Master championship in this race -, Japan's Hideki Kikuchi, Australia's Wayne McMurtie as well as local top runners Alan Toh and Abdul Rahman caught up again. Positions kept alternating from checkpoint to checkpoint, but it gradually became clear that 49-year-old Robinson had the edge. Eventually, he accumulated a lead over the rest of more than 30 minutes and took the victory back in Merapoh town. Isaac Yuen Wan Ho had a strong last section and grabbed second place, and the ATM points lead, while the smiling Kikuchi came home a delighted third on the podium. Yuen Wan Ho, who now has 300 points more than Manolito Divina in the championship ranking, was a happy man: "A great race, but certainly not easy. Some parts were very technical! I was able to stay in control of myself and the elements throughout the race, and that gave me a second place today. I am happy, even though I realise it will be difficult to stay ahead of Manolito in the championship." Race winner Jason Robinson is a very experienced endurance athlete, doing IronMan triathlons and ultras on a regular basis. Robinson praised the race organisations, but was also impressed by the river crossing: "It all went well, but 3km may be a bit too long. Some people needed one full hour to cross that river, as you can hardly move forward. I also felt muscles in my body during that crossing I didn't even know I had," he added with a smile. 

Gretchen Felipe won her second ATM race in two months on the 60 km distance

As expected, the women's race was dominated by unbeaten Asia Trail Master points leader Tahira Najmunisaa. The 26-year-old mother of three dashed away right after the start and opened up such a big gap that she could walk most of the last 40k and still win comfortably. It was her fourth career ATM race victory, and she of course extended her advantage in the championship with 500 more points. Behind her, positions in the race changed all the time as well, just like in the men's. Indonesia's Ina Budiyarni ran second for quite some time early on, then the consistent-pacing Jessica Linghata from Sabah took over, but in the end it was Faherina Mohd Esa who managed to stay narrowly ahead of Hong Kong's Jocelyn Cheung for the two lower steps of the podium. Vietnam's Thanh Vuu came in fourth, proving that trail running in her country is also making steady progress.  Jessica Lintanga was next in fifth after getting lost in the final section. 

The 60km race was won in a new course record by local "short" distance specialist Lim Wen Shan in the men's, and Philippines' Gretchen Felipe in the women's. For both athletes it was the second victory this year. Malaysia' s Lim Wen Shan also won the 50k race during the Malaysia Eco 100 event, and Felipe of course won the Cordillera Mountain Ultra in her native region last month. 

 In the late afternoon the Master of Ceremony and the local crowd cheered and applauded for the final competitors trying to make the 20 hour cut off time, which was another exciting moment of the event.

Although held in a remote location with limited facilities, the Magnificent Merapoh Trail was pure propaganda for the still young sport of trail running. It proved once and for all that organisers do not need high mountains and many thousands of metres of elevation gain to create quality trail events. All protagonists thanked race director Razif Yahya and his team openly for the wonderful course and experience. Runners interested in more Malaysia action in the Asia Trail Master series should pencil in UT Sabah at the end of the year on 4/5 December. 

You can find videos and more images on our instagram and facebook channels! 

The Dancing Ghost Cave

Early leaders: Jason Robinson (103) and Jeremy Verstraete (19)

Singapore's Henry Yang was one of many to suffer from stomach problems during the race

The Echigo Country Trail in Oguni Forest Park did not miss its debut on the Asia Trail Master series' calendar last weekend. A quality field of about 300 runners in total enjoyed an event that was superbly organised and received lots of support and visible enthusiasm from the local communities in the Japanese countryside around Nagaoka in Niigata. The men's race even got a local winner: Toru Nakamura. While that may not be surprising in some races, in this one it was given the presence of Japanese trail running stars like Shunsuke Okunomiya and Masahiro Onu. The women's race was won by a very strong Yukoku Takashima, who even finished in fifth place overall. 

The event began on Saturday evening with an opening ceremony, attended by the mayor of Nagaoka, followed by a local buffet dinner with some cultural performances to round off the experience. It was great occasion for the majority of runners to meet and greet before the race on Sunday morning. 

It was already very warm at 6 o'clock in the morning, and the temperature would continue to rise to 30 degrees. Moreover, it got increasingly humid later in the morning. For plenty of runners this turned the 52k Echigo Country Trail into a very tough day of work. Especially, as quite some areas were entirely exposed to the sun. Another characteristic of the course was the steepness of the hills. Echigo is again one of those races were numbers do not tell the whole story. 2000 metres of elevation gain is not extreme, but several of these hills actually were rollercoasters with steep gradients that for many people often required the use of a rope.

