We are delighted to announce that T8 has extended AND upgraded its support of the Asia Trail Master Championship series for 2023 as our official apparel partner. The Hong Kong-based brand has entered the trail running market in Southeast Asia by storm over the past couple of years - and as such certainly lives up to its name. T8 refers to the typhoon or hurricane wind signal used by the Hong Kong Observatory to warn for a gale or storm from one of the four quadrants.

Founded by trail runners Mark Green and the 2019 ATM Champion John Ellis, T8 has been supporting ATM since 2019 and nowadays their logo is omnipresent in the Asian trail scene. In particular, the Sherpa Shorts and the T8 Commandos - the anti-chaffing underwear that started it all - have become many runners’s favourite. Combined with a fun and clean image, and an excellent team of trail performers, both competitively and media-wise, the brand keeps on growing. In the ATM Season VIII, T8 will also increase its support for young trail running talents in Asia. The T8 Talent Fund will see runners from less-privileged areas receive an opportunity to shine and make themselves known by competing in one or more ATM points races. Hopefully, that may even result in qualification for their country team in the ATM Championship Finals in December.

You can check out all the T8 products easily via their website and e-store linked below. Have a look at the new neck cooler, which is a very handy accessory in South East Asia, especially.

The Sherpa Shorts

Road, trail or mountain, these lightweight men's shorts will carry all your gear. Ditch the backpack and just run.

• Carries all your essentials - phone, water, gels, rain jacket - and more!

• Hyper-stretch mesh holds up to 2L or 1kg with minimal bounce

• Four pockets to stay organised

• Super lightweight 78gsm fabric with 4-way stretch

• Durable water repellent coating

• Reflective detailing for safer night-time running

• 6" in-seam and high side slit for extra mobility

• Comes in a reusable water resistant pouch

Sherpas are designed with no inner liner so pair with our T8 Commando V2 men's running underwear for a super comfy, guaranteed chafe-free running experience. Bundle and use discount code 15FOR2 for 15% off - and both come with our 30-day satisfaction guarantee! Women's version coming soon...

Note that we have recently standardised our sizing so please double check your waist size against the dropdown menu above. Runners looking for a "racing fit" (tighter waist and less bounce) should consider going half a size smaller.

• Composition - shorts (80% nylon, 20% elastane), waistband (77% nylon, 23% spandex) and mesh (68% nylon, 32% lycra).

* While colloquially known as elite mountaineer guides, Sherpas are more accurately a major ethnic group in the eastern regions of Nepal. We believe in giving back so 1% of Sherpa Short sales will be donated to the Himalayan Trust Nepal to support their fabulous work. HTN was established in 1960 by Sir Edmund Hillary and provides holistic community-led sustainable development in the Solukhumbu district, with a particular focus on healthcare, education and earthquake rebuilding.

The T8 Commando

Trail runners and ultra runners  in South East Asia need running gear that is crazy lightweight for minimal heat insulation, extra wicking and quick drying, plus super breathable for maximum air flow. The answer of T8 is the T8 Commando underwear: Ultralight, supercool, chafe-free - "so light you'll forget it's there". It's built for the worst conditions - category T8 typhoons - but also great for everyday casual wear.

Features

• ~ Super comfortable Italian fabric

• ~ Ultra lightweight at under 40 grams

• ~ Highly breathable and wicking

• ~ Minimal stride resistance

• ~ Guaranteed chafe-free

Great underwear starts with material and the T8 Commando features an environmentally sustainable Italian-made fabric. It's feather-light at only 85gsm, weighing less than half of the major brands.

The polyamide-elastane weave is super soft for an amazingly luxurious feel, while also providing a three dimensional stretch with minimal resistance and maximum airflow. It's highly breathable and holds very little moisture, keeping you dry and comfortable all day.

The T8 Commando also features thoughtful design. Flat stretch seams are positioned away from high risk areas (including the coccyx), with a six inch in-seam to protect the sensitive inner thighs. A double front panel provides extra support for your bits, while seam washing instructions are printed to avoid any chafing risk. 

