You can rewatch Episode 3 of the Tale of the Trail now here on the website, on our YouTube Channel (recommended for easy streaming to your TV screen) and our facebook page. The show focused on the amended 2020 regulations for the Asia Trail Master Championship and the Grandmaster Quest, as well as on the new postponement of Korea 50K to late September.

Main takeaways of Episode 3:

• The regulations for the continuation of the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship have been amended following the many cancellations and postponements to date. Most significantly, the five-best-count system is replaced by a three-best-count system as it was back in 2015 and 2016. The ATM Final - Borneo TMBT Ultra 100K - is basically a must-run for anyone with Championship ambitions. An overview can be read on our separate news announcement as well.

• The time-freeze for the Grandmaster Quest has been extented from two to six months

• Veronika Vadovicova launches ‘Asia Trail Girls’ and does not exclude a late-season campaign to defend her ATM Championship title

• John Ellis is in excellent form despite the lack of races this year, is not opposed to a few ATM runs late in the season and has quite some new T8 products coming out soon

• Korea 50K did not get the required approvals to hold the event at the end of June due to a new infection wave two weeks ago, and is postponed by a further three months to late September

• Ultra Trail Chiang Rai remains on the programme for end October, but still a lot of uncertainty around sports and entertainment events in Thailand.

• Pongtorn Thavorn shares some of his insights as a finisher of the Ultimate 230 at UTCR

• Amy Khor talks to hardened ultra runner Alex Ang in ‘The Singapore Connection’

• Jess Boubie keeps busy creating ethnic bracelets in between running sessions in her home village in Sabah, and is looking forward to seeing all of you at TMBT in December

• Job Tanapong is injury-free and is waiting for a clearer running event plan while developing and managing his own coffee brand stores in Chiang Mai

The next episode of the Tale of the Trail will air on Friday, 12 June.

In follow-up to our earlier announcement on 16 March, the Asia Trail Master team has now decided to update and amend the regulations for both the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship and the Grandmaster Quest. Even though Dalat Ultra Trail in Vietnam is giving us a glimmer of hope for a return to some kind of normalcy, the fact is that in most Asian countries the corona pandemic is still ongoing with country borders closed and mass sports and entertainment events prohibited. With the exception of Ijen Trail in East Java, Indonesia, which will announce its decision mid-June, all events scheduled for June, July and August have either been cancelled or postponed to later in the year. After Dalat Ultra Trail, which will be held on 20 June exclusively with runners based in Vietnam, we are again looking at an event hiatus of at least three months until the Vietnam Mountain Marathon on 19 September.

It is not all gloom and doom, though. Counting the events on the calendar starting with VMM, we are still looking at 15/16 points races - depending on what happens with Ijen Trail. Of course, there is no guarantee all those events will take place, but now we are talking four months out. Looking back four months, Wuhan had only just gone into lockdown. Since then, the corona curve reached its global peak and also already started its decline in most countries - most importantly for us including in Asia. Let’s hope that in four months from today, the pandemic is over, the infection rate is under control to the extent borders can re-open and sports events can again take place. Under which conditions events will take place is another matter that may vary from country to country, but of the essence is first that they can take place again.

In the current circumstances it is no longer opportune, however, to demand from elite runners that they perform at their best in minimum five races and the ATM Final in order to have a chance to become Asia Trail Master champion. While a few contenders - with hindsight - have been wise to run one or two of the three points races that took place before the lockdowns, others simply didn’t have the chance to fulfil their ambitions as major early season events such as The 9 Dragons, Cordillera Mountain Ultra and (at first) Dalat Ultra Trail very quickly ran into trouble or got cancelled.

As such, the following decisions have been made for the continuation of the 2020 ATM Championship:

• Five-best-count system becomes a three-best-count system, plus one (3+1)

• The ‘one’ in ‘3+1’ stands for the ATM Final: Borneo TMBT Ultra 100 on 19 December 2020. While TMBT can be a runner’s third race, it will be important to run it for anyone who wants to become 2020 Champion because…

• … In order to boost mainstream media and sponsor appeal, ATM Championship contenders are expected to turn up for the final direct shoot-out of the season in and around Kota Kinabalu - Borneo TMBT Ultra 100 - or face a points penalty of 300 points.

