We are happy to present the preliminary event calendar of the next Asia Trail Master Championship season until the end of the first semester in 2024. The big change compared to the past is the fact that the ATM Championship Final is scheduled to be brought foward significantly and take place in Q3 - the third quarter of 2024. As a consequence, the next - ninth - season - Season IX - will begin immediately after the conclusion of this year’s championship early December.

Izu Trail Journey in Japan and the Mount Apo Sky Race in Philippines will both open the new season on the weekend of 9/10 December. - one week after the ATM Championship Final in Central Java, Indonesia - the Siksorogo Lawu Ultra.

15 points race weekends until the end of June are on the programme so far. That is in line with our standard target of 30 weekends per year. Please note that several standard entries, e.g. in Thailand and South Korea, have not yet been added to the calendar as no formal communication on 2024 dates have as yet been communicated to us. Interesting to point out is the entry in January of the Vietnam Trail Marathon, organised by the same team as VMM, and the return of The 9 Dragons Ultra in Hong Kong in mid-February. In Malaysia, we are scheduled to have a points race for the very first time in Sarawak, celebrating the recent surge in popularity of the sport over there as well as the excellent performances of athletes such as Sally Yap, Siet Fah Lim and Celeste Teo. Laos is poised to have one more event on the calendar alongside the V Trail. Bolaven Trail was a Candidate Race just before the covid pandemic and is now set to return. We are also happy to see Brunei coming back to the ATM Championship calendar for the first time since the now defunct Beach Bunch Trail Challenge in 2018. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more additions and news regarding the Season IX calendar.

The 2024 ATM Championship Final will be announced at a later stage. Discussions are taking place with two event organisers in two different countries.

Preliminary event calendar Q1 & Q2 ATM Championship series, season IX

• 9/10 Dec 2023 - Philippines - Mindanao - Mount Apo Sky Race: 100 km

• 9/10 Dec 2023 - Japan - Izu Pensinsula - Izu Trail Journey: 70 km

• 20/21 Jan 2024 - Vietnam - Moc Chau - Vietnam Trail Marathon: 70km

• 3/4 Feb 2024 - Laos - Vang Vieng - V Trail: 85km & 50km

• 10/11 Feb 2024 - Philippines - Luzon - Bagtit Ultra: 100 km

• 16/17 Feb 2024 - Hong Kong - New Territories - The 9 Dragons Ultra: 50/50 & 50km

• 2/3 Mar 2024 - Malaysia - Sabah - BUTM: 100km & 50km

• 16/17 Mar 2024 - Philippines - Luzon - Sierra Madre Trail Ultra: 75km

• 16/17 Mar 2024 - Hong Kong - Lantau - Lantau 70: 70km

• 06/07 Apr 2024 - Vietnam - Ninh Binh - Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths: 100km & 45km

• 04/05 May 2024 - Malaysia - Sarawak - Silabur Cave Trail: 100km & 50km

• 11/12 May 2024 - Indonesia - North Sumatra - Bukit Lawang Orang Utan Trail: 50km

• 25/26 May 2024 - Laos - Pakse - Bolaven Trail

• 8/9 Jun 2024 - Brunei - Simpur Ultra: 50km

• 20 Jun 2024 - Japan - Niigata - Deep Japan Ultra (100 miles & 80km)

ATM Candidate Races

• 30/31 Dec 2023 - Vietnam - Dalat - Prenn Ultra

• 27/28 Jan 2024 - Philippines - Cebu - Danao City Ultra Trail

Please note that this is a prelminary calendar. Events will still be added while others might still change .

One of the newcomers on our Season IX calendar, Vietnam Trail Marathon

Welcome back to the 9 Dragons!

A Candidate this season, a Championship points race next season: Bagtit Ultra replaces Santa Ines

John Ray Onifa is unstoppable in the second half of this season! The Filipino stormed to his fifth ATM race victory of 2023 in Hong Kong’s Dark 45 in a time of 4h41! This follows a hard-fought 50k win over Kristian Joergensen in VMM just a week ago. Second place in Dark 45 - like last year - went to David Longo in 5h20, seven minutes faster than Wai Hung Wong. A performance that confirms the competitive step forward made by Longo last year, Australian but living in Hong Kong for a long time after a university spell in Central Java no less.

