The race summary of last weekend’s Lantau 70 in Hong Kong is now available for your viewing pleasure on YouTube and Facebook and here below. In the 10th edition of the classic event, Jeff Campbell managed to beat Alessandro Sherpa and reigning ATM champion Arnie Macaneras in a splendid finishing time. Local favourite Katrina Hamlin won the women’s race ahead of Flora Wing Yee Ching and Aggy Sabanal.
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The 10th ‘physical’ edition of Hong Kong’s classic Lantau 70 had everything you would expect from an exciting competitive trail race. Several victory candidates, both local and foreign, a great and varied course and challenging mixed weather conditions. The races even had to be interrupted for 45 minutes around noon due to a serious thunderstorm with lightning strikes - not what you want when running on open hill ridges. Safety first and kudos to the organisational team of the Trail Hub for managing the situation in an efficient, clear and non-confusing way. There was clearly a plan for such potential situations. As such, races were able to continue without much ado after the storm had passed. For everyone affected, net running times were recorded by chip.
In fact, the first six runners probably never realised that behind them people were instructed to stop running. Jeff Campbell, Alessandro Sherpa, Arnie Macaneras, James Balagot, Hua Zhaohong and “Marc” Marc all passed CP 2 already when the race director made the decision and the storm unleashed its force on the area.
Up until CP2, which was km 28, the battle for the race victory had already been reduced to two of the three top favourites: Jeff Campbell and Alessandro Sherpa. ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras made his debut in Hong Kong and struggled with the traditional “stairs”. The sympathetic Filipino looked strong and was running with them for over 20 km but then had to let go. On the way to CP3 - in the pouring rain - Sherpa also had to admit Jeff Campbell is the ‘stair master’ and the gap opened up in the most technical section of the race, mainly downhill. Running the Hong Kong stairs is indeed a very specific skill.
Campbell opened up a gap of 10-12 minutes, and it says a lot that once passed CP3, Sherpa maintained the same pace as Campbell for nearly the entire rest of the race. Only when he made an unfortunate and quite nasty tumble towards the finish did Sherpa lose more time. Jeff Campbell underlined his great victory with a finish time of 7h34 - the second fastest ever despite the weather conditions! Only China’s global elite Yan Longfei went quicker in 2018 (7h03). It was the Canadian’s 6th ATM race victory as well, which puts him on the same level as Sefli Ahar, Milton Amat, Hisashi Kitamura and John Ellis in the ATM Race Win table.
A bloodied Sherpa came in in 7h57, which is the fifth fastest time ever. The 2018 ATM Champion is also already qualified for the ATM Final this year. Even a smiling Arnie Macaneras’ third-place time of 8h40 is still the 13th fastest of all time - despite him calling the Hong Kong stairs as ‘crazy’ after the finish. Let’s add the surprising American newcomer-on-the-scene James Balagot in fourth place, just seven minutes behind the ATM Champion in 8h48. According to the LT 70 record books, Balagot is now faster on this course than John Ellis and Ryan Whelan, for example.
Fifth place went to Hong Kong’s Kwong Ho Lee ahead of the Belgian ‘Marc’ Marc. Kwong Ho Lee was the first of the runners who got stopped at CP2. Later, he ran the remaining part of the race in a faster time than Marc and -with adjusted race time- ended up fifth in the race result.
The women’s race was tight, and yet one runner seemed always in control: Katrina Hamlin. Living in Lantau and very near to the race venue in Mui Wo, Hamlin felt the pressure from a string of female runners early on, but always came first at the checkpoints. The more the day progressed, the further she would then pull away from the others. A strong win for Hamlin in 9h36 - third fastest female time ever. The battle for second in the end was decided between Aggy Sabanal-Marte and Flora Wing Yee Ching. Both exchanged places a few times, and when it looked Sabanal would get the upper hand, Wing Yee Ching came back and snatched second place by three minutes only. Philippines’ Sabanal - the 2018 vice-ATM champion - struggled with digestive issues, but was delighted with her podium in Lantau 70. Before giving birth, Sabanal was known as a pure mountain climber. Since her comeback to the trails last year, she has also shown ever increasing running pace. Her podium this weekend is testimony to that.
Katia Kucher was fourth ahead of Jinko Takeshige, who both overtook Indonesia’s Ruth Theresia in the latter stages. Theresia’s first ATM race in three years did not go entirely as planned. Early on she was still in the mix for the podium, but then her hip began to hurt. After the finish, the former ATM champion said it’s been an issue since last week and therefore she did not want to push for the remainder of the race.