  • E.g. if runner A completes three or more races but doesn’t attend the ATM Final race, his total points tally will be reduced by 300 points. if runner B does two races and goes to the ATM Final, he scores points as usual as TMBT is his 3rd race and it’s the Final

• In order to score more championship points in the ATM Final, you must have completed at least two prior ATM points races during the season (same rule as in 2019, to avoid tactical manoeuvring between contenders, e.g. by bringing to the race international stars such as Pau Capell or Killian Jornet to take points away from a championship rival)

• The “one-must-be-SuperTrail rule” is waived for 2020 —> no penalty points if you do not run a SuperTrail race this year

• The 50-bonus points rule for a 100 miles+ finish, SuperTrail race finish and Abroad Bonus is kept as always

Regarding the Grandmaster Quest, we are extending the ‘time freeze’ by four months until September as well. That means every runner who has already started his personal Grandmaster challenge now has six months more time to achieve the first star ( = 2,5 years since the first completed race).

As we wait for some proper trail running action in Dalat next month, we continue to support initiatives such as the ATM 500 - Run Asia Virtual Race by Sportlicious Malaysia, which will begin on 8 June. You can register as teams of four and stay motivated to keep the training up.

Please also remember you can subscribe to our website news articles easily (see ‘subscribe via email’ below) and stay tuned to our ‘Tale of the Trail’ video talk shows every two weeks.

Episode 3 of our bimonthly video talk show The Tale of the Trail will be broadcast tonight, Friday, 29 May, at 19:00 Hong Kong time (20:00 Korea; 18:00 Thailand). The episode is titled “Ending the Waiting Game’, referring to the long-awaited amendments to the regulations for the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship and the Grandmaster Quest. Our reigning champions John Ellis and Veronika Vadovicova will be on the show, as well as Jey Jang from South Korea to give us an update on Korea 50K. We will find out what is going on in Thailand during these difficult months and Amy Khor will be interviewing Alex Ang. In cooperation with Mark TWT there will be a feature on Sabah’s trail queen Jassica Lintanga, aka Jess Boubie, and finally there will be a chat with out Mystery Guest of this episode Job Tanapong.

The Tale of the Trail will be shown on the Asia Trail Master pages of both facebook and YouTube as well as here on the website.

Sportlicious Malaysia is today launching its new project “ATM 500 - Run Asia, Run Virtual” in cooperation with Asia Trail Master. A ‘virtual’ running competition in team format that will last two weeks from 8 to 21 June 2020 with the goal of reaching the 500 km milestone as quickly as possible. Registration opens immediately and is easy via a Google Form and a small nominal fee.

Teams consist of maximum four people of which minimum one has to be female. Each runner is required to run at least 75 km as part of the team. Participants can choose between running on a treadmill, outdoors or indoors, road or trail. Daily results will be submitted by each team’s captain and verified via Strava and the Sportlicious Malaysia Club. The first three teams that complete 500 km will be awarded.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the whole world. Even when in most countries’ lockdowns are gradually being lifted, it is likely to still take several months before everything will return to some kind of normalcy and we can all take part in outdoor sports events like we used to. In the absence of actual outdoor races, Sportlicious Malaysia has developed ATM 500 – “RUN ASIA, RUN VIRTUAL”. A “virtual” team race of 500 km in distance over a duration of two weeks for all participants in across Asia.

The core objective of ATM 500 – “RUN ASIA, RUN VIRTUAL” is to keep everyone in a good physical and mental shape, and adds an element of competition into the mix. It is a team format on purpose, because in times of social distancing it is important to keep fostering team spirit and interpersonal connections. The team that has reached the 500km milestone first will be declared as winner of the first ATM 500 – “RUN ASIA, RUN VIRTUAL” series.

The virtual run is open to all. Create your own cool team name and motivate each other to reach 500! Regular reports on the competition's progress will be posted on our facebook page and covered during the Tale of the Trail video show.