Ryan Whelan had to settle for fourth in 5h41, Jose Luis Alvelais was seventh. The latter is already guaranteed of a spot on Team Hong Kong for the ATM Championship Finals in Indonesia on 2 December. Interesting to note was that 2019 ATM Champion John Ellis returned from a long injury break with a 30th place finish - and finishing was the only goal.

The women’s 45 km race was won by Kit Chun Wong in a great 5h54. That was 25 minutes faster than Angie Yan. Hoi Yan Ng completed the female podium. Last week’s great VMM 100 winner Man Yee Cheung was fourth, not yet fully recovered from that tough Vietnamese race.

The second edition of Dark 45 was efficiently set up by The Peak Hunter, a young event management team, with great success. This is definitely an event-to-stay at the start of Hong Kong’s trail running season!

Photos are courtesy of Lam Sport Photos, Hong Kong

Kit Chun Wong was a great female winner , her first on the ATM circuit

Five ATM races in 2023: five wins. The top favourite for this year’s ATM title ? John Ray Onifa!

David Longo does not run a lot of races, but when he does, he is in the mix for podium these months!

Jose Luis Alvelais assured himself of a spot on Team Hong Kong for the ATM Championship Final

At midnight, Saturday to Sunday, Dark 45 takes place on the famous Maclehose Trail in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It’s the second HK points race in the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series after Lantau 70 in March. Last year, this event signalled the return to trail racing after the covid pandemic, but in 2023 the event is under a new management: The Peak Hunter. That’s the team led by the famous Wong Ho Chun. Many of Hong Kong’s trail stars are signed up, including former ATM Champion John Ellis, who is making a bit of a come back after a long period of injury. Still, Ellis is not hopeful of a top result this weekend, indicating that the road - or trail - to real competitiveness will be long.

In the absence of Jeff Campbell, the man-to-beat will be John Ray Onifa. The Filipino is back at his best level, recently, and only his enthusiasm may propel him to yet another race victory - just a week after winning VMM 50 against Kristian Joergensen. His main challengers are expected to be Ryan Whelan, first and foremost, and also David Longo, Jose Luis Alvelais and Stone Kit Chan.

The women’s race seems more open, but has a lot of contenders for the win. Flora Wing Yee Chin, Angie Yan can dream of it for sure. Man Yee Cheung may be the biggest name on the start list, but she did run and win a tough VMM 100 just a week ago.

The 10th anniversary of Vietnam’s maiden trail running event in Sapa saw plenty of stars deliver outstanding performances on what was a dry race day for nearly all competitors. John Ray Onifa outsprinted Kristian Joergensen and the surprisingly quick youngster Godwin Mirar in a spectacular 50km race in which they did not spare each other. They went all out and even to the extent that multiple race winner Gaetan Morizur finished an hour later in fourth. Joergensen had said not to be feeling very well prior to the race, but that did not show during the race. Halfway he even led Onifa by a minute. Mirar was just another minute further back. But Onifa is in fantastic shape these past two months, and managed to return and drop Joergensen for a prestigious victory - his fourth ATM win of the season, and his eighth ever. Godwin Mirar finished just 11 minutes later. Back in 2019, Mirar showed himself for the first time in The Punisher, where he scored a fourth place behind Kitamura, Macaneras and John Ellis. Wisely so for a 23-year-old talent, Mirar focuses on short distance races for the time being with the occasional 50 thrown in. Based on his VMM result, we can expect to see some more great things from this young man from Bukidnon in Mindanao.

The Filipino success continued shortly after as reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras conquered the 70km race in truly dominating fashion. Macaneras had a gap of one-and-a-half hours over Poland’s Michal Lesniak and Nguyen Duc Tuan Anh, who did well himself in scoring a podium at the expense of a.o. Trung Nguyen, who settled for fourth. Since winning the ATM title back in December, Macaneras seems to have gained self-confidence and is now fully unleashing his potential. With this kind of form, he looks like he could just as well defend his ATM title at Siksorogo Lawu Ultra in December, which would be unique as nobody has ever won the ATM title twice.