As expected, Okunomiya went off into the lead, but less expected was that Nakamura was able to keep him within range. Masahiro Onu, who is better on the ultra long distances than on 50k, took a relatively easy start and was running as far down as 8th place in the first 10km of the race.  Then, after the third checkpoint, around the 22km mark Okunomiya did a misstep and twisted his ankle in the process. The race favourite cleverly decided to stop running and prevent more injury. Nakamura gained the lead and would keep it till the finish. Behind him, Onu had been moving up the ranking throughout the race and arrived second at the finish. 

The women's 52k podium

Toru Nakamura wins the men's 52k 

Shunsuke Okunomiya was leading the race until passed halfway when he twisted his ankle

The 1st Baturu Trail is a race held in a place with the most weird name for racing in Chinese. It is a race with the most unique of old Manchuria features. It is a race with grueling challenges to test the warrior inside you. It is the 2017 Asia Trail Master candidate race, the Baturu Guanmenshan 50km in the Guanmenshan Scenery Zone of Benxi City, Liaoning Province, one of the main cradles and bases of the legendary Manchus, which established its own state and reigned China as the Qing Dynasty for 268 years with 12 emperors.

By Xiaozhao Zhao
 
The organiser of the Baturu Trail was honest: “We like making things harder, so runners will have an impressive and worthy tour and cherish their opportunity to race here with us more than in other places. Perhaps it is the most difficult 50 km in mainland China. The course is inspired by the selection of the Eight Brigades elite warriors under the direct command of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty. Only the lucky soldiers with extreme physical and mental competence were to be enlisted into the Eight Brigades in the early years of the Post-Jin state (Qing dynasty, later). Baturu is a Manchurian word referring to these ferocious soldiers. We also set an additional special time-trial reward for the runners who run the 50k: to every man finishing in 10 hours and woman smashing 11 hours, a big jade ring will be awarded. This jade ring was first used as a tool to drag the string of a bow, then it became gradually a symbol of bravery and power of the very influential Manchuria military leaders including the emperor himself. Of course, all race finishers will also be given an arrowhead-shaped medal, which is another feature of military traditions of the Manchus. ” 
 
The hot debate of the race's difficulty, along with the tale of the big jade ring had attracted lots of attention in the Chinese running community. How tough is the race? There is a joke about the name of the event's venue called “Guanmenshan” (关门山 in Chinese, pinyin: guan-men-shan). In Chinese, Guanmen (关门 in Chinese, pinyin-guan-men) stands for closed door, while the first priority in any race for trail runners is to avoid being cut off by struggling to the finish line before the deadline. Probably the weird venue name alone suggested the nature of the challenge. Judging from the basic data, we find 50 km, 3800m elevation gain, 800m drop (1100m highest/300m lowest) and 85% of the route natural trail. However, this is not the whole story about its toughness. There are 7 major steep ascents/descents. Runners have to climb up and down among big stones in woods, cut though creeks by jumping along the narrow and wet boulders and endure the scratches of bushes with thrones as well as scorching sunshine of nearly 30 degrees Celsius in daytime. What’s more, all these are supposed to be done in a pressing 14.5 hours with 5 checkpoints that each have their own time limit.
 
Benxi is a famous city in the history of Chinese industrialization because of its abundance in coal and iron mines etc. It had been regarded as The Steel City for a long time. Being a Baturu is the best way to find the nature around such a city with its full spectrum of heavy industry.
 
The race is not only an exploration of your limit of persistence, but also a discovery of natural beauty. The Guanmenshan Scenery Zone is a great museum of geology. There are many spectacular landscapes sculpted by the forces of nature over millions of years ago, such as peaks, caves and cliffs. A variety of animals also live in this area with dense plants. It boasts 50 kinds of Class II protected animals and 120 kinds of maples alone.

The race course was well marked overall. However, in the dense forest, finding the marks still required patience and good feeling at times. A handheld GPS with pre-load track and ISO height curves will help a lot in some parts to increase your confidence in orienteering.

Logistics were great and well-organised. Abundant nutrition was piled up at checkpoints with smiling volunteers waiting for runners. Delicious local food such as hot mutton soup was offered as well. What's more, in the rest zone at the finish, roasted strings soups noodles and beer were entirely free for runners!
 
143 runners took part in the 50km race, top 3 of each gender group as follow:
 
Male (123 in all with 58 finisher in gender group)
Bo CHEN 07:42:03
Fuyue LI 08:00:51
Chunfu WANG 08:52:54
 
Female (20 in all with 6 finisher in gender group) 
1Qian ZHANG 10:26:18
2Lihong ZHANG 11:13:21
3Yufen XIA 12:06:04

From the dawn to the dusk, in the end, around 10 males finished within 10 hrs and 11 females within 11 hrs. The total number of finisher is 64, that is to say, 45%. 
 