Each T8 Commando comes in a reusable water resistant phone case, perfect for protecting your other valuables when out running, and which saves on wasted packaging. We care about the environment!

The Commando has been extensively tested in tropical Hong Kong conditions and is guaranteed chafe-free. If you experience any chafing in these pants, send us a photo and we'll refund you 100%, no questions asked!

T8 will be supporting selected events on the ATM race calendar with vouchers for podium placers and lucky draws, as well as the top ranked runners at the end of the 2018 ATM Championship. 

WEBSITE & SHOP LINK : https://t8.run

Chun Kwei Ming was the great winner of last weekend’s Simpur Ultra 50, as pre-race favourite Sefli Ahar pulled out just over halfway following an injury sustained in a fall early on in the race. Just like the earlier BBTC event in 2016-2018, Brunei’s trails once again proved to be very treacherous despite what some would call a lack of elevation gain. The forest trails around the city of Bandar Seri Begawan are very technical and slow even the quickest runners down so much that we had a very solid and proven competitor as Chun Kwei Fung winning in just over 10 hours for 50k. It’s easy to deduct his average speed. The local Bruneian was 6th in Borneo TMBT 100 in 2019, for instance. He was one -and-a-half hours ahead of 2nd placed Haji Ibni Bin Haji Nudin, and over three hours ahead of Junaidi in third place.

Nur Ainulhakimah Mahmud was the fastest woman in the race in a time of 15:44:12, after a long and exciting competition with Norazimah Mohd Zin, who ultimately finished just six minutes later in second. Tellingly, only two women managed to beat the cut-off time. Overall, Simpur Ultra was clearly a killer, with just 23% of the starters in the finish.

Despite these dramatic numbers, people agreed the event has a bright future ahead and with some fine-tuning can become a Bruneian classic.

Video footage of race finish and interviews by Mark TWT for ATM

This weekend our attention finally again turns to Brunei, where on Sunday the inaugural edition of Simpur Ultra Run will take place - a new ATM Candidate Race. It’s been five years since the demise of the Beach Bunch Trail Challenge, and we are looking forward to getting to know many new runners. Covid mitigation efforts made it very hard still for Bruneian trail runners to travel and race in 2022, but things are looking good for the new season. And who else but local running legend Sefli Ahar features as the posterboy of the new event in and around the country capital Bandar Seri Begawan.

On the event programme we find a 50km main category and a 18km shorter distance. Sefli Ahar will go for the 50km that starts at midnight on Sunday, and which will be reported live on on our usual ATM channels. For those who may have forgotten, Sefli Ahar is a 6-time ATM points race winner in the early years 2016-2018, which is still a record for male trail runners he shares with John Ellis, Hisashi Kitamura and Milton Amat. Working as a police officer in Brunei, traveling abroad is not that easy and Sefli, now in his mid forties, has taken a step back from international competition in ATM since then. However, this weekend he is at home in BSB and anyone aiming to win the race will certainly need to run passed him.

Sefli Ahar has won 6 ATM points races between 2016 and 2018, a record he shares with John Ellis, Hisashi Kitamura and Milton Amat.

We are happy to announce Mude Sports as the official customisation partner of the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series. Based in Vietnam, Mude Sports is a high-performance sports wear brand for running, cycling and triathlon with a specific focus on recycled fabrics and other sustainable solutions for the industry. While also sponsoring and coaching Vietnamese elite trail runners such as ATM Champion Hau Ha, Mude Sports’ bread and butter is customisation to produce products ‘outside the limits of a catalogue’. Whether you are a competitive sports team, a corporate or friendly training club, an organiser in need of event and finisher tees, or just an individual keen on wearing your own design, your own colours and using high quality and eco-friendly materials, Mude can customise everything to suit your wishes.