The 100km men’s race quickly developed into a three-man-battle with Cuc Phuong 100 winner Nguyen Si Hieu slightly behind waiting for someone ahead to implode in order to claim another ATM podium. Shockingly, that man to implode was pre-race favourite Jeff Campbell, who pulled out of the race after about 38km. It turned out Campbell had entered the race with a calf injury that he believed had healed enough for him to do a competitive race at VMM100. Unfortunately, the injury was still there and already at km 28 Campbell was visibly struggling compared to Hung Hai and Nepal’s Sange Sherpa. The latter two went ahead and stayed together until about 20km to go, when Hung Hai launched an attack and managed to drop Sherpa. Hung Hai won VMM for the third time in his career after again spending a month preparing in Sapa itself. His preparation contrasted with Sherpa, who had flown into Vietnam following his completion of TDG in Italy just over a week earlier. The gap at the finish was just ten minutes with Hung Hai winning in an incredible 12h54!

The 50km for women was dominated by Belgian Vanja Cnops, who scored her third ATM win of the season, her seventh ever. Already a winner of VMM 42 a few years ago, Vanja knew the trails already and immediately found the pace to run away from the other competitors. Trần Hồ Nguyên Thảo came second and Giàng Thị Linh third.

On the 100km women, we had a very nicely executed victory for Man Yee Cheung, her first ATM race victory after a 2018 podium in the 9 Dragons Ultra. Since then, she had gained a reputation as one of Hong Kong’s most solid ultra distance runners, and she proved that in Sapa. What adds extra spice to the win is her very late arrival in the mountain town - just three hours before the start. She was running second basically all day, kept leader Le Thi Hang within reach, and pushed the throttle in the last hour of the race. Le Thi Hang, from Vung Tau towards the south of Vietnam, was 4th in Dalat Ultra Trail in March and is known to be running a full marathon distance every day. In addition, she ran VMM 100 in sandals rather than specific trail shoes. In third place of the women’s race we had Luong Thi Loi, and the experienced Le Phuong Vy came fourth.

Akane Nemoto scored a nice victory in her debut on the 70 km distance. The Ho Chi Minh-based Japanese runner had to work hard for it as Le Xuan Suong was with or close to her for most of the race and eventually came in just 11 minutes later. Third place went to Thailand’s Sutinee Rasp.

The fourth and final Vietnamese points race event in the 2023 Asia Trail Master Championship series is Lam Dong Trail in Dalat on 11 November. The 75km distance is the one to aim for there.

The 10th anniversary edition of Vietnam Mountain Marathon in Sapa promises to be one of this year’s major highlights with both high quantity and quality of participants. Many of the Asian region’s most prominent trail runners will be present, albeit distributed over three different race distance categories. Starting on Friday night, we can look forward to Jeff Campbell vs Nguyen Si Hieu, Hung Hai, Sange Sherpa and Sanya Khancai on the 100km, reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras vs Michael Lesniak, Mo Muller and Nguyen Minh Tuan on the 70km, and John Ray Onifa vs Kristian Joergense and Gaetan Morizur on the 50km. And then we have only mentiond the men.

Today Vietnam is one of Asia’s leading trail running countries. No other country sees several thousands of runners flocking the trails several times a year in different parts of the country. The influence Vietnam Mountain Marathon as the original international event has had cannot be underestimated. Many other events in the country took their inspiration from VMM, and Hau Ha would never have become ATM champion and the global elite runner she is today without VMM, which is held in her hometown of Sapa in the Northwest of Vietnam. A year ago, Hau Ha really caught the eye of the Asian trail world when she beat all the men on the 100km at VMM, but this year she is in a resting period following her successful European campaign over summer. Also multiple VMM race winner Quang Tran will not take part in the anniversary edition. Chances for a local runner's victory this weekend therefore rest on the shoulders of Hung Hai and Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths winner Nguyen Si Hieu, as well as Vu Thi Lan Huong and Nguyen Phuong in the women’s 100km race. But the international competition is very big.

Jeff Campbell continues his transition from 50k king to the long ultra distance and this weekend’s 100k race will be a test. Apart from the aforementioned Vietnamese aces, Thailand’s Sanya Khancai and Nepal’s Sange Sherpa will likely be showing him the ropes. If the Canadian Hong Konger can get through this one with distinction, he can go to the Asia Trail Master Championship Final with a boost of confidence. Other 100k contenders this weekend are Miklos Viczena, Tomohiro Mizukoshi and Sean Aying. In the women’s 100km, Nguyen Phuong and Vu Thi Lan Huong will likely face Hong Kong’s Man Yee Cheung, Philippines’ Cecille Wael, France’s Veronique Messina and Malaysia’s Faherina Mohd Esa for top honours.