Rules & Regulations of the ATM 500 - Run Asia, Run Virtual

• Maximum of 4 members in a team, with a minimum of (1) Female member.

• Team members will have 14 days to complete 500 KM.

• Each member is required to clock a minimum mileage of 75 km.

• Team captains will be responsible to input all members data into an online spreadsheet.

• Daily result will be required to be submitted by 10PM Malaysia Time by the Team Captain.

• Run activity after 10 pm can be submitted on the next day.

• Each run must show the following information:

  • Date

  • Time

  • Distance

  • Duration

  • Average Pace

  • Running Mode: Road, Trail, Treadmill

• No submission of a run is necessary if zero (0) mileage for that day.

• No minimum mileage needs to be done every day.

• Team members can help each other to cover mileage to achieve the target 500 KM in 14 days or less, however each member MUST clock a minimum mileage of 75 KM per person.

• Team members are required to ensure their running activity is reflected under STRAVA.

• Team members are required to FOLLOW “SPORTLICIOUS MALAYSIA” Club on STRAVA under http://strava.com/clubs.sportliciousmalaysia

• Total result of each team will be updated daily and will be reflected after 3 PM on Asia Trail Master and Sportlicious Malaysia Facebook page.

• Top 3 Teams to complete 500 KM in the shortest time/days will be awarded accordingly.

It has been quiet on the event front for a couple of months now for obvious reasons, but today we are happy to announce a new forthcoming Candidate Race in India. Malnad Ultra has earned itself a reputation since 2016 as one of the large country’s most popular trail running events, and is now keen to join the Asia Trail Master community. The 2020 event is on the schedule for 7/8 November, but currently ‘on hold’ given the pandemic.

The origin of the name Malnad is attributed to Male meaning Hill and Nadu meaning Land. So, Malnad is the land of the hill. All the race categories are beyond 42 kms on hilly terrain and the longest distance last year was 110km. The event organisation is exploring the the possibility of adding a 100 miles category to the programme in the near future. The race course takes runners through coffee estates and provides magnificent views of the Bhadra Reservoir and Bhadra Wildlife Reserve in the Western Ghats of South India. These estates have a history of over 150 years and are home to over 100 plant species and 50 animal species. .

Stay tuned for more updates on Malnad Ultra to come out soon, and in the mean time watch the YouTube video clip below for your background info.

The Tale of the Trail, Episode 3 is scheduled for Friday, 29 May and has been titled “Ending the Waiting Game”.

With only two-three points races still scheduled to take place before September, the Asia Trail Master Championship regulations and those of the Grandmaster Quest now require logical amendments as the corona pandemic keeps the world on edge. The updated requirements will be revealed on the show next Friday, and we will let the reigning champions John Ellis and Veronika Vadovicova share their views on them and on their 2020 season in general. Jey Jang will return with the ultimate update on Korea 50K, after some doubt was cast yet again two weeks ago given following a new increase in Covid 19 infections in capital city Seoul. Nop, business development director at Teelakow will join us from Bangkok to talk about Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in October, and Amy Khor will be talking to fellow-SIngaporean Alex Ang. We will have a special feature on Jassica Lintanga, aka Jess Boubie, who is a cultural ambassador of Sabah, as well as of Borneo TMBT Ultra. Last-but-not-least, we will of course have our Mystery Guest!

The Tale of the Trail will air on Friday evening, 29 May 2020.

Dalat Ultra Trail is a symbol of hope for the Asian trail running community as the event is scheduled to be the first post-corona event on 20 and 21 June. However, it will still be an event without international participation.

Event Director Samie Vu has announced the news this morning following a meeting with local Dalat government officials. The Vietnamese country border is set to remain closed for the time being in the aftermath of covid-19. International passport holders currently residing in Vietnam can of course take part in the races of Dalat Ultra Trail as any other Vietnamese runner provided they sign a health declaration form. The event management of DLUT apologises to the many international runners who had planned to travel to Dalat this year, and will contact each registrant in the coming week regarding the options moving forward.