Environmental protection is a key objective for the brand. When founder Guim Valls, originally from Spain, cycled around the world with an e-bike a good decade ago, he was confronted with the huge plastic pollution problem around the planet, damaging the soil, oceans and rivers, poisoning humans and wildlife. When he learnt that polyester fiber - the main fabric used in modern-day sportswear - is essentially also made out of PET, the main component of plastic bottles, the idea for Mude was born.

Creating polyester fabric from plastic bottles has an enormous positive impact on the planet. Traditional polyester depends on the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Using recycled polyester instead makes use of the millions of plastic bottles already in existence. The process on how this all works can be read and learnt on the website of Mude Sports linked below.

Mude emphasizes that their recycled fabrics have the exact same properties as traditional Polyester fabrics, as proven by international and independent testing and industry certifications.

Apart from customised apparel, Mude Sports also sells a very efficient hydrovest for trail runners as of this season. The lightweight Mude hydrovest can be packed very easily and allows you to carry everything you need during your ultra race. Click on the button below for more infos.

Mude Sports can be contacted directly for all your customisation needs via info@mude.vn

The very light and efficient Mude hydro vest

We are happy to announce our latest signing as partner of the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship: Crampfix. The Australia-based brand has quickly established itself in the sports world as a very effective cramp reliever. Cramps, a recurring issue for plenty a trail runner in hot climates such as Southeast Asia especially.

CrampFix is the signature product of the company Fixx which offers very fast relief from muscle cramps. Originally developed for professional rugby players in 2016 with the aim of lengthening their on-field performance time by eliminating muscle cramps., CrampFix is sold in 1000+ retailers in Australia and is exported to 15 countries, of which several Asian.

After almost two years of further testing and tweaking, the all-natural CrampFix® was brought to market for professional athletes. Crampfix is used by many professional sports teams outside running, including many cycling teans, the Wallabies national rugby team, UK Cricket & Football and the South African Springboks, world champions in rugby. The range also includes a product for rapid relief of non-exercise related muscle cramps.

Our favourite running store and e-store in Hong Kong, Gone Running, has been selling Crampfix products for some time, as well as Sportlicious Malaysia.

We are happy to announce the extension of the partnership between ATM and Gone Running in Hong Kong. Gone Running is a flagship store and e-store for trail and ultra runners, managed by one of Hong Kong’s own marathon legend Joe Joe Fan. Gone Running will also serve as an info point during season VIII of the Asia Trail Master Championship series.

Gone Running was established in 2014 to provide a better online shopping experience for Hong Kong trail and road runners. In 2015, we opened our first physical store in the Wanchai area on Hong Kong Island. Our new address as of 2018 is 16/F, Simsons Commercial Building, 137 Johnston Road in Wanchai (note we moved in July 2018). This is right next to the MTR Wanchai station.

It's about more than just good prices. We want to offer the best products (gear we use ourselves) as well as knowledgeable advice from top trail and road runners to make sure you get the kit and nutrition that is best for you.  It's for runners, by runners.

We love our community and believe in giving back. We organise regular running and community events, sponsor budding young runners, collect secondhard gear donations, and support some great running-based charities.

Website and store:

https://gone.run

We are delighted to announce that Lecka is the official nutrition partner of the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series. Born and headquartered in Vietnam, Lecka is on a mission to bring delicious & healthy food to the world. Natural, sustainable and nutritious. Founded by German Markus Gnirck in 2020, himself a solid runner, Lecka has quickly developed a great reputation in the outdoor community in Vietnam. Healthy snacks were in high demand during the pandemic years as people rediscovered nature, and in no time Lecka became the market leader for endurance athletes in its home country. All products are created in collaboration with Vietnamese farmers to source the freshest and highest-quality ingredients. The result is unique, yet markedly distinct Asian flavours such as mango coconut and chocolate banana.

The core idea is to empower active lifestyles. The Lecka range of products therefore goes beyond the standard ‘energy bars’ for athletes to include healthy snacks in the form of protein bars and - brand new - granola bites.