The 70km race category has reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras scheduled to go head-to-head against Poland’s Michal Lesniak. Important outsiders are Mo Muller - winner of VMM 70 last year -, Nguyen Minh Tuan - winner of VJM 70 last year - , and Trung Nguyen - also a former VJM 70 winner and surprisingly quick every time he puts his mind on a potential podium finish. Important detail for Macaneras: a race finish will give him a wild card for this year’s ATM Final in Indonesia, after already finishing Lantau 70 in March. A dangerman but inexperienced on trails is Vietnamese top marathon runner Le Van Tuan. The women’s 70km will see Singapore’s mountaineering star Vincere Zeng, with Filipino Ann Jilian Pulanco and Malaysia’s Kona Liau as additional contenders for the victory.

The 50km race could be very exciting with in-form John Ray Onifa against Kristian Joergsensen and Gaetan Morizur. Onifa has scored three impressive ATM race wins in the past two months, while Joergensen and Morizur are returning to the ATM scene for the first time this year. Given Onifa’s blistering pace of late, it would be hard to bet against him, but Joergensen is a great and experienced poker player in trail running. Let’s also not forget many other podium candidates with credentials such as Julien Petit, Chris Devoize, Godwin Mirar and Rob West. The women’s 50km will see Belgian Singaporean Vanja Cnops as the runner-to-beat.

Asia Trail Master will be reporting live from Sapa all weekend starting on Friday night on our usual channels on facebook, youtube, X and Instagram.

Jeff Campbell is arguably the one-to-beat on the 100km distance

Reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras will be running the 70km distance this weekend

Cuc Phuong 100 winner Nguyen Si Hieu will use his racing intelligence to try and make Campbell’s life difficult on the 100km

Former VMM winner Hung Hai has again prepared himself for a month in Sapa itself

Important 70k race for Manila’s Ann Jilian Pulanco, winner at Sierra Madre this season. A strong result can cement her spot in ther country’s team for the ATM Final

Whoever wants to win the women’s 50km will need to pass by Vanja Cnops

Dalat in Southwest Vietnam and the Valley of Love are once again calling for trail runners to go back to nature at the 2nd edition of Lam Dong Trail on 11 November. It is the final points race event of the 2023 ATM Championship season in Vietnam with the 75km category as the key race. Lam Dong is the province name around Dalat and the event was a great candidate race in our series last year.

Registration is open for the 75km and other categories via the official website linked below.

The Mude Factory team had a blast at Lam Dong Trail 2022, with all its runners occupying podium spots including the highest ones. Quang Tran was fastest man ahead of Nhon Trong and in between was Hau Ha as fastest woman. Also Valentin Orange scored a win in a shorter category.

The race starts at 3 am on Saturday morning, when temperatures in Dalat can still be very much on the chilly side. Even during the day it rarely gets very hot in Dalat, as we are 1500m above sea level, which explains why the area has become so popular for trail runners. All registered runners can also enjoy a welcoming party on Friday evening at the race pack collection, same venue as the race finish, i.e. Valley of Love. Said valley is about 4km away from the city centre in Dalat and easy to reach via taxi or grab.

Last year Quang Tran won the 70km race ahead of Hau Ha

After five long years, Daved Simpat ran himself to the top step of the podium again in his most prestigious home race Borneo TMBT 100, which he had also won for the first time eight (!) years ago. Simpat was outstanding and did not give Hisashi Kitamura any chance on his way to a course record of 13h55 - 27 minutes faster than fellow-Sabahan Milton Amat in 2019. It is not always fair to compare finishing times between editions of the same trail running event as conditions are different and the course is hardly ever exactly the same (e.g. since 2019 TMBT 100 is actually 109km long), but last weekend’s winning time does indicate Simpat is relieved from all injuries that plagued him over the past. few years and that at 40+, competitive trail life is not over yet.

The longest race of the 11th TMBT event was held in hot but dry conditions throughout for the faster runners. Ireland’s Mark Steacy, fifth a year ago and confident he could do a bit better this time around, was clearly the most awake at the traditional sunrise start. After km 12 and the initial 500 metres of elevation gain, Steacy found himself in the lead by himself by a nice margin. Thoughts of a potential upset-in-the-making were quelled quite soon afterwards, though, as Daved Simpat upped his pace and followed his former teammate John Ray Onifa - who. was running the 50km race (see separate news) - all the way up to Kitamura and then Steacy by aid station 2. Already at that point, Kitamura did not look like he had an answer to Simpat’s pace - much like last year, when he trailed Milton Amat the whole race in vain. The Karate Kit pushed Amat to the very limit in 2019 and ever since has hoped to add TMBT to his victory collection. It was again not to be. His flight from Tokyo to Kota Kinabalu suffered a delay of 12 hours and destroyed his race preparation. However, mentally it must have been even more difficult seeing the energy and enthusiasm of a rejuvenated Daved Simpat, whom he had basically beaten comfortably in all races they ran together over the past five years. For a long while he managed to keep the gap limited to about 8 tot 10 minutes. But around km 75 he threw in the towel. At least for Kitamura there was a big void behind him as well, so his third consecutive second place in TMBT was never in doubt as long as he made it to the finish. Which he did, and immediately lay down to sleep afterwards. That was nearly two hours after quite an emotional Simpat started his victory celebration. This was a very popular win for the large trail running fanbase in Sabah.

In third place we found a very nice performance by a young newbie on the long ultra: Oswald Maikol . Another Sabahan and one who has scored several podiums before in local races on the medium distance. Maikol kept the very experienced Gustin Tiam behind in 16h27, and was still smiling and within his comfort zone at the finish. One to watch for the coming years. Busy bee Amierul Amin - second two weeks ago at Penang Eco 100 miles - never featured at the front, yet managed to end his race in sixth place behind Willy Wilson. Mark Steacy suffered in the second half of the race, hiking the majority of it to arrive in ninth. That was still better than many other prominent runners, such as Amir Zaki, Andrew Farmers and even Wilsen Singgin, who all DNFd before km 60. The same happened in the women’s race: Sally Yap and Lynda Marylyn to name two retired from the race. Evidence that the course of TMBT 100 may be a little underestimated?

Victory in the women’s race was actually only decided in the last kilometre. New local star Rejlen James and Indonesia’s in-form Shindy Patricia had been running together all day unthreatened by the rest of the field. James seemed to have the upper hand as Patricia was struggling with a painful knee. Two weeks ago the latter still won Bali Ultra 100, while James settled for the non-points 50km race at Penang Eco in order to be fully fit for TMBT. A strategy that paid off. James outsprinted Patricia to take a big victory that goes into the record books also: Rejlen James scored the Borneo Ultra’s Triple Crown: winning BUTM 100, Borneo MIler and TMBT 100 in the same year! She certainly also looks to be the new benchmark in Malaysia’s competitive women’s field. Shindy Patricia was happy with second nevertheless, after three consecutive ATM race wins this season. With the ATM Championship Final in her home country in December, she will now take a rest to be in peak condition at Siksorogo Lawu Ultra. But that will also be Rejlen James next goal…

Until halfway the race Team Kolumpa’s Lynda Marylyn was in the game for third place, but serious digestive issues and cramps forced her to withdraw from the race. The young Marylyn was third in Borneo Miler in June and needs to find another race or two to try and get into Team Malaysia for the abovementioned Final in December. That seems not the case for Celeste Teo, who took third place and already seems to have her spot secured after a great season so far. Celeste Teo is not the youngest in the field but often showing her younger competitors how long ultras are done. Georgy Mimi Chu and Heliana Hj Mohd Arshad were four and five. 2022 Team Malaysia member Halimatun Sa’adiah backed up her decent Bali result with eighth place and appears to be slowly coming back to the type of form that gave her a great 9th place in the ATM Championship last season.

Check also:

Race Report 50 km

John Ray Onifa continues to look very much the part these months with another impressive display of speed and technical skill at the 11th edition of Borneo TMBT in Malaysia last Saturday. The Filipino demolished the rest of the competitive field on the 50km and finished in a new course record of 5h27’46”. Singapore-based Vanja Cnops was equally outstanding in the women’s race, albeit slightly slower than her own winning time of last year. From sunrise, the race was held in entirely dry conditions with less cloud cover than desired for many runners, which added to the often underestimated difficulty of this event.