Warrior look: a nasty tumble towards the finish actually illustrated perfectly Sherpa’s determination to challenge Campbell during the race, also for him resulting in a fantastic sub-8 hour finish time
Winner in the second fastest finish time ever behind China’s Yan Longfei in 2018: Jeff Campbell
ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras found the Hong Kong stairs ‘crazy’ , but still scored podium in a very solid time himself. That also made James Balagot’s performance in 4th and just 7 minutes behind exceptional
Katrina Hamlin was delighted to win her home race at last: she lives in Mui Wo, start/finish venue of LT 70
Flora Wing Yee Ching captured second place by overtaking Aggy Sabanal in the last kilometres
Aggy Sabanal-Marte confirmed once more her leap forward in competitive performance with a podium spot despite significant digestive problems before and during the race. Proof she no longer needs big technical high mountains to score a podium
It’s been over three years since Hong Kong’s trail classic Lantau 70 was announced as a new points race for the Asia Trail Master Championship and finally the weekend has arrived. LT 70 starts at 8:30 am in Mui Wo on Saturday and plenty of great runners will be toeing the line, including local favourite Jeff Campbell and reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras.
It will be the first of two scheduled points races for this season’s ATM Championship ranking, with the second one - Dark 45 - set for 1 October. The start and finish may be beachside, but unfortunately the weather forecast indicates the possibility of rainfall in the morning. This will certainly have its impact on the runners and the technicality of the 70km course, which has most elevation gain and loss in the first half.
Jeff Campbell always starts a 70km race in Hong Kong as the man-to-beat, and it is no different this year. However, the Canadian-born will almost certainly be pushed forward by a wide field of other strong victory contenders. Davao’s Arnie Macaneras - who is now supported by T8 - is keen to show a solid performance tomorrow, three months after his fantastic ATM Championship title win on Mount Apo. As a newcomer, we always need to see first how he will handle the many steps and stairs that are so typical of Hong Kong’s trails, but purely on running pace Macaneras should be a good match for Campbell on a distance of 70 km. 2018 ATM Champion and in great shape lately, Alessandro Sherpa, will also have a few words to say. The Italian has been based in Hong Kong since his victory in Dalat Ultra Trail three weeks ago. Just a week ago, he picked up another win in a local 50k race despite significant digestive issues during that race. Winning Lantau 70 would be a big thing, and we know Sherpa likes this type of challenge. There’s plenty of other podium candidates tomorrow, and who knows one of these pulls of an upset. Switzerland’s Salomon Wetstein has been a Hong Kong trail star for many years now, and he is a previous winner of Lantau 70 in 2019 - the last ‘normal’ physical edition before covid. Furthermore, there’s the likes of Julien Bonnard, Dennis Theodosis and China’s Hua Zhaohong.
The women’s 70km race promises to be a cracker, too. The race victory will be contested between many Hong Kong based top runners and others who have been protagonists in ATM for several years. The 2018 ATM Champion from Indonesia, Ruth Theresia, is back on the ATM scene for the first time after three years. The covid crisis was also for her a big life-changer, and Ruth has had to be a lot more selective in her trail races. Still, she hasn’t lost her competitiveness at all as we can tell from her recent victories in local Indonesian races. Tomorrow she will be up against the likes of Aggy Sabanal-Marte - the still young Filipino who was actually Ruth Theresia’s first runner-up in the aforementioned 2018 ATM Championship season. Aggy has become a mother since then, and just like Ruth been working on the way back to the front of South East Asia’s trail races. As with Ruth, that has translated already in a couple of race wins back home, including MUSPO 100 last July. What struck us last season is that Aggy Sabanal is now more than a strong mountain climber, she has actually developed a good running pace, too. It will be very interesting to see how she fares on Lantau. Dolores Salles is another Filipino who will throw her hat in the ring, and who knows obstacle racer Rozel Vivero produces the upset? Japan’s Tamae Harada is usually in the mix for a podium place, and so is Singapore’s Vincere Zeng - winner of Cameron Ultra 100 last year. Zeng is a busy bee and mainly a high mountain enthusiast, but that Malaysian victory shows she can also run fast. We are curious to discover how local favourites such as Rhoda Cheung, Alice McLeod, Katia Kucher, and Katrina Hamlin will fare against the aformentioned.
We will be reporting live from Lantau 70 from start to finish on our usual ATM channels, including YouTube, subject to connectivity. Absent from tomorrow’s start field is John Ellis, who is out of action with a nasty achilles injury. John will be present, however, and we hope he can share a lot of insight into this race during our video recordings tomorrow.
In addition, 30 elite runners will carry our GPS trackers, so you can follow the action as it happens via https://live.asiatrailmaster.com/2023lantau70/ . The platform works on both mobile and laptop.
We are happy to announce that after a three-year-postponement due to covid, Alicia Ultra will finally take place on 16 April as the next Filipino ATM Candidate Race. This event is special, as it’s the first event on the island of Bohol that carries the ATM label. On the menu are three options: 50km, 25km and 12km.
Bohol lies east of Cebu and northwest of Mindanao. Alicia is a beautiful town on Bohol and the trail course is set over the luscious green rolling hills of its Panoramic Park, oil palm plantations, rice paddies, and other tourist destinations. As you can see on the map, it’s a natural loop with about 2000 hm for the 50 km race.
The event is organised by the Bohol Trail Adventure team, amongst whom there’s experienced trail runners such as Richard Anania.
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.
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