Because the event will take place - touch wood - Asia Trail Master points will still be earned by the 100K (A race) and 70K (B race) runners for the Championship and the Grandmaster Quest. Regarding the latter, this will not affect the current freeze on the two-year time requirement to achieve GM status. More details on the relaunch of the 2020 ATM Championship and Grandmaster Quest will be revealed in next week’s Tale of the Trail show.

Last year’s men’s podium: John Ellis, Hisashi Kitamura and Mohamed Affindi

Last year’s women’s podium: Kim Matthews, Tahira Najmunisaa and Christine Loh

You can now rewatch the edited version of Episode 2 of the Tale of the Trail, broadcast live on our Facebook page on Friday, 15 May. 'A Glimmer of Hope’ focused of course on Dalat Ultra Trail and Korea 50K - the first two events on the current ATM race calendar - with Samie Vu and Julie Vo on the show. Then, we looked ahead to August already together with Amy Khor and the event directors of Borneo TMBT Ultra in Malaysia and Ijen Trail in Indonesia. To top it off, there is a chat with last year’s MMTF victor Kristian Joergensen and with Isaac Yuen Wan Ho, a protagonist in the 2016-2017 seasons and the ‘Mystery Guest’ of this episode.

Main takeaways:

• Dalat Ultra Trail preparation continues, but no concrete news yet on the opening of Vietnam’s country border yet. Limited last-minute registrations will be possible.

• Julie Vo recommends a number of delicacies for first-timers to Dalat, such as the Dalat Hot Pot and the Vietnamese Pizza. A condensed milk coffee should be the start of your day.

• Claus Pedersen, event director of Borneo TMBT Ultra, announces the postponement of the event to 19/20 December 2020 to become the season’s Asia Trail Master Final

• Alfan Impriadi says that the decision on Ijen Trail, scheduled for 15/16 August, will be made mid-June

• Kristian Joergensen is doing hill repeats in flat Copenhagen to keep in shape for a potential late-season attack on the ATM Championship title

• Isaac Yuen Wan Ho has reverted to open water swimming in these corona times, but eyes a return to trail running in the latter part of the year

• Amended regulations for the 2020 ATM Championship and the Grandmaster Quest will be announced before the end of May

Sometimes bad news also comes with a silver lining. The organisation of the classic Borneo TMBT Ultra in Sabah, Malaysia, is compelled to postpone its event from end-August to mid-December as a result of the ongoing corona pandemic. However, as such it suddenly became possible to turn the ‘Malaysia SuperTrail’ label into the ‘2020 ATM Final label’ and it did not take long before both parties agreed. Borneo TMBT Ultra will close the curtain on this difficult Asia Trail Master Championship season on 19/20 December.

The ATM Final has become a significantly mediatised attraction in recent years and got scaled up another notch last December with the impressively executed Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping. It has developed in a real social sports festivity after a full year of battles between the elites, and the many individual achievements on the Grandmaster Quest. Prior to this week, our core team had been planning and discussing for months to get the 19/20 December calendar slot filled. The original plan fell apart in March as a direct consequence of the corona crisis, and two alternatives were also unable to provide guarantees - that is guarantees for having the necessary time to prepare and build up the event. In contrast, Borneo TMBT Ultra offers few surprises on that front. The event will celebrate its tenth anniversary already and is generally acknowledged as a true classic of Asian trail running. We are confident that TMBT is the right choice for this year’s ATM Final and we are highly appreciative of the enthusiasm the TMBT team showed to assume this title. More specific details on what this implies for the runners will be communicated in due course. What is for sure is that only the 100K race will be relevant for those elites fighting for the Championship title.

Given the now several race cancellations on our calendar, we are also looking into the best manner to proceed with the ATM Championship and the Grandmaster Quest in the latter part of the season. We will communicate on this before the end of May.

In conclusion, please read the official statement from the event management of Borneo TMBT Ultra on the postponement of the event to December and the implications for those who have registered already.

POSTPONEMENT OF TMBT 2020

It is with great regret that Borneo Ultra Trails has to announce the postponement of the TMBT Ultra-Trail Marathon which was scheduled for 29th and 30th August, 2020.