Among all the runners, the low-profiled and old-school local semi-pro Qian ZHANG is a familiar prize hunter in many Chinese races, from the toughest 100km to the 1500m on the track. Even in her fifties now, she still scores podium places and collects money from races frequently thanks to her exceptional endurance. In daily life, she is an ordinary worker in a big steel company with her beloved family. Qian Zhang was clear about the Baturu Trail afterwards: “It is the most challenging 50 km I have ever run! But the organizer did an almost perfect job to make such an amazing race possible!"

Fuyue Li, second in the men's race,  is also a familiar face on the podium of ultra trail races in Mainland China with a bunch of achievements such as winning the 2014 TNF 100 in Beijing in rain and mist. Running and taking care of his mother are all part of his very limited spare time as a plumber in Beijing Normal University. His kindness and his attitude of never complaining about harsh life conditions, has also built him a great reputation in  the running community along with solid results in races. In late 2014, he made his debut in a very inspiring short film about the promotion of the BNU.
 
Another local runner, Hao Chen, ranked 4th in Asia Trail Master’s Ultra Trail Tu Wenchuan in the middle of May. “I am very happy with my race here. I helped the organizer with field jobs during preparation. During the 9.5 hrs route recon we estimated it might cost around 8 hrs for the top runners. In the end the winner came in 7 hours 42 minutes!"
 
The Baturu Trail may have a focus on the toughness of its 50km, but the organisation also offers 30km and 5km categories for beginning or less ambitious runners. 
 
The campfire ceremony after the race added a great extra social element for all new running Baturus! 

The new Baturus with the big jade ring! 

That's the jade ring

Campfire, roasted meat and beer at the finish of the Baturu Trail! 

The Cordillera Mountain Ultra, follow-up to the Marathon organised in previous years, did not miss its debut in Dalupirip, Itogon yesterday. The first Filipino points race in the 2016 Asia Trail Master series saw a very close battle for victory in the men's 50k race, and drama in the women's. On the top step of the podium stood Marcelino Sano-Oy and Gretchen Felipe as the day's champions. Runners and spectators spoke of a truly well-organised event with a fantastic running course, which made the journey to the remote area very much worthwhile. "CMU was publicity for the sport of trail running," one happy finisher said afterwards. 

Marcelino Sano-Oy

Gretchen Felipe

The race started at 4 a.m. just before dawn, and runners only had a few kilometers to warm-up as the ascent of Mount Ugo began quickly. Marcelino Sano-Oy, a 26-year-old local runner, had already taken the lead, but was closely followed by the experienced Alison Telias. Sano-Oy is a previous winner of the Cordillera Mountain Marathon and knew the terrain very well. Yet, Telias kept chasing him and was at times less than a minute behind. In the descent of Mt Ugo the pressure seemed to be getting to Sano-Oy, as he had to stop and stretch to stop the cramps he started to suffer from. Telias caught up and passed him, but eventually Sano-Oy fought back in the late stages of the race and reclaimed first spot! At the finish, Sano-Oy took the victory with a 3-minute gap over Al Telias in 6:06:36. In a join third place were teammates Aldean Philip Lim and Eric Gueb in 7:05:19. One of the pre-race favourites, Thumbie Remigio, injured himself during the vertical kilometre race on Saturday, and opted to run the 21km instead. The shorter race was won by Roland Wang. 

The women's 50k race had a rather unexpected outcome as big favourite Majo Liao sprained her ankle in the early part of the race. Liao could not react to her challengers as for most of the rest of the race she could only walk and not run. Showing a high degree of mental strength, Liao nevertheless continued and finished ... even on the podium! These could be important points for her in the ATMs ranking later this year.  The race was won by Gretchen Felipe in 7:25:58, which is a strong result as well for the experienced runner. Next to Felipe on the podium in second place was Penny Nepomuceno (7:53:59). 

As part of the podium prize package, both Marcelino Sano-Oy and Gretchen Felipe have received free race entries for the Magnificent Merapoh Trail in Malaysia. 

Koi Grey

The 2nd edition of Ijen Trailrunning in Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia, had an awesome conclusion of the main 70km race as 2015 Asia Trail Master champion Arief Wismoyono and his compatriot Yohanis Hiarei sprinted to the finish line after 70 magnificent kilometers of running. It was Wismoyono who had the fastest dash to the line, and in so doing the Bandung Explorer ace took his third career victory in an Asia Trail Master race after Mount Rinjani Ultra 52k and MesaStila Peaks Challenge last season. An important victory for the 31-year-old Wismoyono also, as other Asian top runners such as Manolito Divina, Yuen Wan Ho and Xu Xiutao have in the past weeks emerged as serious contenders for this year's overall title. 

