The final points race in Thailand of the 2022 Asia Trail Master season saw a number of great performances by emerging trail runners, as the local and regional trail elites were competing 60 km further south in the trail world championship. Doi Nhok Trail in Wang Nuea also stood out for its wonderful event management by a redesigned teelakow team, including the impressively stocked aid stations (pizza!) and start/finish arena set-up. The many hundreds of participating runners will also remember DNT for the tough race courses, providing a mixture of runable sections and extremely technical single trails that made running hardly feasible. The latter translated into a very long day for those people on the longer distance categories.

The 124 km and 58 km races were the chosen categories for the ATM Championship ranking. The male and female winners Arnon Srimat and Areerat Kareeklin ensured themselves of a spot on Team Thailand for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo next month. Srimat was third in UTKC earlier this year, and was in a league of his own last Saturday at Doi Nhok. His finish time of 29 hours 10 minutes nevertheless was an indication of the difficulty of the terrain. Second and third on the podium went to Phanlop Deechob and Somsak Jaejong. Areerat Kareeklin already won UTKC 70 in March, and thus scored her second ATM race win of 2022. On the podium with her were Sirinapa Phimklang and Srida Pheunghua.

On the 58 km we had a strong Malaysian winner who therefore managed to get into his national team for the ATM Finals. Amir Zaki shrugged off the disappointment of his DNF at UTOP last month by taking his first ATM race victory, more than one hour ahead of Chaisak Wangsnam and Nuttapong Sreedach. The fastest woman came next, fourth overall, and hailed from Ireland: Rachel Nolan. She proved too strong for the other women in the field, of whom Srinual Kanta and Prapaphan Thongsao completed the podium.

The 100 miles category, considered the most extreme miler in Thailand and beyond, was won by Germany’s Stefan Boeck in over 36 hours. Strongest woman was Thanussarinya Thaviphan in 53 hours.

A double ATM race winner in 2022: Areerat Kareeklin takes the 124 km race at Doi Nhok

Ireland’s Rachel Nolan was clearly the fastest woman on the 58 km despite severe stomach issues the day before the race

Chaisak Wangsnam and Nuttapong Sreedach were second and third behind Amir Zaki on the 58 km

It’s busy weeks on the ATM circuit and the trail racing continues this weekend with the final points race in Thailand for 2022, the Doi Nhok Trail near Chiang Mai. The second edition of this event unfortunately threatens to be overhadowed by the WMTRC event, which got rescheduled from last year to this weekend and which also takes place in the Chiang Mai area. Some of the biggest names in ATM and in Thailand, and other neighbouring countries and regions, e.g. John Ellis, Milton Amat, Jeff Campbell, Ezster Csillag, Sally Yap, Ruth Theresia, John Ray Onifa and Jay Jantaraboon have received the opportunity to measure themselves on a global stage. As a consequence, we expect instead to discover several new faces at Doi Nhok Trail. The start list of the event is in any case very long. The list of race distance categories is unfortunately also very long. ATM Championship points will be scored on the 125k and the 58 km races. But runners on the Grandmaster Quest can do 80km, 125km or even 100 miles.

Last weekend’s 9 Dragons in Langkawi, an ATM Candidate Race label event, saw a very nice victory by Andy Chong Chi Lee on the main 50/50 category, that is 50 miles on Saturday and 50 km on Sunday. Lee made the difference on Sunday, when he distanced Singapore’s Lem Chee Ng - with whom he had finished together a day earlier. Siokhar Lim was, as expected, the only female finisher of the 50/50. Francesco Floris ran with her quite a bit to be third in the men’s. The 50 miles single race was won by Ben Hails and Law Bee Chiao. The 50k single race went to Radzi Mokhtar and Gladys Ang.

The plagued Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping has now been forced to reschedule the event date as a consequence of Malaysia’s national elections taking place on the original weekend of 19/20 November. MMTF is now set for one week later. Both the 100km and 50km races have a very competitive field of entrants, hopefully most of them can still make it on the new date. Along with Malnad Ultra in India, Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Philippines and Izu Trail Journey in Japan, MMTF is one of the final points races for the 2022 ATM rankings, and thus opportunity for runners to get into their national country team for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo in Davao, Philippines, on 17 December.

A media conference on the Mount Apo Sky Race event was held in Davao City this week and can be watched here.

Runners who are currently in the Top of their country ranking will receive all details on the event in the coming days. As previously announced, all qualifiers will get free race entry for the 75k Final race, free 3-night accommodation, free country team t-shirts, and free airport shuttle services from/to Davao City.