There are some positive signs of the COVID-19 pandemic being contained and restrictions are gradually being eased in many countries, but whilst we would like to be optimistic, we consider it unlikely that the TMBT can be organised and run in a format that pays tribute to the 10th anniversary of the event, by end of August without undue risks. The primary concern of Borneo Ultra Trails as the organisers, is for the safety of the participants, staff and volunteers as well as the communities we pass through. Running an event with a large international contingent, under the current circumstances, is not in line with this. Rather than cancelling the TMBT 2020, it has been decided to tentatively postpone it till 19th and 20th December 2020.

In addition to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the event, we are pleased to announce collaboration with Asia Trail Master (ATM) with the intention to have the TMBT as the ATM Championship Final for 2020.

The world is only just starting to define “life after lockdown”, and we cannot predict how this will develop over the next few months and whether it will be even feasible to organise and run the TMBT safely at year end. We can work on ways to reduce risks, which may affect the race format, but ultimately the race can only be organised and run as planned in December if it is deemed safe. If the race can be carried out within the regulatory framework at that time, it will be run if it has the support of the local communities and it can be organised and run in a format suitable for the event.

For those who have already signed up for the event, we apologize for any disappointment of not being able to go ahead with the race in August, but hope you will understand and join us in hoping the race can be organised successfully in December. Runners who have already signed up/registered for the TMBT in August 2020 will have their entries and registrations automatically transferred to the TMBT scheduled for 19th and 20th December 2020. Should runners who have already registered prefer a refund instead at this stage, please email info@borneoultra.com with all details.

If the eventuality should arise that it becomes necessary to cancel the event in December 2020, those who preferred to maintain their current registration for the new dates for TMBT in December 2020 and those who register henceforth for the event, will be offered the following choices:

• 1. A full refund of the registration fee or

• 2. A transfer of the registration to the Borneo Ultra-Trail Marathon (BUTM) or the TMBT in 2021.

With the best wishes for happy trail running and please do stay safe.

Borneo Ultra Trails

Last year local hero Milton Amat won an incredible race against the inevitable Hisashi Kitamura

We had a surprising Chinese winner on the women’s 100K last year, as Wen Danju from Guangzhou overtook race favourite Asuka Nakajima in the final kilometres

Watch the entire Episode 2 of the Tale of the Trail including the TMBT announcement

Episode 2 of our new bi-monthly video talk show ‘The Tale of the Trail’ has been scheduled for Friday, 15 May at 18:00 Hong Kong time. Labeled “A Glimmer of Hope”, the show will continue on the good vibes from Vietnam and South Korea two weeks ago and hope to get more updates on, especially, the logistical front of both scheduled ATM Championship events Dalat Ultra Trail and Korea 50K. All events in July have already been cancelled, so we will toe the water with the event management of Ijen Trail in East Java, Indonesia, and the big Borneo TMBT Ultra in Sabah, Malaysia. Both are on the programme for the second half of August. Furthermore, we will have a chat with Kristian Joergensen, who only very recently managed to get out of his resident city of Manila in the Philippines and flew back to his native Denmark. And last but not least, we have our mystery guest.

Episode 2 of The Tale of the Trail will be live on our Facebook page on Friday at 18:00 Hong Kong time. The edited recording can also be watched later on YouTube and our website.

Lantau 70 is open for registration. After the Hong Kong government started easing restrictions on society that were imposed as a result of the corona pandemic, the organisational team at The Trail Hub feels confident the time is right to look forward to the event scheduled for 31 October, which is in the end still nearly six months away from now. Lantau 70 is a classic daytime race on the "airport island" and is usually sold out. This year it has also been granted the SuperTrail label in the Asia Trail Master Championship after the cancellation of the 9 Dragons Ultra back in February.

70 km means the race is also valid for the Grandmaster Quest. Event Centre is Mui Wo.

Registration and all details can be checked via the website:

https://www.thetrailhub.com/lantau-70

Now you can rewatch episode 1 of our facebook live show ‘Tale of the Trail’ here on the website. This episode was dubbed “The State of Play” , featuring the event management of the next five events on the amended 2020 Asia Trail Master calendar.

Or on our YouTube page: