Last weekend’s ATM Candidate Race, Silabur Ultra Trail in Sarawak, Malaysia, saw a strong race victory on the 60km by Willy Wilson Jafry in 6:28:01. A new name in our series, who stayed 25 minutes ahead of Ireland’s Mark Steacy - fifth place in TMBT 100 last season. For the third place on the podium saw Richard Ahim taking it just ahead of Wei Soon Lee, albeit more than an hour behind Steacy.

Fastest woman was Noor Zuharniza Junaita in 9:42:38, which was 25 minutes quicker than Celeste Teo. Fiffy Tiffney Rapieng claimed third place on the podium.

We have some exciting Championship points races ahead in Hong Kong and Vietnam in the coming weeks, but first we head to the State of Sarawak on the Malaysian side of Borneo island for Silabur Ultra Trail. It’s the second ATM Candidate in Sarawak after Jagoi Heritage Run, which this year is on our reserve list and taking place in early October. Trail running is hot on Borneo, and we do not just refer to the temperature.

Silabur Ultra Trail has a lot of things going for it to become a successful international event. Key feature of Silabur are the impressive cave complexes, such as the magnificent Silabur Cave aka Jade Cave. We are certainly looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds this weekend.

Organised by Alpha Sports Events and hosted by Kampung Lobang Batu Tebedu, the event offers four different race categories of which 60 km is the longest. The race may have modest elevation gain of 1400 hm, but do not be fooled - there’s technical single trail sections with thick jungle included. On the start list, we may not see a lot of big names as many are recovering from last weekend’s BUTM - also on Borneo, but in Sabah. One interesting name from a competition point of view is Ireland’s Mark Steacy, who lives in Kuching and had two great performances in ATM last season with a 5th place in TMBT and 3rd in Jagoi Heritage. By all means, any man who wants to win Silabur this weekend will need to pass Steacy. ATM Candidate Races are always fine occasions to get to know new running talent, especially early in the season with the first Malaysian points race this year still two months away: Koboi Malaya Classic 50k in Pahang on 13 May.

The Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping has quickly established itself as the leading trail running event in Malaysia alongside the older classic Borneo TMBT Ultra. Also in 2023, MMTF will be the final points race event in the Asia Trail Master Championship season on the weekend of 4/5 November. Competitive runners can score potentially vital points to qualify for the ATM Final on both the 100km and 50km race categories. Shorter distances and a Vertical Kilometre are also part of the overall event programme.

The Esplanade in Taiping will be the host venue once again for the start and finish of the races that run through wild and pristine rainforest around the city. Taiping is accessible via bus and/or train once you land in Kuala Lumpur or Penang. Accommodation options are plentiful, but bear in mind the events attract between 2000 and 3000 runners, so do do not leave your booking too late.

MMTF has 5300 hm of elevation gain for the 100km and nearly 3000 hm for the 50km. These figures may not appear excessive, but if the trails get wet - and it does rain a lot in Taiping - the races often turn out to be much tougher than one would think beforehand. Bukit Larut, aka Maxwell Hill, is kind of the main feature of the long distance race courses. 100k runners will climb it twice but from different sides.

Taiping now also has a Basecamp for trail runners and hikers, managed by MMTF Consultant in the person of Ewegene Tan, allowing people to come and train on the trails nearly throughout the year.

Registration for MMTF is already open. All details, as well as mandatory gear requirements and logistics, can be checked on the official website below.

Last season Kristian Joergensen (who won in 2019) and Milton Amat crossed the line together

This year’s finisher tee

The Central Highlands’ city of Dalat in Vietnam has established itself as a premier trail running destination in recent years. A fact that was re-emphasised just a week ago with over 7000 people registered for the Dalat Ultra Trail. Since last year, a second high-profile trail event has been set up carrying the name of the province Dalat is the capital of: Lam Dong. A successful ATM Candidate, and so the new event has now also become a points race for the ATM Championship ranking scheduled for 11 November. Lam Dong Trail offers a number of race distance categories, but the longest one - 75 km - is the main race for points. 

Dalat is located 1500m above sea level, which creates a coolish climate year-round. Often, residents say that Dalat a place where you can experience the four seasons in just one day: spring in the morning, summer at noon, autumn in the afternoon and winter at night. These conditions make the city an attraction magnet for weekend trippers from Ho Chi Minh City, domestic and international tourists, and distance runners who enjoy the cooler temperatures. 

Lam Dong Trail is organised by Vietnam Joy and Green Hat, companies with extensive event management experience in Vietnam. Runners should note that ‘LDT’ in November may share the same venue as ‘DLUT’ in March, but the race course and set-up is different. The 75 km race starts at the Lac Duong Cultural Center at 4 am on Saturday morning (shuttle busses provided) and finishes at the Valley of Love just outside Dalat City centre (easy to reach by tax or Grab car). The cut-off time for those just aiming to finish the race is 21:30 at night (i.e. 17 hours and 30 minutes). All participants of the 75 km (and 45km) can also enjoy a delicious buffet dinner after the race briefing on Friday late afternoon and evening at the finish site, the Valley of Love. 