Andy Chong Chi Lee scored a very nice victory in the 50/50 of the 9 Dragons Langkawi

While every finisher of the very tough 125 km long Ulju Trail 9 Peaks deserves an honourary mentioning, the winner of the 45 km and 2500 hm medium distance was nevertheless again the most eye-catching trail athlete of the weekend. Two weeks after storming to victory in Seoul, Kim Jisub smashed the opposition again in the Yeongnam Alps on Friday. Kim Jisub won in 5h19, half an hour ahead of Minchul Ko, and 45 minutes ahead of Jong Youl Kim. With two ATM race wins and 1000 points this season, Kim Jisub is already guaranteed of a spot in Team Korea for the ATM Championship Final race on Mount Apo in December. He would be one of the top favourites, even when - as with Jeff Campbell, for instance - 75km is a slightly longer distance than he is used to compete on. Also qualified for his country team already is Jaeduk Sim, who finished fourth in Ulju after a 3rd place in Seoul 100K two weeks ago.

The fastest three women on the 45km were Hyunja Kim, Narae Park and Eun Nam Kim.

The longest race distance lived up to its reputation as being one of the toughest mountain trails in the ATM series and Asia in general. The DNF rate was high, but nevertheless there were 52 finishers. The weather conditions were ideal to highlight the magnificent autumn colours of the mountain regions not too far from Busan in the southeastern corner of South Korea. Junghyun Lim was the strongest by one hour over Dong Kuk Jang in 23 hours 10 minutes . Youngmin Yoon completed the podium in fourth and was followed by India’s ATM Grandmaster Shashwat Rao - a pure mountain trail lover. Rao did have some bad luck along the way, as he missed a marker and therefore a potential podium finish. Gyesook Lee was first woman in the finish in a time of 28 hours 41 minutes. Ji Ho Hwang was second and Sun Yeon Lee third.

This weekend we have the next ATM Candidate Race event in Malaysia, and it’s a debut for the popular holiday island Langkawi. The 9 Dragons Malaysia mirrors the event concept introduced by RaceBase in Hong Kong, itself a points race in our Championship series in 2018 and 2019. The main focus is on the two-day competition with runners doing 50 miles on Saturday AND 50 km on Sunday. A tough task, physically and mentally, and arguably even more so in hot & humid Langkawi than in a relatively cool early February weekend in Hong Kong. It is perhaps not a surprise therefore that he start lists for the individual 50 miles and 50k races are longer than for the combo race. However, it is certainly no surprise to see Siokhar Lim on the start list. According to some, Siokhar Lim deserves the title of ‘toughest trail woman in Malaysia’ , by virtue of her impressive record in the most difficult ultra trail events in the region since 2019. As we have seen already this season, Siokhar Lim is also faster than ever and the question is whether she can podium overall this weekend in Langkawi. Puteri Norsharina Abdul Aziz, like Lim an ATM Grandmaster, is the second Malaysian woman on the 50/50 combo, and they are joined by Ireland’s Dawn O’Dowd. In the men’s start list we find a.o. Abdul Rahman and Lem Chee Ng, the Singapore-based Malaysian who finished together with Siokhar Lim at UTOP 105 three weeks ago.

Lots of runners signed up for the 50 miles and 50 km single races, and we will be keeping an eye out for a.o. Sally Yap and Halimatun Sa’adiah.

Siokhar Lim: the combo race at 9 Dragons is yet another challenge for her to conquer

Abdul Rahman

Halimatun Sa’adiah will be in action on the 50 km

Ulju Nine Peaks Trail is a serious mountain running event in the southeast of South Korea, which for the first time offers two points races valid for the ATM Championship ranking. The massive 125 km race across “9 Peaks” and covering 9200 metres of elevation gain, and the shorter 45 km race across “5 Peaks” and 3500 hm. Event and race director Jey Jang is known from the Korea 50k event, which was part of ATM before for three years, and she hopes to make Ulju Nine Peaks Trail an annual must-do trail event for runners in Asia.

It is a beautiful region outright, but what makes it even more stunning this time of year are the autumn colours of the forests in and surrounding the Yeongnam Alps. Especially for people from Southeastern Asia, the large variety of colours is not an every-day sight. Moreover, autumn typically implies cooler and less humid weather conditions, too. Excellent for endurance athletes.

The 125 km was flagged off on Thursday morning, the 45 km will be on Friday.

Poy Brillantes is one of the Filipino runners running the 125 km of Ulju Nine Peaks Trail

A really tough mountain trail on the programme this weekend!