Having already collected wins at MUSPO 100 and Akha 80 in July and August, Onifa was keen to start his first ever TMBT and already quasi ensure his qualification for the ATM Championship Final in December. The 32-year-old was so confident in his own ability, he allowed the returning Bruneian star Sefli Ahar run ahead in the initial 12km. Ahar was one of the great protagonists in the early years of ATM, scoring six race wins between 2016 and 2018 before a combination of professional duties and covid restrictions left him out of the spotlights. No longer the youngest now, Ahar for a while still looked like a serious challenger for Onifa. However, soon after the first aid station, Onifa switched on this engine, left his friend and former teammate Daved Simpat - who was running the 100k (see other news) - and began the chase. First he collected Sabahan Yasbie Ismail who was going well in second, and soon after, by AS 3, he already caught and passed Ahar en route to what would still turn out to be a crushing victory. Onifa was 53 minutes ahead of Ahar at the finish! Both the Bruneian and Ismail were also in their own league, followed by a surprisingly sharp Benardo Linus arriving in fourth place - his best ATM race result ever! Linus was preceeded at the finish by the first woman, Vanja Cnops. The Belgian repeated her win from a year ago, but had a little struggle in the downhills of section two, which largely explained her somewhat slower time. Second ATM win of the season, and sixth in her trail journey. Cnops was third in last year’s ATM Final on Mt Apo, and is looking to do at least one better this time around. More than an hour behind her, we had Philippines’ Angelie Cabalo - the surprising winner of MMTF 100 last year. Initially, Cabalo was running just a few minutes behind Cnops - close enough to be featured in our livestreams including at aid station 2. However, she did have to reduce her pace somewhat while at the same time knowing there was nobody else coming from behind. There was quite a nice competition for third place, though, and it was ‘good old’ Jessica Lintanga who used her many years of racing experience to outrun youngster Shamiera Auther and Kona Laiu to snatch her 10th (!) ATM podium, her first in five years. One of those ten was a 65k race win at Mesastila in Indonesia in 2016. She also beat her younger sisters Adelinah (11th) and Lolita (14th). What happened to Siet Fah Lim? Last year’s winner of TMBT 100 and Penang Eco 100 just two weeks ago, unfortunately, had her day of the month and had to settle for 9th place.

Bernardo Linus has been competing for years. TMBT 2023 was his best competitive result ever in ATM races.

The Lintanga sisters!

The 11th edition of the Southeast Asia classic Borneo TMBT Ultra is upon us this weekend with the traditional 100k and 50k as points races for the ATM Championship. ‘Beautifully brutal, brutally beautiful’ is the new tagline with which the Malaysian event enters its second decade of existence and the start lists at least promise another very exciting competition to follow. Hisashi Kitamura aims for a ‘third-time-lucky’ , albeit in the absence of eternal rival and local hero Milton Amat - who is in Chamonix this weekend.

TMBT is a reputed event with an exquisite stage (stunning views of Mount Kinabalu on many parts of the course) that every year attracts runners from virtually all continents. Therefore, let’s not be surprised if we get some surprising performances this weekend from people we had not yet discovered before in our series. Yet, runners like Hisashi KItamura and John Ray Onifa (on the 50km) nowadays have it in them to beat all comers. Now living in Tokyo again, the Karate Kit is not racing as often as before, but that is likely to make him even more sharp for every race he does compete in. We saw that already in his comeback race two months ago in Hokkaido, when he beat a quality field despite only having trained a couple of weeks since his nasty fall and broken wrist in Korea in April. Whoever wants to win the 100km this weekend, will need to pass Kitamura. Plenty of candidates who will give it a try, though. Amir Zaki, for one, boosted his self-confidence for long distances when he beat Andrew Farmers for the victory in the Borneo Miler event in June. Zaki was a very busy bee in that period, but wisely took a breather in order to be fully recovered and fit to tackle TMBT 100. Incidentally, also Australian Andrew Farmers is on the start list - and he might certainly fancy another podium in Sabah, where he has been living for a while. From Sarawak, there’s Irishman Mark Steacy who can challenge for a top position, from the Philippines we have the young John Ivan Zonio - excellent second place in Sierra Madre 75 behind Jeff Campbell ! - and from Malaysia we have several big-hitters such as Daved SImpat, former double winner of TMBT 100, Gustin Tiam, in-form but very busy Amierul Amin and Dzul Izwan Siri Ee - another newcomer on the ATM scene who has put in some great competitive results over the past months.