Arief Wismoyono

Before the race, Wismoyono had already expressed confidence in his ability, despite a tough winter in which his two Hong Kong objectives did not bring what perhaps he also had hoped. Cold conditions are clearly not his thing. Back in Indonesia, Wismoyono felt like a fish in the water. His finish time of 9:21 was above his goal of under 9 hours, yet more than 1 hour faster than he achieved last year on this Ijen course. The defending champion had to dig deep, though, as Hiairei - in his debut on the Asia Trail Master circuit - pushed him to a rarely seen sprint in a long distance trail race. 

Central point of the event is the climb of the famous Ijen volcano, where runners can witness the so-called ' blue fire '. Because this natural phenomenon is best seen around dawn, the race starts at nighttime and the front runners therefore have their headlamps switched on for most of the race. An advantage of climbing at night is of course cooler temperatures. Participants enjoyed a fantastic day in fine weather during a well-organised event by the local Surabayan company Egon Trails. Ijen Trailrunning offers four race distances, and with 2450m of elevation gain on 70km has the most runnable course of all Indonesian races in the ATMs. The ascent of the volcano is the only significant, but tough, climb of the race. 

Ann-Mari Lillejord

Ina Budiyarni had the scare of a lifetime when monkeys jumped on her at dawn

The women's winner at Ijen stunned everybody with her performance. Arriving only 36 minutes behind the leading duo and in fourth overall was Singapore-based Norwegian Ann-Mari Lillijord. She was nearly two hours ahead of Boonthanit Suksodkeaw, after local favourite Ina Budiyarni first missed a marking, then got attacked by a male monkey at dawn and ultimately also suffered from stomach cramps. A series of events that dropped Budiyarni down the order from second to fifth at the finish. "I haven't done so many trail races yet, " said winner Lillejord. "I am very happy with my race, and this race was  beautiful! I did not expect the volcano climb to be that steep, though, but it went well" . In fact, last year she also competed in the Vietnam Mountain Marathon - another points race in the Asia Trail Master series at the end of September - and came fourth, indicating she has upped her performance level since then. 

The 42k B-race of the event was won by Matt Phillips Long and Laure Geroud. 

Top 5 Men in 70 km:

1. Arief Wismoyono (INA) 9.21.09. 
2. Yohanis Hiarei (INA) 9.21.10. 
3. Carlos Paz (INA) 9.47.49
4. Elivas Paai (INA) 10:26:18
5. Vincent Chalias (FRA) 10:31:42

Top 5 Women 70km:

1. Ann Mari Lillejord (NOR) 9:58:03
2. Boonthanit Suksodkeaw (THA) 11:49:27
3. Wu Xiabingqing (CHN) 13:11:18
4. Patricia Shindy (INA) 13:20:39
5. Ina Budiyarni (INA) 13:54:41 

Winner 42k Men:

1. Matt Phillips Long 5:00:08

Winner 42k Women:

1. Laure Genoud 5:39:02

The Philippines' Manolito Divina was a true class of his own in the Malaysia SuperTrail race in and around Bukit Mertajam last weekend. Divina even quickly left other established runners like Jan Nilsen far behind and took victory in less than 30 hours over the 100 miles race distance. After his joint-second place - with Nilsen - at UTHK earlier this year, Divina is now the new points leader in the 2016 Asia Trail Master championship at the expense of Hong Kong's Yuen Wan Ho. Also in the women's race, a clear winner emerged from the rainforest: Tahira Najmunisaa was in fact the only woman to finish the longest distance race, which was characterised by extreme heat, humidity and rainfall - even for Malaysian standards. After winning in Brunei's Beach Bunch Trail Challenge, Tahira also moved into the points lead of the Asia Trail Master championship with her second victory of the season - and her third ATM race title of her still young career (Tahira also won the Bromo Tengger Semeru 100k Ultra in Indonesia last year). 

Manolito Divina: simple hydration was very important in Malaysia last weekend

Podium of the men's 100 miles race

There was another great racer and winner last weekend: Aleksis Capili, also from the Philippines but residing in Thailand, became the first ever Asia Trail Grandmaster. And, wow, did he complete his Quest in style: second place in the 100 miles race behind Divina, his best race result to date in an Asia Trail Master event! Capili has thus completed six races of 70km or more within two calendar years. Starting with Borneo TMBT last year in August, he followed up with the Vietnam Mountain Marathon, CM 50 in Philippines, Bromo Tengger Semeru Ultra in Indonesia, UTHK in Hong Kong, and now Malaysia Eco 100. As a Grandmaster he will receive his first badge of honour including 1 star, enter the Hall of Fame, and receive a host of other prizes. Now Capili has reached the all important first level, he can add stars to his badge in the next months without any time pressure.  A second star follows after completing another four ultra distances. 

Capili is a superb example of the tough ultrarunner who somehow always makes his way to the finish. Arguably not the fastest of all in the field, his resilience, stamina and body never seem to let him down when others on occasion take a fall or suffer an injury. Jan Nilsen, for instance, is a protagonist wherever he starts and the Norwegian has been in excellent form lately as well. However, Nilsen is blister-prone, and after 100km and with a quasi guaranteed podium place in sight, he had to retire from the race just like he was forced to in the Bromo race last November. Nilsen was disappointed, but his feet tend to recover quickly and he'll be back strongly again soon. Divina was then already two hours ahead by himself, and Singapore's Henry Yang became his closest chaser. Unfortunately, Yang slipped on a wet rock at nighttime and hurt himself in the process. After taking medical care at the next refreshment station - which were all well-prepared - Yang gave it another go to try and finish the race, but to no avail. And so Capili moved up to second place, and Malaysia's own Abdul Rahman - husband of Tahira Najmunisaa - suddenly had a podium finish in his grasp in his debut race over an ultra distance! Rahman, a navy seal, ran with his wife for most of the race, but then wanted to secure third place and so he did. The next runner to reach the finish was Thean Sin Bong, who was slightly ahead of Tahira.

Only 8 starters on the 100 miles reached the finish out of more than 40 starters. Malaysia Eco 100 did not have excessive numbers of elevation ( approx 4500 hm ) , but it was obviously more than hard enough. The DNF quota on the 100km race distance was also very high with just 24 finishers  out of roughly one hundred.

The next points scoring race in Malaysia will be the Magnificent Merapoh Trail at the end of July.

Abdul Rahman and Tahira Najmunisaa both are part of the Running Project Team

The finishers of the 100 miles race:

1. Manolito Divina (PHI) in 29:47:08

2. Aleksis Capili (PHI) 34:41:14

3. Abdul Rahman Abu Hassan (MAS) 36:08:04

4. Thean Sin Bong (MAS) 37:16:35

5. Tahira Najmunisaa (MAS) 37:17:49 - winner female

6. Kian Philip Yong Yeo (MAS) 38:34:17

7. Meng Piow Low (MAS) 38:49:26

8. Chin Tat Lim (MAS) 39:16:24

100 km - Winner - Men

1. Alan Toh (MAS) 23:27:20

100km - Winner - Women

1. Adelinah Lintanga (MAS) 

Aleksis Capili is the first Asia Trail Grandmaster

The 50 km race of H-Soil Ultra Tu Wenchuan on 15 May 2016 was the 2nd race in mainland China on  the 2016 calendar of Asia Trail Master series. Wenchuan, a peaceful small town with astonishing mountains view, sits in the northwest of Sichuan Basin, which is described as the “Heaven Country” in Chinese literature. It is famous for the birth place of Da Yu, one of the greatest leaders of ancient tribes in Chinese history, and for the first Chinese to plan for smart irrigation systems around 5000 years ago. Wenchuan is also one of the habitats of the panda, the unique animal living only in southwest of China, and which relies on local bamboo shots for its food. There are many ethnic minorities,  such as Tibetan (藏族), Qiang (羌族) and Hui (回族). You can see the Tibetans and the Qiangs wearing their featured apparels walking down the street. It is a place with a leisure atmosphere and friendly locals. The people there like playing a game called Mahjang, which looks like a 4-person chess but needs more tactics on calculating and analysis. All the buildings here, from the apartments to stadium and schools, look clean and new with ordered planning and decorations of ethnical features.

By Xiaozhao Zhao

The nature never hides its beauty from locals and tourists. Clouds roll along the peaks of more than 2000 meters altitude and higher from far a distance. Suddenly the bright sunshine tears up the iron curtain of clouds, and dyes everything with a layer of golden color. Standing on some peaks after a struggling ascent, you can see some snow caps of Hengduan Mountains (the boarder of Tibetan Plateau) shining under pure blue sky.

The start of the Wenchuan 50k race was still held at nighttime, though just before dawn

Going back to the unbelievable darkest moment of Wenchuan, the devastating earthquake on 12th, May, 2008 is a heart-braking painful memory. Wenchuan got destroyed into piles of bricks and rubbles of collapsed buildings in a matter of seconds and minutes. All the traffic to the outside world and power supply was completely cut off, paved roads were twisted and split, horrified survivors squeezed themselves out from bodies under smashed concrete walls, mourning their family and friends who died on the spot in great agony. Being regarded as the most serious one after 1976 Tangshan Earthquake, it claimed more than 69 thousands lives in Wenchuan, and even other places in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu province. Some people in Beijing and Shanghai reported that they felt the ground trembling slightly for seconds as well.

Revival and rebuilding are much like a phoenix reborn from flames. With all the help and support from all over China and the rest of the world, relying on their own resilience and diligence, a brand new Wenchuan has been established in just a few years and is ranking in the middle of a recent official survey on economics and social development in Sichuan Province.

The H-Soil Wenchuan Trail Tu is divided into 3 categories: 12km team, 23km and 50km solo. The route of 50km is nearly a loop on  the mountains around the town. Runners need to climb up 2 mountains and accumulate about 3800m of total ascent. The highest point is nearly 2800m from the sea level, while the lowest about 1000m. In the last 13km, there is a steep and long descent from the highest point to the finish at the altitude around 1200m. Thanks to the hilly terrain, 90% of the course is unpaved and consists of rugged stones, dirt single tracks and trails zigzagged in the farms and fruit gardens. Note: never lose yourself in face of the natural beauty and forget to pick up your pace, because the cut-off time is pressing 14 hours, plus all 5 checkpoints have their own time limitation. The slogan of the race said: Never Try Never Know.

As race director Lang He said, designing such a tough race is our way to the objective of demonstrating the potential of future development of outdoor sports in Wenchuan,  and let more people enjoy trail running.

107 runners from at least 5 countries competed in the 50km category, while approximately 120 in the 23 km and around 50 in 12km. Only the 50km race gave Asia Trail Master points to finishers. For most local runners it was the first Asia Trail Master points race of the year, except for Zhong Guan, who had finished 8th in last month's Tsaigu Tangsi Plus. 

Bi Duanyuang from Beijing was the fastest man in the race

The Asia Trail Master’s 50km race started at 5.00 am, in the chilly dawn of after a day of raining. Runners first ran along a short distance of wandering and narrow concrete road, and then switched into rugged trails covered by bushes and single tracks along the exposed ridgeline with cliffs on both sides. They traversed the mountains and farmlands and had to deal with major ascents and descents.

At first, dense and humid fog floated among the high peaks and the course was so slippery due to the rain the day before. Runners really had a hard time jumping and squeezing among the rocks and bushes. As time went by, sunshine came out, so they were able to enjoy the “natural beauty” , nevertheless along with painful struggling: alpine meadows, frightening deep valleys with steep slopes at both sides, and the two very long ascents. Wang Guang led the race until 37.5km where he came up to serious pain in knees, followed by Bi Duanyuang and Kuo Li. the recent winner of a race in Northeastern China. Then Bi Duanyang took the 1st place and managed to hold it all the way to the finish. “It is a well-organized and fabulous race with pretty nice view and very technical path in lots of places,"said Bi Duanyang. " I love the meadow and snow caps of high peaks far away. Marks are ok in all. All the staff and locals are very kind and helpful. Races of Asia Trail Master series are very interesting so I will have a closer look and pick up some for my races calendar. ”

As the 2nd-placed Kuo LI said “I love the last 10km with the long and steep descent. I can dash at will without braking, kinda feeling of flying freely. I encouraged Wang Guang to stay on course at 37.5km when we are at the check point, before I pushed myself to the highest point. ”

“I appreciate the help of Kuo Li when I was at the brink of total collapse due to my inflaming knees. The time is not so ideal so I will do this race again with a better performance, I have still room for improvement.” Said Wang Guang.

Zhou Dongmei won the 50km race for women. Last year, she came second in a 100km race on Gonga Shan, also in Sichuan, so her new victory may not come as a major surprise. For the 2nd Female Yihan LIU, a musician when she is not running,  it was her perfect debut in ultra-trail races. “I lost my way several times but each time I could meet kind friends to help me out of trouble. Being afraid of getting lost again, I walked the last few kilometers to the finish, focusing on locating marks rather than accelerating. Any way I am enjoying the running and the atmosphere of socialization.”

82 runners finished the 50km with valid results (64 male and 18 female) within the 14 hours cut-off. 

Race podium result

Top 3 male of 50km:

1. Duanyang BI (06:32:30)

2. Kuo LI (06:56:33)

3. Guang WANG (07:11:17)

Top 3 female of 50km:

1. Dongmei ZHOU (08:33:24, the 13th over-all)

2. Yihan LIU (09:23:49)

3. Jun YANG (09:28:46)

In all, the H-Soil is more than a race, it is a lesson about how to make each day count during our limited lifetime, from the spirit of a revived and peaceful town and its people, returning from a  great loss with toughness and hard work.

The 2nd edition of the Tengri Ultra Trail in Tamgaly Tas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Almaty in Kazakhstan, was won by Egor Nadymov in the men's and Akmaral Meirman in the women's. Runners and organisers were very satisfied with the weekend in the remote grassland and canyon area, although runners said the long distance of 70km was much harder than last year's 55km. 