Lecka products are also halal, and the company has a strong focus on sustainability. All products are packaged in eco-friendly manner with compostable packaging for the bars and 100% recyclable packaging without aluminium layers for the granola bites.

Today, Lecka is already available and present in Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia and Philippines. More countries will be added soon, and products will be available at selected ATM events throughout the season.

Local talent Elmer Retolado repeated last year’s victory at the Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run in Philippines, and did so in a significantly faster time: 13h17, or one and a half hour quicker than twelve months ago. Retolado had some strong competitors to deal with on the 80k main race in Yojong Sacayle and Maynard Encormal to begin with. Mindanao’s Sacayle put the pressure on shortly after the start and came first at AS2, which was km 17. Conditions for trail running were good, which was a relief for many as Santa Ines is quickly establishing a reputation for being a very tough and technical race. No fewer than 36 separate river crossings need to be negotiated. These are mostly shallow but break a runner’s rhythm nonetheless. Retolado accelerated towards the end and opened up a substantial gap to Yojong Sacayle, who came into the finish in 2nd place in 14h07. Maynard Encormal was third, some 50 minutes later. JC Murillo, Bali-based German Thimo Kilberth and Sean Aying came next in the men’s race.

However, newbie Elisabeth Dangadan from Baguio caused a bit of a sensation by finishing 4th place overall to win the women’s competition! In a time of 16h02 approximately, a big victory ahead of Angelie Cabalo and Cecille Wael, which promises a lot for months to come. Cabalo was 7th overall and nearly an hour ahead of Wael, which was also about the gap at MMTF 100 a few months ago. Wael, on the other hand, was clearly faster than Cabalo on the 50k of CMU. Kimberly Gaela was a solid fourth in the women’s competition, and managed to stay ahead of Irish Glorioso, who still had sour legs after winning V Trail in Laos just a week ago. Still, Glorioso already banked a nice bag of ATM Championship points and we’re only mid-February!

The next Filipino points race is Sierra Madre Trail and takes place on 13 May and is also in the Rizal Mountain area, albeit on a totally different course of 75 km.

An impressive victory by Elmer Retolado at Santa Ines

We are happy to announce Zenone Poles as the new Official Poles of the Asia Trail Master Championship series. Headquartered in Ningbo, China, Zenone has been expanding rapidly in South East Asia and has become trendy in our series as well, thanks to the colourful customisations and the lightweight products.

The company behind the brand ‘Zenone’ has over 15 years of experience in the production and R&D of trekking and hiking sticks. Since the launch of the 2018 Asia Outdoor Exhibition and the new brand, Zenone has adhered to the tenet of "walking steadily and supporting life", with a pragmatic and rigorous attitude, and focus on extremely light. and on reliability. Moving into the sport of trail running, Zenone has rapidly gathered applause and popularity in the outdoor sports communities, including even mountaineering.

Several events on our ATM calendar are directly supported by Zenone Poles as well, and participating runners can purchase customised versions of the lightweight poles. In the plan for 2023 are also customised ATM poles. Runners will also be able to score these as prizes in ATM events.

On the official webpage and e-store you can see the variety of poles on offer. There’s something for all budgets and personal preferences. A good source of information is also the facebook page of Zenone Poles Malaysia, linked below as well. In Malaysia, you can also purchase the poles via the online MMTF e-store.

The 2nd edition of Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run is upon us this weekend, and it is the first Filipino points race in this year’s Asia Trail Master Championship series. The 80 km race is a tough one, but the relative proximity to country capital Manila makes for an excellent trail weekend trip to the Rizal mountains. 

