Sad news arrived today from Mindanao in Philippines, where the 6th edition of Mount Hamiguitan Trail, scheduled for 11 June, has been cancelled by event organiser Vertical To Sky. It would have been the first time that this event around the UNESCO World Heritage site has points races for the ATM Championship ranking. Event venue and event organiser did not reach a final agreement in time to guarantee a smooth edition of the races this year.

ATM will consider replacing Hamiguitan with another Filipino event on our 2023 Championship calendar. More news on this to come very soon.

The 4th edition of the Jumla Rara Ultra Marathon event in the west of Nepal delivered two great race winners who both broke the course record in their respective male and female categories. Dal Bdr Kunwar covered the 49km race in 4:54:10, just three minutes ahead of second-placed Dhir Bdr Budha. Third place on the podium went to Sher Bdr Budha in 5:08:41, indicating a tight and highly competitive race.

In the women’s race the different was clearer as Manju Rawot came into the finish in 6:06:23, a solid 48 minutes ahead of Ganana Bhandari. Anita Budha completed the podium a short while later.

The Jumla Rara Ultra obtained the ATM Candidate Race label and is aiming to enter the ATM Championship calendar in 2024. If so, it would be the first Nepali race in our Championship since 2018. The event takes place in a stunningly beautiful setting in the west of the country, which also makes it remote and far from capital city Kathmandu. It is organised by the Karnali Sports Club, which is determined to assist talented youngsters in gaining sporting experiences and develop their skills for potential international competitions later on.

Male winner Dal Bdr Kunwar

female winner Manju Rawat

The team of Alicia Ultra on Bohol island produced a successful first edition last Sunday and gave us a nice introduction to some new names in the southern Filipino trail world. The ondulating 50km ATM Candidate Race was won by Candelario Logrono and Kathleen Ligan in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively. Logrono completed the scenic and mostly runable course in 6h23, twelve minutes faster than Andy Toniacao. Joliemar Aquino completed the podium in third. Kathleen Ligan was clearly the fastest woman in 8h56. Jessie Ejoc and Sharon Torres joined her on the podium.

Alicia Ultra was postponed for over three years due to the corona crisis. Normally scheduled in February - when the air is cooler - the race was approved by local authorities quite late to be held in April instead. RD Richard Anania said afterwards Alicia would move back to February in 2024. Our race reporter Richard Akol gave the thumbs up for the event, characterised by good accessibility, great hospitality by the local community in Bohol, and a fine and quite runable race course mostly on single trails.

The next Filipino ATM points race takes place near Manila on 6 May, Sierra Madre Trail Ultra 75.

We are happy to announce the continuing premium partnership between La Sportiva and the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series. The internationally respected brand, founded almost 100 years ago (1928) by Narciso Delladio in the majestic Dolomites mountains in Northern Italy, remains the official trail footwear partner of Asia Trail Master as part of its ongoing marketing push in the region.

La Sportiva has a long history of growth and success in climbing, mountaineering, and alpine trekking cross country skiing, and increased its engagement in the blossoming sport of trail mountain running® about two decades ago. At first primarily in Italy and neighbouring European nations, but today La Sportiva’s footwear can be found in no fewer than 70 countries across several continents. Nevertheless, the company is still largely family-run and headquartered in Ziano di Fiemme with Lorenzo Delladio at the helm. In recent years, La Sportiva has received plenty of awards for its technical innovations, but also for its commitments in the environmental field and its development of sustainable products and processes. “Our driving force is passion, our passion is the mountains” is the slogan. A good number of global elite trail runners have taken up the brand and brought it to the foreground of the sport’s footwear and apparel industry. The continuing partnership with Asia Trail Master aims to further increase its market share in Asia in the coming years as well. La Sportiva has a great group of running ambassadors in several countries who will be competing in this year’s Championship, with the big Final planned for the first weekend of December.