Akmaral Meirman also won this race last year. Nadymov, and runner's up Bahtiyar Kasenov and Anatoliy Korepanov moved up the ranking after two strong Russian runners from Krasnoyarsk, Sergey Donets and Yuri Shtankov were disqualified for missing a mandatory checkpoint.

More details and photos of the event are coming soon. 

He was the pre-race favourite, and he delivered in style. Xu Xiutao is becoming a force to be reckoned with in Asia' s trail running scene, as the runner from Beijing scored an impressive victory in yesterdays Korea 50k event. It was the fifth race in this year's Asia Trail Master series and already the second one for Xu Xiutao,  after he came home second in UTHK 100 last February. His Korean points haul - 500 - lifts him to second place in the current ATMs championship ranking behind Hong Kong's Isaac Yuen Wan Ho. 

It was the second edition of Korea 50k, an event marked by a boom in registrations with plenty of international athletes making the trip to the outkirts of Seoul. It was a warm day under a bright blue sky, but the runners had a tough one as the 59km race covered well over 3000 metres of elevation gain, an increase that not everybody felt was necessary, which is similar to comments received in last week's 50 miles race in Linhai, China. Perhaps something for race organisers to reflect upon. Yesterday there were plenty of DNFs as a result. Luckily, the technical organisation by the local RunXRun team was excellent, and runners could enjoy a beer and a tasty local snack after the finish in the sports stadium of Dongducheon. 

Simjae Duk was a bit disappointed with 2nd place this year. 

It was chilly at 4:30 a.m. for the start of the race, but the runners were soon warmed up as outside the stadium was already the first steep climb up. The strongest group of runners immediately opened up a gap. Local stars Simjae Duk, last year's winner, and Nohui Seong had to accept the company of China's Xu Xiutao, who kept the pressure on them. Close behind was Hong Kong-based Frenchman Clement Dumont, whose consistent pace would earn him a third spot on the podium as Seong faded in the last ten kilometers. The victory was contested between Simjae Duk and Xu Xiutao, and eventually the youngest had the edge and even pulled away still by 8 minutes in the final section. Xu Xiutao crossed the finish line in 7:11:02 with the Chinese flag around him. Another Hong Kong-based European, Paul Ridley from Great Britain, completed the top five and of all the top guys looked like he could still do another lap. 

Podium of the men's 59km race

In the women's race, Japan's Yukari Fukuda repeated  her victory from last year in 8:19:50. She was over an hour ahead of second and third place runners Janet Ng (Hong Kong) and Sung Hee Lee (Korea), who swapped places in the final climb of the race. 

The next race in the Asia Trail Master series takes place on 8 May in Tamgaly Tas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Kazakhstan. 

Podium of the women's 59 km race. 

The TTP (Tsaigu Tangsi Plus) is the 4th race in the calendar of the 2016 Asia Trail Master series, and the event was also chosen as China's SuperTrail race. All 82 km (50 miles) and 60 km finishers score points for the ATM championship ranking.

By Xiaozhao Zhao in Linhai

Held at Mount Kuocang of Linhai County in Zhejiang Province, starting at 0600 am, the 2016 TTP is an upgraded version of the 2015 event. The biggest change is the introduction of a 82km category with a total ascent of close to 6000hm,  traversing technical natural terrain along the ridges and in the forests, making it the toughest 50 Miler in China, and perhaps the most beautiful one with significant historic background as well.

Linhai is famous for its geographic and natural views filled with historic stories. It sits in the hilly Southeastern coastline with seasoned winds from Pacific from spring to autumn, which make its weather and climate great for outdoor activities, as in addition there is almost zero heavy industry around. No wonder Linhai is also a tourist resort.

The Rice & Wave Peak (1300 m from the sea level), the highest point of Eastern Zhejiang Province, as well as the first place to receive sunlight in the 21st century is included in the running course of TTP.  The race starts and finishes at sea level, though.

There are very thick plants in this area, such as bamboos and other sub-tropic species. The effect of seasoned winds brings sufficient precipitation. So there are crystal creeks running in the mountain through rocks with various shapes. In the mornings with sunshine followed a humid day, the peaks and ridge lines emerge from the clouds and through the fog, like rocks in the ebb tide in the sea.

In Chinese history, Linhai is one of the main arenas of early marine culture and of more powerful central authority (power of emperor) based on an agricultural society, which originated many hundreds of years ago during Ming and Qing dynasties. The overseas trade with Japan, Southeast Asia and even Arab countries made the merchants very rich and some of them owned a private armed force. The race starts from a stronghold built in the Ming dynasty and boasted as one of the most integrated ancient coastal fortresses in China. 