The women’s 100km is going to be exciting as well, featuring new local star Rejlen James. Winner of the Borneo Miler in June, and of BUTM 100 in March, James has her eyes very much set on winning TMBT this weekend. That would be a fantastic triple with TMBT of course the jewel in the crown as the most renowned event. In order to win, James will again need to finish ahead of Sarawak’s Sally Yap, which she did at BUTM early in the year. Both competed at Penang Eco just two weeks ago, with James winning the 50k non-ATM race, and Yap winning her debut 100 miler. It can be argued that Yap did not have to push herself to the limit in those 100 miles - still, from a competitive point of view it certainly was a risk if the ambition were to win TMBT against James, and some other strong runners in the field. We know also, however, that Sally Yap can suddenly be ‘switched on’ and extraordinarily focused to produce a sterling result like her second place in the ATM Championship Final last year on Mount Apo. In any case, both Rejlen James and Sally Yap will need to be awake on Saturday, because there is a serious contender from Indonesia on the start list, too. A very experienced ultra runner who has proven to be in the best shape of her life this season: Shindy Patricia. Just like her two Malaysian competitors, Shindy ran and won Bali Ultra 100 two weeks ago, so what counts for Sally, certainly also counts for Shindy. Will James benefit in the final 10km of TMBT from the potential fatigue of her two main rivals?

Other podium contenders on paper are Roan Biguasen, Celeste Teo, Aurora Santiago and Lynda Marylyn.

The 50km race also promises to be great with John Ray Onifa scheduled to face Brunei’s Sefli Ahar - he’s back! - and normally speaking Wilsen Singgin, who after winning the 100 miles of Penang Eco prefers the 50k over the 100k this weekend. Onifa requires no introduction, he’s been the star of the past two months winning both MUSPO 100 in Philippines and Akha Trail 80 in Thailand with remarkable ease and skill. Certainly, he is the hot favourite to add TMBT 50 to his victory trophy collection , but Sefli Ahar is not nobody and determined to have a good showing after years away from the ATM scene. Those who do not remember Sefli: the most awarded Bruneian runner grabbed six ATM race victories in the 2016-2018 seasons. His professional duties as a policeman prevented him from competing more and time doesn’t stand still, but just like a Daved Simpat and Gustin Tiam, Sefli Ahar can still be surprisingly quick when focused. There’s a number of Nepali runners on the start list, too, who could cause an upset. Other podium contenders are likely to be Amirul Tuah - also from Brunei and a Grandmaster, Yasbie Ismail and -who knows- our Filipino ATM contributor Richard Akol.

The women’s 50km has Singapore-based Belgian Vanja Cnops as the most likely winner, she also won the race last year. And yet, there’s a lot of other talent on the start list with Philippines’ Angelie Cabalo - winner of MMTF 100 last year - and Siet Fah Lim, winner of Penang Eco 100 two weeks ago. In addition, there’s Malaysia’s youngest developing talent Shamiera Auther - winner of BUTM 50 in March - , Nur Amaani and the 3 Lintanga sisters: Jess, Adelinah and Lolita. A race within the race: which of the three sisters is fatest in their biggest home race event?

As usual, ATM will be reporting live from Sabah on our usual channels with livestreams and multimedia updates throughout the weekend.

Hisashi Kitamura returns to TMBT. Without Milton Amat, who can stop him from winning?

John Ray Onifa: unbeatable in ATM so far this season. He is on the 50k this weekend

Indonesia’s Shindy Patricia: in the best shape of her life this year

Vanja Cnops: last year’s 50k winner wants to do it over

John Ivan Zonio was a great 2nd behind Jeff Campbell at Sierra Madre Trail 75 in May

Amir Zaki and Andrew Farmers: the 2 protagonists of Borneo Miler. Can they challenge Kitamura?

Lynda Marylyn, one of the local Sabahan newcomers this season

Angelie Caballo , winner of MMTF 100 last season

We deeply regret having to share the news that this year's Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Philippines has been postponed from 18 November to December and is therefore OUT of the Asia Trail Master Championship series' calendar. As a direct consequence, Matanao Mountain Marathon in Mindanao on 14/15 October will be the fourth and last Filipino points race event of the current ATM season until further notice. We apologise for this unexpected development, especially to all runners who had already planned to run CMU as part of their ATM Championship strategy. The last three opportunities to score points ahead of the ATM Final in Indonesia on 2/3 December are now MMTF100 & MMTF50 (Malaysia), Lam Dong Trail 75 (VIetnam) and Malnad Ultra 100 & 50 (India).