Trail running shoes of La Sportiva come in a number of distinct models, each designed for specific requirements, and offer several colour options as well. The most popular model sold in Asia is the Akasha II. Designed for long-distance routes, UltraMarathons and prolonged use during training, the three key words are protection, comfort and cushioning. The wearing comfort is given by the cushioning, thanks to the Cushion Platform ™ footbed insert and the large internal volumes as well as the soft, breathable and enveloping upper with Slip-on construction that avoids compression points during the race. The Akasha II comes in various colour designs, so anyone can find his or her favourite match. Other models to check out are the Jackal (lightweight and medium distances) and the Ultra Raptor II (robust and for technical long mountain ultras).

In 2023, the Jackal II will be in the spotlights. The lightweight shoe, ideal for competitive runners, not only offers outstanding grip but now also comes with the BOA-system. Some of you may know the BOA system from modern-day cycling shoes. Classic shoe laces are replaced by stainless steel wires, connected to a turning knob for micro-precision fit (see picture below).

La Sportiva also has a wide range of apparel and accessories in store, which you can find in detail on the comprehensive website https://www.lasportiva.com/en .

Stay tuned for news updates on La Sportiva throughout the year, and win prizes at selected ATM events!

The new BOA system on the Jackal II

The first quarter (Q1) of the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship season is already behind us. Traditionally the more quiet quarter, as there’s not too many points race events in the first months of the year, but still some runners have already put in more than one ATM result. Some of them have also been catching the headlines, too. Alessandro Sherpa is very much back at the top of his game with a convincing race victory in Dalat Ultra Trail and second place behind Jeff Campbell in Hong Kong at Lantau 70. With 950 ATM Championship points collected he is leading the men’s points ranking. As a former ATM Champion - in 2018 - Sherpa has also already qualified himself for this year’s ATM Final (former champions only are required to score two race finishes during the season to earn a spot in the ATM Final). Reigning ATM Champions Arnie Macaneras and Hau Ha, conquerors of Mount Apo last December, also already put a result in the bank in March. Hau Ha was unbeatable as usual in Dalat, while Macaneras took third place in Lantau.

Nguyen Si Hieu, Yoyong Sacayle, Alexander Tilley and Nguyen Tien Vo also scored two great results already, putting them in the top 5 of the standings. Last week in Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths, Nguyen Si Hieu finally took another ATM win after VMM 70 in 2018. In between the clever Vietnamese runner had been collecting podium after podium, including third in Dalat early March. Yoyong Sacayle proved that he can also run podium outside of Philippines at the same Cuc Phuong 100k. Other ATM protagonists such as Hisashi Kitamura and Jeff Campbell have also already opened their 2023 season with a race victory.

In the women’s ranking, Manila’s Irish Glorioso had a blitz start in February, running both V Trail and Santa Ines Mountain Adventure within two weekends. Glorioso won V Trail 85km in Laos, and despite not being recovered followed-it up with fifth in her home race. Behind her, it’s all the current race winners so far with Hau Ha, Christine Mitchell, Elizabeth Dangadan, Katrina Hamlin, Shindy Patricia and Lao runner Sou Soulivanhthong

The ATM Championship ranking will also again determine who gets qualified for his or her national country team for the ATM Final early December. Those five men and five women who score most ATM points during the year will be offered a spot.

April is a quiet month in ATM this year, as many countries observe the fasting month and/or Easter. The next points race is Korea 50k on 29 April, followed by Sierra Madre Trail 75 near Manila and Koboi Malaya Classic 50, the first Malaysian points race of the 2023 season.