The Pace Republic, which also includes Grandmaster and 2022 ATM Finalist Rhea Batac, is a new organiser in the Philippines and they haven’t missed their debut. A year ago, Santa Ines was a successful Candidate Race in our series and as such a great new addition to our championship calendar. There’s other shorter distance categories at the event, but the marquee 80k race course is for the well-trained runners. Elmer Retolado won it last year in a time of 14h46, and he is not exactly slow. Great to see Retolado’s name on the start list for this weekend, too. He has appeared every now and then in our series over the past years, winning Akyathlon in 2019 for example, but has never featured over the length of a whole ATM season. Let’s see if countryman and new ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras inspired him. Macaneras himself is skipping Santa Ines, he will make his ATM debut reportedly in March at Lantau 70 in Hong Kong. Retolado will normally be challenged mainly by American David Duffy, based in Thailand, and Bali’s German Thimo Kilberth. Maynard Encornal, third last year, Sean Aying, James Telias and Julius Iglesias are well-known other podium contenders. 

In the women’s 80k race we look forward to a great race between rising trail star Angelie Cabalo and Cecille Wael, with last week’s V Trail winner Irish Glorioso in the mix as well. Both ran Santa Ines last year, too, albeit in different categories. Cabalo was very new to trail but finished 2nd nevertheless on the 30km, while Wael came in third on the 80km after suffering from all kinds of issues. Sherlyn Fugaban was a convincing winner last year, but is now of course still recovering from her leg fracture sustained in July. Cabalo won MMTF at the end of last year ahead of Wael, but the latter turned the tables a week later at Cordillera Mountain Ultra with her best trail performance ever. Let’s find out who comes out on top at Santa Ines. How well has Glorioso recovered from last weekend’s tough trail race in Laos?

ATM will be covering the race live from Santa Ines starting on Saturday afternoon on our usual channels.

Malatra Events returns in 2023 with the Koboi Malaya Trail Classic in Jerantut, Pahang on 13/14 May. The successor to Sungai Menyala Forest Trail will be the first Malaysian ATM points race of this season, with the 50km race category the one to focus on. Just like Sungai Menyala, the new Koboi Malaya is a so-called ‘speed trail’ for runners with a solid pace in the legs. While over 70% is on pure trail, there is very little elevation gain over the 50km distance: 433 metres only. Less ambitious participants can also choose a 25km and 10km option.

As the event organiser points out: this race also allows beginning trail runners to develop a taste for the sport. The route will bring runners to many points of interest around Felda Tekam before entering the forest and entering Taman Warisan Kota Gelangi. This route is similar to what was used in a previous Tekam Forest Trail event in 2018. The course will cover palm oil estate, replanting areas, resorts, golf course, mini-mill, workers quarters, caves around Kota Gelangi, river crossing and etc. The start and finish point of the race will be at Padang KMK, Felda Tekam. As the start and finish line is in the resort, runners can bring their family for a runcation. Families can enjoy the pool while waiting for the runners to finish their races.

Malaysian and international trail runners who are fond of fast trails should mark this date red hot on their calendar, especially given the other events in Malaysia are traditionally more on the technical side.

Registration is now open and can be accessed via the link below. More details can also be found there. You can also check the Felda Residence Tekam, the host venue.

Jeff Campbell was the male winner of Sungai Menyala in 2019, the previous ‘speed trail’

Alex Tilley and Irish Glorioso came out on top of the 85km longest race leaderboard at the 3rd edition of the V Trail in Vang Vieng in Laos last weekend. The event made a comeback after more than three years following covid, and proved its reputation as one of Southeast Asia’s most technical trail races once again. Tilley, from Great Britain, crossed the line in 17h27 for the 85km. Thailand’s Sirisak Namyota finished second nearly five hours later, and Jumnok Taonak completed the podium. The women’s race was won by Philippines’ Irish Glorioso ahead of her compatriot Roan Gumangan. The first ATM race win for Glorioso, who was one of the exciting newcomers in Philippines last year. She crossed the finish line in 24h48.

The 55k saw pre-race favourite Narin Kongsiri from Thailand win it in 12h56, followed by Souksavanh Sychandone. Fastest woman was Sou Soulivanhthong in 14h22, who did very well and even finished third overall!

Alex Tilley wins the 2023 V Trail 85km in Laos