There have been plenty of ATM Candidate Races this year, and also in the early months of next season we already have a few nice events lined up. Silabur Ultra Trail is another new event in Sarawak on Malaysian Borneo on 19 March 2023. It proves that many event organisers wish to be part of our Asia Trail Master Championship calendar in the near future, and that event organisation and management is bound to improve even further as spots-per-country on our main calendar are limited and will not increase in number.

Silabur Ultra Trail will take place at Bidayuh Kampung Lubang Batu, Tebakang, roughly 40km from Serian town & 100km from Kuching, the main city with international airport connections. The trail courses cover natural mountain trail & the magnificent Silabur Cave aka Jade Cave. The longest race distance is measured at 60 km with race start at 3 am, but less ambitious runners can also opt for 30km, 15k mand 8km.

Highlight of the event is of course the Silabur Cave, which is a truly impressive sight and the main tourism attraction. It’s a limstone cave with huge vertical cliffs and a jade colour scheme. Accommodation is in homestays as the nearest bigger town or city is Kuching, 100km away. In fact, Silabur is not so far from the border with Indonesia’s Kalimantan.

Test

 

The second Hong Kong points race of this year’s ATM season was won by the still reigning men’s champion John Ellis and Ezster Csillag, who finished second overall and first woman. Ultramarathon de Sai Kung in the New Territories had a rather small field of participants on the 58km course, but the quality was there. For Ellis and Csillag it was the ideal form-test before some bigger goals in November and December.

Three weeks ago at the Dark 45 event, Ellis was still struggling quite a bit and had to battle hard to just make it to the podium behind Jeff Campbell and even his Australian T8 buddy David Longo. Last Sunday, however, Ellis looked like he is nearing peak form again as he managed to push till the finish and drop Longo by a margin of 47 minutes no less. Longo himself did not have the best of days, came second, but behind Ezster Csillag, who has just returned back to Hong Kong from her home country Hungary. As an ATM Champion, John Ellis has now got two ATM race finishes under his belt this year, which means he receives a wild card already to defend his title on Mount Apo in December. Ezster Csillag is hoping to secure her spot on Team Asia Expat in one of the coming ATM races, while David Longo is as good as safe to get his place in Team Australia.

The run for third place on the men’s podium was contested between Samuel Lee, Bogdan Onyschenko and Arnaud Courtin. It was decided in Lee’s favour. Second and third female were Filipino Dolores Sales and Siat Tjhui Djie.

There’s still ATM points races every weekend, except on 12/13 November, giving competitive runners a chance to qualify inside their country’s top four or five and get a spot on the team for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo in the Philippines on 17 December.

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Three weeks after Ferei Dark 45 we already have the second ATM points race in Hong Kong on Sunday. Ultramarathon de Sai Kung by XTE Events has been on our calendar since the early part of the season, and although the 100 km has had to be scrapped due to the ongoing covid restrictions in the city, the 58 km is the longest real race in Hong Kong in quite some time. The field of participants is not big for this one, but there’s a couple of international stars scheduled to race and collect relevant ATM Championship points in the persons of a.o. John Ellis, David Longo and last-but-not-least Eszter Csillag. The latter has just returned to Hong Kong from her native Hungary in Eastern Europe, following motherhood and a sensational 5th place in UTMB last summer. Csillag has competed on our ATM tour before, winning the 2019 edition of the 100k at Magnificent Merapoh Trail in Malaysia. For the remainder of 2022, supported by T8, she aims to go for the ATM Championship title in December. Qualifying for Team Asia Expat requires ATM points, and UM de Sai Kung looks like the perfect race to open her account.

Reigning ATM Champion John Ellis will be hoping to score better than his 3rd place at Dark 45 this weekend, but in any case will be happy to know that a race finish means automatic qualification for the ATM Championship title race in Philippines on 17 December. Past ATM Champions get a wild card as soon as they have finished two ATM points races in 2022.

It will be very interesting to watch if Ellis can keep up with his fellow-Australian David Longo, who was a very strong 2nd three weeks ago. Longo clearly made a leap forward in competitiveness during the covid years, the question is whether that can result in a first ever ATM race victory.

We will be following the race via our usual channels this Sunday.

David Longo was a strong 2nd in Dark 45 three weeks ago, can he score his first ATM race win this Sunday?