Men’s ATM Championship ranking

Full ranking, click Link

1. Alessandro Sherpa (ITA) 950 points (2) - Team Asia Expat

2. Nguyen Si Hieu (VIE) 925 points (2) - Team Vietnam

3. Yoyong Sacayle (PHI) 875 points (2) - Team Philippines

4. Alexander Tilley (GBR) 850 points (2) - Team Asia Expat

5. Nguyen Tien Vo (VIE) 740 points (2) - Team Vietnam

6. Elmer Retolado (PHI) 500 points (1) - Team Philippines

   Jeff Campbell (CAN) 500 points (1) - Team Hong Kong

   Hisashi Kitamura (JPN) 500 points (1) - Team Japan

   Narin Kongsiri (THA) 500 points (1) - Team Thailand

Women’s ATM Championship ranking

Full ranking, click link

1. Irish Glorioso (PHI) 875 points (2) - Team Philippines

2. Hau Ha (VIE) 500 points (1) - Team Vietnam

   Shindy Patricia (INA) 500 points (1) - Team Indonesia

   Elizabeth Dangadan (PHI) 500 points (1) - Team Philippines

   Katrina Hamlin (GBR) 500 points (1) - Team Hong Kong

   Sou Soulivanhthong (LAO) 500 points (1) - Team Laos

   Christine Mitchell (GBR) 500 points (1) - Team Asia Expat

We are happy to announce a new ATM Candidate Race in Nepal: the 4th edition of Jumla Rara Ultra Marathon takes place in the northwestern part of the Himalayan country on Monday (!), 24 April. On the programme is a daytime 50km race from A to B, at high altitude with accumulated elevation gain of approx 3900 hm. In other words: a race for mountain goats, of course unsurprising for Nepal.

The event has been set up by Karnali Sports, a non-profit organisation that aims to nurture local running talent - and sports talent in general, as well as turn the Jumla area into a high-altitude training center for athletes. This year’s edition on 24 April is already the 4th, and international trail runners are now kindly encouraged to come to Nepal and take part.

The race starts from Jumla bazaar at an altitude of 2305m (i.e. please allow for some acclimatisation time when you travel here), and finishes at the Rara lake at 2990m. The race course is measured at 49 km, and is basically uphill and downhill all the way with a few distinct points of note: Danphe at 3500m, Kavra Cave, Bhulbhule at 2950m and Chuchemara at 4017m. Yes, 4017m above sea level! A very interesting but definitely challenging mountain trail course, and runners from outside Nepal must be aware of the very high altitudes and allow for some days to get used to them before taking the start of the race. Moreover, be prepared for snow as well.

Rara is the largest lake in Nepal, and the multiday trekking from Jumla to the lake is a popular backpacker activity for travellers who like to explore nature off-the-beaten-track.

On the website, linked below, you can find details of how-to-get-there from Kathmandu. Options are long distance busses or a domestic flight. There’s also a recommended itinerary for 7 days mentioned as an example, including time to acclimatise.

The event takes place soon already, so early decision-making is required.

Runners may encounter snow along the course to the lake

 

While Hisashi Kitamura cruised to an easy 6th ATM race victory in his running career on the 42km course, all 100k ultra runners were struggling their hearts out on the very tough 100km course through the Cuc Phuong National Park. What was labeled as an easy and runable trail turned out to be one of the more extreme races in ATM history with participants even vanishing off the GPS map between five to seven hours. No surprise then there were a lot of DNFs. Most had just not mentally prepared for a technical battle with thick jungle and sharp rocks, let alone armies of leeches. The contrast between the 100k and the 42k could not be bigger. Race winner Nguyen Si Hieu had estimated a finish time around 11-12 hours based on his performance on the 70k last year. Instead, he crossed the finish line in 15h20! Shindy Patricia - with a long pedigree on tough ultra races - won in 19h14, and was fifth overall, slightly ahead of Japan’s Tomohiro Mizukoshi. There were only three women who completed the race. Paulina Svoboda - anything but a softie - and Grandmaster Yvette Chong were even among the DNFs.