Competitive runners should note there is prizemoney on offer for the top 3 on the podium, too. Last year’s inaugural edition saw Vietnam’s trail heroes Quang Tran and Hau Ha - now the Asia Trail Master women’s champion - win the long distance race. 

The Race DIrector of Lam Dong Trail is none other than Le Tan Hi, himself an excellent trail runner: “Lam Dong Trail 2023 will bring athletes extremely interesting experiences because the weather in November is the time of transition, with cool and fresh air of the high plateau of Dalat in the blooming season of flowers,” says Le Tan Hi. “ The 5km, 15km, 25km, 45km, and main 75km routes take athletes through pine forests, hills of Lang Biang, natural streams/lakes, to admire the diverse vegetation of dense forests, swamps, pine forests, and tropical forests. Across the ancient cherry blossom hill, admire the local people harvesting coffee, the **Rose myrtle** hill, the pink grass hill racing for the colors. All are ready to welcome athletes, together conquer the journey back to nature and immerse in the sound of nature.”

Registration for the event is already open. International runners are encouraged to sign up timely to ensure their spot. There’s accommodation options near the Valley of Love, but staying inside Dalat City is also not an issue. 

All details of the event, including mandatory gear list,  can be found on the Lam Dong Trail website linked below. 

Lam Dong Trail’s ‘Tale of the Trail’ in 2022

Quang Tran won the men’s long distance race last year

Hau Ha was second overall and winner of the women’s race last year ahead of a.o. Julia Nguyen Duong Thi

BUTM in Sabah, Malaysia, is NOT a points race in this season’s Asia Trail Master Championship series, as it was decided - in agreement with the event organiser Borneo Ultra Trails - that the 100 miles race at the new Borneo Miler event on 4/5 June will get the honour. Nevertheless, a lot of Malaysian trail stars were present at BUTM yesterday, together with the inevitable Hisashi Kitamura, who is still based in Kuala Lumpur until the end of April. And that same Kitamura finally scored his long-desired victory over Sabah’s trail hero Milton Amat. After 13h27’ he crossed the finish line of the 100km race first, and no fewer than 28 minutes ahead of Amat. The two friendly rivals had been running together for approx 75km until Kitamura decided to up the ante. Bit by bit he increased the gap.

Last year, the Karate Kit had also reached the finish first, but then lost the win due to time penalties for missing a checkpoint marker and a mandatory gear item. Later in the season, Milton Amat was clearly too strong for him in the classic TMBT 100 in September.

Third on the podium was good old Daved Simpat, who showed he remains a force to be reckoned with in any trail race. He finished two hours and twenty minutes behind Kitamura, but was himself more than two hours ahead of the next runners: Gustin Tiam, Andrew Farmers and Jonathan Nicol.

The women’s 100km saw a bit of an upset victory by Rejlen James, who reached the finish almost two hours ahead of vice-ATM champion Sally Yap and last year’s TMBT 100 winner Siet Fah Lim! Does James come out of the blue? Not really, our ATM database shows she won Bromo Tengger Semeru Ultra 100 in 2017, and was second that same year in TMMT 70k. Quite a comeback after six years!

BUTM 50km developed into a battle between Wilsen Singgin, for once opting for the shorter distance, and Yasbie Ismail. Singgin took it. Third place went to Korea’s Byeonggwon Park - who’s been on ATM podiums a few times before covid, too. The women’s 50km went to an exciting young Malaysian talent Shamiera Auther, who has clearly made a performance leap forward compared to last season. Shamiera won 23 minutes ahead of Korea’s experienced Boyoung Jan, who has three ATM podiums on her record of which two last year, and a full hour ahead of ATM local hero and Sabah ambassador Jess Lintanga in third place.

Promising new talent Shamiera Auther took a great victory in the 50k over several established competitors

These two guys always produce a great show, and over the past years have lifted each other’s performance level to great heights

Long ultra distance lovers will have a number of opportunities this ATM season to wet their appetites. Two new 100 miles points races are on the programme in 2023 with Deep Japan Ultra on 24/25 June and the inaugural Borneo 100 Miler in Malaysia three weeks earlier on 4/5 June. Both events are now open for registration.

The Borneo 100 Miler was first introduced in 2020 as part of the long-running BUTM event. It was an extension of the 100 km course to reach the total distance of 100 miles with a total elevation gain of close to 8000 hm. The 2023 edition will be a "stand-alone" event on an entirely new race course. The new race course has been designed to be mostly runnable over variable terrain ranging from gravel and dirt roads through forests, along paddy fields and wetlands and over open grasslands. There are also trail segments through forest and up over hills with spectacular views to both Mt. Kinabalu and the ocean. There will be aid stations every 10-20 km mostly set in quaint native villages.