It was a busy weekend with two ATM Championship points races in South Korea and Vietnam, plus an ATM Candidate in Sabah, Malaysia. The most striking performance was signed by Jeff Campbell at the Vietnam Jungle Marathon in Pu Luong. The Hong Kong-based Canadian went out of his comfort zone by tackling the 70k long race, but it hardly showed as he beat two-time race winner this year Gaetan Morizur and 2019 VJM winner Hisashi KItamura in a hard-fought battle. The lead trio were in a league of their own with Campbell finishing in a time of 7h03 (for 70k and 3000 hm) , half an hour ahead of Frenchman-in-Vietnam Morizur, who himself managed to pass Kitamura in the dying moments of the race for second place. All three class acts deserve applause for their spirited performances on Saturday. Far behind them, Ivan Grigorev took a solid fourth place, ahead of Vietnam’s Hoang Huu Thang, who has been very busy this season - last week he still completed the gruelling UTOP 105km in Malaysia. He will be rewarded with a quasi guaranteed qualification for Team Vietnam in the ATM Championship. Most of the big names in Vietnam were absent from the race last Saturday.

Not absent, and placing herself nicely between the top 3 and Grigorev was Vanja Cnops. The Belgian had no competition in the women’s race and as such could set her own pace throughout. Her winning time was 9h08. Vietnam’s Vu Thi Lan Huong was a good second, boosting her ATM points total into a safe zone for ATM Championship qualfication. Hoàng Xuân Vân Anh completed the podium in third place.

The trails around Pu Luong were quite dry and more runable than ever, which partially explains the very fast times. Kitamura was 50 minutes faster than his winning race in 2019. Vanja was more than 1h30’ faster than three years ago.

Over in Seoul, global trail star Gediminas Grinius delivered a fine performance by winning the 100k race in 12h53, almost 45 minutes ahead of Korean ace Kim Jisu. In third place we had Sim Jae Duk in 14h04. Among the ATM Championship protagonists we noted a nice 7th place for UTCM winner Yuta Matsuyama. Tomohiro Mizukoshi was a DNS after suffering from a bad cold late last week. The women’s 100k race saw a Korean success with Jung Soon Park having the better of Japanese duo Tomomi Bitoh and Kanna Suzuki.

The 50k was dominated as expected by the fastest Korean trail star since years, Kim Jisub. He finished the race 1h13’ faster (!!!) than second-placed Heeseong Noh. Seung Jae Min and Sangmin Chung were together in third and fourth. Japan’s Moeko Yasugahira won the women’s 50k, ahead of Boyoung and Yunmin Lee.

There’s been quite a few new events in Sabah this year, and Kokol Ultra is the latest one keen on getting a place on the ATM Championship calendar in the near future. The new 50k race could count on nearly all the big names in Sabah and they did not disappoint. Milton Amat was a clear winner once again, cementing his position as one of ATM’s best performers this season. Imagine he had been at VJM this weekend…. Barely a week after his 126km slog in Penang, WIlsen Singgin toed a starting line again and managed to get second place ahead of a surprisingly strong Jude Maikol in third.

In the women’s Kokol 50 race, we saw a nice resurgence of Jassica Lintanga as a competitive racer. “Jess” recent training efforts are paying off as she had the better of her younger sister Adelinah Lintanga and Aslin Sarawi.

Vanja Cnops: fourth overall and another easy win in the women’s 70k race

Moeko Yasugahira, 7th overall and women’s winner of the 50K in Seoul

Yuta Matsuyama (7th) and Kanna Suzuki (3rd) had solid runs in Seoul

Men’s podium at Kokol; 50: Milton Amat wins, Wilsen Singgin 2nd and Jude Maikol 3rd

Jess Lintanga was a bit faster than her sister Adelinah in the women’s 50k, Aslin Sarawi takes third

You can now watch our latest episode of Tale of the Trail, on the UTOP race in Malaysia on 8/9 October. The 105km very technical race had a surprising male race winner in Jeffery Budin, while local trail hero Siokhar Lim proved to be the strongest woman of the field.

This weekend’s doubleheader also features Seoul 100K in South Korea, an already established event but a new entry on our ATM Championship calendar. Two points races are included, a 100k and a 50k, providing the local runners with a choice to collect ATM points with a view to potential qualification for the Finals in December. In two weeks, there’s another mountainous event taking place in Korea, Ulju Nine & Four Peaks, and so Korean runners can meet the minimum requirement of two ATM race finishes. Unfortunately, it has until today not been easy to travel abroad for Korean people as covid testing requirements and the related uncertainties remain in place.

It is perhaps no surprise that quite a few Japanese runners will also take part in Seoul this weekend, along with all kinds of nationalities. The event does take place in and around the Korean capital, which makes it very convenient. Being around the city does not mean it is a flat race, however. The 100k has over 4600 hm and also the 50k has 2600 hm.