It was moist and drizzling at times in the oldest national park of Vietnam, which is one explanation for the much slower running times compared to a year ago. However, the routes were also changed quite a bit and the 100k. was a new distance that would cut straight through the Park. The 100k started at 10pm, which meant the first half was ran entirely in darkness. Pre-race favourite Nguyen Si Hieu quickly set the pace up front, seeking his first ATM win since VMM 70 in 2018. Thimo Kilberth was following neatly, together with Yoyong Sacayle - in his debut outside of Philippines - and Vu Tien Viet Dung. Mizukoshi was a little further back with Nguyen Tien Vo. Paulina Svoboda and Shindy Patricia stayed together at the front of the women’s race with 2022 ATM Finalist Vu Thi Lan Huong not far behind them. By the time the 42km race got underway at 7am on Sunday morning, most of the 100k runners had gone beyond CP6, where their GPS trackers stopped signalling. That’s how remote and deep the jungle was. Only at CP 7.1. we would still catch a glimpse of what was happening, before everyone disappeared again until 2-3km before the finish line. At CP 7.1. a lot of participants threw in the towel and caught transport back to the race venue. Later, when runners arrived at CP 8, the first thing they all had to do was rip off the many leeches from their body parts (see the video of Shindy and Tomohiro below).

Eventually, Nguyen Si Hieu retained and extended his advantage over the others and won the extreme race. After third place in Dalat Ultra Trail, things are already looking good for him to qualify for Team Vietnam in this year’s ATM Championship Final in early December. The same applies for Yoyong Sacayle. The popular runner from Mindanao stayed with second Vietnamese and internationally experienced Vu Tien Viet Dung all race. While he could not respond to the late dash of his companion to take second, Sacayle’s third place in his first race overseas was very promising for the future. The duo was one hour behind Nguyen Si Hieu and 45 minutes ahead of fourth place Nguyen Tien Vo.

As said, the 42km was nowhere near as complicated. Race winner Hisashi Kitamura even said “easy course” halfway into the race. Nobody was able to keep up with the Karate Kit, who had time to plan his trademark kick across the finish line (see video below). Behind him, there was a big battle between five, six runners for the podium. Vietnam’s up-and-coming mountain trail talent Nguyen Phuong Quang tried to follow Kitamura in the very early stages, but blew himself up and in the end dropped to fifth place, just ahead of V Trail winner Alex Tilley. For the three traditional podium spots, Chris Devoize held the best cards until an unfortunate late misunderstanding with the otherwise excellent marking signs saw Trinh Nam Phong and Jose Luis Alvelais sneak ahead. Note that Kitamura won the 42km in 3h39, a full 40 minutes ahead of the others.

In the women’s race, Hanoi-based Christine Mitchell was tipped as the favourite to win and so she did in 4h45. The British woman was also unthreatened with half an hour advantage over Nguyen Thi Huong and Phung Thi Trang.

The next Vietnamese points race event is Vietnam Mountain Marathon in September. Runners can opt for 3 distance categories: 100km, 70km and 42km. In agreement with the event organiser, all 3 categories will offer ATM Championship points.

Later on 11 November, there is also Lam Dong Trail in Dalat. Registration for both VMM and Lam Dong Trail is open.

It was the 4th ATM race victory for Shindy Patricia since 2015

Second podium of the ATM Championship season for Mindanao’s Yoyong Sacayle

This weekend already the second Vietnamese points race event takes place a few hours south of Hanoi near Ninh Binh: it’s the 2nd edition of Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths. An event by Race Jungle with several distance categories, of which the 100km and 42km offer ATM Championship points. On paper the course here is fairly runable, but moist or wet conditions may make it tougher than expected. despite modest elevation gain of about 3000hm for the 100km and only 1000hm for the 42 km.

Cuc Phuong is the oldest National Park of Vietnam, founded in 1962, and located 120 km southwest of Hanoi and close to Ninh Binh. It’s very big and densely forested with limestone mountains, rice terraces, hundreds of birds species and all kinds of wildlife. It’s also the home of the Muong ethnic minority. Close by are also Tam Coc and Hoa Lu, famous sites on Vietnam’s backpacker tourist trail.