Needless to say, this is a race you need to be physically and mentally prepared for. While in Deep Japan Ultra temperatures can be low and you might even encounter snow, the conditions in Sabah tend to be hot and humid for most of the race.

To register, go to the website of The Borneo Miler. We also add again the button that leads to Deep Japan Ultra in Niigata.

Alessandro Sherpa scored his first ATM points race victory since Penang Eco 100km in June 2019, and his 5th ever at last Saturday’s 5th edition of Dalat Ultra Trail in Vietnam. After running initially together with local talent Le Tan Hi, Sherpa went ahead by himself in the last 25 km of the race through the pine forests of the Central Highlands. The Italian T8 runner crossed the finish line in 9:06:17. Afterwards, Sherpa declared great satisfaction with the trail course design in Dalat as being ‘textbook’ trail running. A good half hour later, Le Tan Hi managed to hold onto second despite a late charge by the experienced Nguyen Si Hieu, who scored yet another podium in an ATM points race. France's Jean Haniqaut came in fourth, showing competitive improvement after his 5th place in the 100 miles of VMM last year. Especially considering he preceeded the Japanese tandem of Yuta Matsuyama and Tomohiro Mizukoshi in fitfh and sixth places. Trung Nguyen finished 7th, Nguyen Tien Vo 8th and Singapore’s Deric Lau 9th.

Hau Ha was best woman, and fifth overall in a time of 10h14. The ATM Champion did not push too hard in her first ultra of the new season, and considered it an excellent training for her personal goals later this season, in which she hopes to make a mark on the global stage after her successful regional campaign last year. Kathryn Cush and Luong Thi Loi completed the women's podium. Cush actually ran a superb race herself, coming in the finish together with Tien Vo and Deric Lau inside the overall Top 10.

The next Vietnamese points races in the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series are the 100km and 42 km categories of Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths near Ninh Binh on 1/2 April.

Alessandro Sherpa enjoyed the race a lot, and had its proceedings pretty much under control

Nguyen Si Hieu and Le Tan Hi completed the podium

At 3am tomorrow morning, reigning Asia Trail Master women’s champion Hau Ha will start her new trail campaign in Dalat. The 5th edition of the Dalat Ultra Trail is on the schedule, a race that she comfortably won a year ago in her first appearance on the ATM circuit. Since then, Hau Ha has only still gotten better - not in the least as she has now gained valuable competitive experiences including an overall win in Vietnam Mountain Marathon 100km last September, and a coming-back-from-behind to claim the championship title on Mount Apo in Philippines in December. Especially that last performance showed everyone that she can also grit her teeth together when the going gets tougher-than-expected. Mentally not recovered from a 50k race in Thailand a weekend before, Hau Ha was left behind and put under severe pressure by Vanja Cnops in the early parts of the Apo title race. However, when at the end of the day we look back at the race result she finished 6th overall and three hours ahead of the second-placed woman Sally Yap, and also in front of Vietnam’s male trail reference Quang Tran! If one had not followed the live race coverage, one would have thought it had just been another ‘walk in the park’ for Hau Ha.

Nevertheless, after Mt Apo she took a welcome break and she has started 2023 with a few road runs, including a road marathon in Ho Chi Minh City, where she beat an international women’s field and scored a new personal best of 2 hours 56 minutes. This Saturday’s Dalat Ultra Trail will be her first ultra distance of the new season.

The event has actually increased the race distance from 70k to 85k this year. That’s the points race for the ATM Championship ranking and the Grandmaster Quest. Combined with all the shorter distances on the event schedule, the organisers are expecting more than 7000 participants! That’s massive and yet another indication that trail running is nowhere else more popular in Southeast Asia than Vietnam.

Hau Ha will meet a number of familiar faces from last year’s ATM scene, including Alessandro Sherpa, Yuta Matsuyama, Gaetan Morizur and Deric Lau. Sherpa has been in Vietnam already for nearly two weeks and may find the pine forest trails very much to his liking. His form at the end of last season was great, with a 3rd place on the podium in the Apo title race as evidence. Yuta Matsuyama is a double winner of Ultra Trail Chiang Mai and has been a consistent top 20 finisher in Japan’s highly competitive Izu Trail Journey. Also for him, the cooler temperatures in Dalat will suit him a lot - knowing how he suffered in the heat of Al Ula in Saudi Arabia a year ago. Gaetan Morizur is the winner of last year, for sure he will give the two others a run for their money. And Singapore’s Deric Lau was one of the exciting newcomers on the ATM scene in 2022. Let’s see how he fares in Vietnam.

A precise start list was unavailable to us at the time of writing, so we apologise in advance for missing anybody important.

Deric Lau was one of the most impressive newcomers on the competitive Asian scene last year

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