The route of 62km category is based on the 57km’s which was the longest in 2015. At the last 7km, runners haves to run through a very zig-zag steep and technical downslope with sands and blade-like rocks from the top of Rice & Wave to the sea level in the distance of 7 km after passing a power facility full of windmills. In a sunny day like the 2015 race day, many pictures of running by the windmills were widely spread in social media.

There is a less- competitive 30km entry-level group as well.

Race director is Yu Tsai (Kein), a local runner who finished UTMB and UTMF. His target is to make the race challenging with as many natural elements as possible along the route. The most difficult thing in preparation is to to do plenty of recce and set a one-direction route with more than 90% natural trail. He also insists all runners understand and take the rules on mandatory gears seriously in case of sudden change of weather at in the mountain.

Last weekend's race was held with moderate rainfall at times. It made the race even more challenging with natural mystique. Despite of the increased risks of stepping upon slippery rocks, runners were generally happy to experience the amazing view of Fog & Rain, which is described as a symbol of romanticism in many poems and novels in ancient China.  The course was well-marked so people did not have to worry about getting lost. You could see farmers working in the tea garden in traditional ways, rain drops falling down from pink flowers, the youngest untouched bamboo shooting out of the soil, the moss covering the rocks and even some thunder roaring on the horizon. Deep in the forest, you can even listen to the minimalistic sound of the bushes whipping slightly on your skin when you pass by close to them.

Friendship and community atmosphere is also a feature of the TTP besides its unique natural environment and good organization. This year, the number of international runners increased a lot. There were Swedish girls working in Hebei province and Shanghai, British tough nuts from Hong Kong, mid-aged Greek and German gentlemen from Jiangsu province along with a handsome Singaporean, plus a muscular Belgium manager working in Shanghai who can speak proficient Chinese. For the Chinese runners with jobs related to foreign languages,  there was no better chance to practice speaking skills! What’s more, in some dangerous situations like passing the running creeks among steep and slippery rocks, running pals in need will become life-time friends indeed.

Although Yan Longfei did not participate due to injury, another Chinese running star and the female champion of the 2015 Asia Trail Master series, Ma Yanxing, triumphed again on the 82km category. Ma Yanxing was in a big hurry after she finished: like most participants, the 50 miles race was tougher than expected and took a lot more time to complete, too. The only Chinese female finisher of TdG, UTMB and UTMF, Dalian's Qu Lijie and Chen Xue finished second and third in the longest women's race. As mentioned in our preview, the very tough terrain suited Qu Lijie very well as she managed to stay very close to Ma Yanxing! “In all the races I tried, the TTP has the most various kind of terrain, I like its challenge combined with the great scenery. It is a perfect combination of racing and tourism.” said Qu Lijie after the race.

According to the winner of the men's 50 miles, Hua Zhaohong, TTP is the most difficult race he has ever completed. The surprise of winning and the support from his family and friends at the finish line made it a life-long happy memory for him. Especially as he proposed to his girlfriend moments after crossing the line! Hua Zhaohong changed his gear covered by mud and dirt for a neat white shirt with the applause from everyone present on the spot. All attendants at the finish shared this sensational moment. Hua Zhaohong had a  22-minute lead over Shen Jianfeng and Dan Yongquan. The finishing time of over 14 hours proves the dificulty of the event. Noureddine Sahibi, a seasoned ultra runner and 10th in last year's Asia Trail Master series,  was among the many people who suffered their way to the finish. "Personally I prefer the 60km race distance, which I did last year. This 50 miles course was just a little too much in my opinion," he argued.  

Sahibi's view was shared by many, and the race statistics seem to prove them right as the DNF quota on the 50 miles was clearly above 50%. Within the cut off time of 21 hours, 76 (6 women) out of nearly 192 (32 women) runners managed to complete the distance. 

Top 3 male 50 miles (hh:mm):

1 Zhaohong HUA 13:44
2 Jianfeng SHEN 14:06
3 Yongquan DAN 14:14

Top 3 female 50 miles:

1 Yanxing MA 17:22
2 Lijie QU 17:28
3 Xue CHEN 18:42

Before the cut-off time at 2200, 16th, Apr, 99 (15F) out of 200 (45F) runners conquered 62km hilly course happily.

Top 3 male 62k:

1 Xiangyang LI 09:21
2 Fengrui XIANG 09:29
3 Bin XIE 09:30

Top 3 female 62k:

1 Xianglian ZHONG 12:06
2 Ying CHEN 12:35
3 Ying LIU 13:38

The men's podium of the 2016 Tsaigu Tangsi Plus 50 miles race