Competitive runners are divided between the categories (and there’s even a 70km option as well..), but both the 100km and 42km should see some great action for the top placings. Arguably the biggest star on the start list, Hisashi KItamura, has chosen the medium distance for this weekend in an attempt to extend his premium form for longer than was the case last year, when he gradually burned out in August and September. Also, contrary to the 100km that starts at 10 pm Saturday night, the 42 km will be held entirely in day light with the start scheduled for Sunday morning 7 am at Mac Lake. Looking at the profile, this should be Kitamura’s kind of race. but he will receive a challenge from two newcomers on the ATM scene: Hong Kong-based Mexican Jose Luis Alvelais and Vietnam’s Nguyen Phuong Quang. Avelais belongs to the Gone Running-Joint Dynamics Team, which also consists of a.o. Jeff Campbell. Coming back from injury, he last week took part in the Lantau 70 Relay race with a.o. Ezster Csillag. Alvelais has ambitions for this year’s ATM Championship, but says his favourite running distance is actually 70 to 100km. However, medium-distance speed work first, as he is also scheduled to run Korea 50K next month. Hanoi’s Nguyen Phuong Quang impressed the local community in recent months with some strong performances in short races with considerable elevation gain. Question now is how does he fare on more runable terrain. Outsiders for the 42km podium are Britains’ Alex Tilley - winner of the V Trail in Laos two months ago -, France’s Chris Devoize and Vietnam’s Bui Duc Long.

On the longest distance, the runner-to-beat is probably Nguyen Si Hieu. Always meticulously prepared, Nguyen Si Hieu has been accumulating ATM race podiums for years, seven in total now, and recently still so in Dalat Ultra Trail (3rd). This weekend presents him with a good chance to score his first victory since 2018, when he was fastest in the 70km race of VMM. But it won’t be straightforward because Filipino Yojong Sacayle has been in great form of late. Sacayle, from Mindanao, won Mt Apo 100k last December and finished second behind Elmer Retolado in Santa Ines Mountain Adventure 80k two months ago. It’s his first race abroad, however, but the fact the Cuc Phuong rainforest is cooler than those at home allegedly plays in his favour. Other podium contenders are Thimo Kilberth, always solid on runable courses just like Tokyo’s Tomohiro Mizukoshi. On the Vietnamese side, we also watch out for Vu Tien Viet Dung, Le Trong Nghia, Vu Xuan Binh and Vuong Xuan Hoa.

In the women’s race, Indonesia’s Shindy Patricia might as well collect another international race victory this weekend. From a competitive point of view, Shindy hardly ever has a bad day and it would be surprising if we don’t see her on the podium again. The runner from East Java is especially known for her mountain climbing strength (she was the fastest climber on Mount Apo during the ATM Final last December, en route to a 4th place in the race). Still, she has also won more speedy races like Cameron Ultra 100 (2019). Her main competitor for the race victory in Cuc Phuong may be Paulina Svoboda, Czech but living in Singapore and a former winner of MMTF (2018) and TTMT (2018). Vietnam has ATM Finalist Vu Thi Lan Huong and Pham Chi Mai in the women’s 100k race.

Hung Hai, one of Vietnam’s top runners, is the course director of Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths and will not be racing himself.

ATM Champion Hau Ha is taking a rest after Dalat Ultra Trail and a road marathon in the past weeks.

ATM will be reporting live from Cuc Phuong on Saturday and Sunday on our usual channels, with livestreams of the start and finish planned on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and video updates throughout the race including on instagram.

Always a favourite: Shindy Patricia - 4th in last year’s ATM Championship on Mt Apo

Nguyen Si Hieu: ATM race podium collector - can he win this weekend on the 100 km?

Jose Luis Alvelais, up-and-comer from Hong Kong, will make his debut in ATM on the 42km race

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.

Note: our new telegram channel has apparently been hacked and is currently unavailable..

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.