The Korean Alpine Federation, event organiser, has invited a global trail star in the name of Lithuanian Gediminias Grinius. He is signed up even for the full 100k race. Obviously, he is the top favourite and a runner who has been competing in Asia a few times before with success, and with lots of respect for local Asian organisers. Tsuyoshi Kaburaki is one the Japanese trail names on the start list, and Kazuyuki Takahashi can also be ranked among the podium contenders. Better known for ATM followers is Yuta Matsuyama, recently winner of Ultra Trail Chiang Mai in Thailand, and someone capable of producing the upset. Matsuyama is also ranked in the ATM Japan Top 5 at the moment, which qualifies him for the ATM Championship Final in December. Another Japanese runner on the start list we all know very well is Tomohiro Mizukoshi, but he has reported to be not starting this weekend as he fell ill with a bad cold. Especially on the 100k race, we are likely to get to know a lot of new Korean names, as it has indeed been four years since the last ATM points race in the country.

The 50K could see a great battle between the best known Korean runner Kim Jisub and Singapore-based Frenchman Vincent Casanova. Jisub is a 50k trail specialist with wins in, for example, Borneo TMBT 50 on his record, and Casanova is a 2:35 marathon runner, his PB actually dating from earlier this year! The tall Frenchman from Corsica may be more of a roadie than a trail runner, but if the weather is dry on Saturday he could give Kim Jisub a genuine challenge.

Kim Jisub winning TMBT 50k in 2019

Vincent Casanova during the virtual ATM 500 in his resident country Singapore

Yuta Matsuyama getting ready for his 3rd ATM race of the season in Seoul

This weekend’s Vietnam Jungle Marathon is the last of three ATM points races in the country that have succeeded each other quickly. And has the best one been saved for last? One could say so looking at the men’s start list in particular: Jeff Campbell and Hisashi KItamura, Hung Hai and Gaetan Morizur. That’s serious trail dynamite for the 70k race in Pu Luong and the type of competitive race that warrants a good bet. In the women’s race eyes will be focused on Vanja Cnops in the absence of Hau Ha, resting after a busy number of weeks.

The 2019 edition of VJM was one of the biggest classics in ATM racing history, culminating in a very entertaining battle between Kitamura and Veronika Vadovicova, whose star was rising very quickly that spring. Indeed, VJM used to be held in May, but the annual scorchingly hot temperatures have convinced the organisers to move things to mid-October since then. It was the Karate Kit’s first ATM race victory, and for sure he will need to dig deep this Saturday to repeat that feat. Especially as he has not been looking very fresh in his last ATM appearances. Jeff Campbell on the other hand was his usual dominant self at the Ferei Dark 45 two weeks ago. The interesting thing is that Campbell will be leaving his comfort zone at VJM: 70 km is not a race distance he entertains very often. Similar to Vanja Cnops in the women’s, Campbell prefers the shorter distances and run them at very high speeds. Gaetan Morizur has been the man-to-beat in Vietnam’s trail races this season, and is a runner who is very familiar with VJM. Morizur beating Kitamura and Campbell would perhaps be kind of surprising, and yet it cannot be excluded at all - especially if the others go head-to-head from the start, a dangerous tactic that was applied by Hung Hai in that 2019 race. Hung Hai ran away from everyone early on, but got reeled in over halfway and finished half an hour behind Kitamura. Hung Hai is in great shape, he came second behind Quang Tran in VMM 100 miles last month, and beating the others this weekend would raise his international trail profile quite a bit.

Normally speaking, in-form Vanja Cnops will be tough to beat in the women’s 70k race. For the Singapore based Belgian, this race is also a bit of an advanced training for the 75k race on Mount Apo in December, the ATM Championship Final. Vietnam’s Julia Nguyen Duong Thi and Thi Lan Huong Vu are also podium contenders.

In 2019 Hung Hai attacked early, but got reeled in by Hisashi Kitamura.

Gaetan Morizur at VJM 2018. Since then, the Frenchman has metamorphosed into a multiple race winner!

Jeff Campbell and Hisashi Kitamura raced each other before at Tahura Trail 2020. Campbell won, and Alessandro Sherpa put himself between the two.

Julia Nguyen Duong Thi can safeguard her ATM Final qualification this weekend

The women’s 2019 podium with Vanja Cnops on 2 behind Veronika Vadovicova on 1 and the late Fredelyn Alberto on 3.