Risqi Kurniawan took his third ATM race win in Indonesia within little over a month and increasingly looks like a top favourite for this year’s ATM Championship title. Kurniawan outran a stubbornly tough Han Ching Su from Taiwan and his compatriots Akmad Nizar and Sobari Herdiana on the 50km of Bali Ultra Trail in Kintamani. On the 100km, Rachmat Septiyanto took his premier ATM race victory while Shindy Patricia proved her super-form again with her third ATM win of the 2023 season!

Bali Ultra Trail changed the race courses at the last moment to avoid potential repercussions following political statements that climbing Bali’s mountains would very soon be outlawed. This made the race more runable than originally planned, but it still proved tough enough - also due to the heat & humidity plaguing especially the many Japanese athletes.

The 50km was on paper the most competitive distance category and so it turned out to be. As said, Risqi Kurniawan again showed his amazing speed on this distance and it will be interesting to find out if he can stretch that to 77km on 2 December. What should help him in any case: he ran Siksorogo last year and Gunung Lawu is close to his hometown of Magelang! Team Indonesia is building up very nicely with also Akmad Nizar almost assured of qualification for the ATM Final. Nizar has been operating in the shadow of Kurniawan, but consistently so and the smart youngster can certainly produce something special at Siksorogo himself. Team Indonesia will also feature Bali-based German Thimo Kilberth, who had his best race of this season by finishing sixth and “only” 33 minutes behind Kurniawan. Fifth went to the second Taiwanese Pin Chi Chou. Great to see runners from Taiwan feature in an ATM race for once!

The women’s 50km developed into a tight battle between Japan’s Nami Ishihara and Germany’s Katrin Herzog. For a long time, Ishihara had the upper hand, but Herzog came back towards the end and managed to overtake her for the win. In third came Singapore’s Dening Lo, followed by Hszin Tzu Chao from Taiwan and Indonesia’s Siti Nuraini, who probably would have preferred to climb Mt Batur and Mt Abang. Bali’s home runner Dian Pradina had a great performance to finish sixth.

On the 100km, Japanese aces Yuta Matsuyama (male) and Tomomi Bitoh (female) set the pace for the first half, but both began to fade as a result of the climatic conditions and saw others coming back to them. Matsuyama was with Indonesia’s Abdul Salam at first, but he would DNF later and the experienced Rachmat Septiyanto was the one to claim the victory at the end. Second in Mantra 116 seven weeks ago, Septiyanto scored his first ATM race victory and is actually as good as qualified for the ATM Final and Team Indonesia. However, he is the lead organiser of Siksorogo Lawu Ultra and Septiyanto obviously cannot do both things. Matsuyama boosted his chances for qualification in Team Japan. Japan’s Takeshi Hashimoto was the third man on the podium, ahead of Vietnamese runners De Nguyen and Trung Hau Phan. Australia’s Washington Firmeza came sixth in another ATM race finish this season.

Shindy Patricia was chasing Tomomi Bitoh for a long time, being just a few minutes behind the strong and experienced Japanese runner. As often, Shindy is the one who slows down the least in the second part of ultras, and so it was again. In fact, Shindy went on to win comfortably but finished even second overall behind Septiyanto. Matsuyama came next but then it was Vietnam’s Julia Nguyen Thi Duong - in another wonderful performance of the weekend. Tomomi Bitoh still salvaged her podium in third.

Within just 2 months, Central Javanese youngster Risqi Kurniawan has propelled himself into a top fabourite position for the 2023 ATM Championship title.

Podium of the 50km women with Germany’s Katrin Herzog as winner

Wonderful to see a runner from Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) on the podium! Han Ching Su

Rachmat Septiyanto takes his first ever ATM race win

Third ATM victory of the season for in-form Shindy Patricia

Podium of the 100 km women

Podium of the 100km men

The 100 miles began at 6 pm on Friday night, which gave runners about 90 minutes to get warmed up before nightfall. Henry Yang from Singapore, whose goal was to complete his Grandmaster Quest, arrived first at the 11km aid station. A rather usual fast start by him, which was brave given Henry DNFd in Penang Eco a few years ago. He knew that this race is much harder than it looks on paper. Eventually, Henry would overcome serious feet and blister issues to finish the 100 miles and achieve his ATM Grandmaster status! Saiful Anuar from Malaysia was also aiming to reach the Grandmaster finish, but he will have to wait a bit longer as Penang Eco did get to him and he did not finish this one. 

The battle for the race victory was decided by Wilsen Singgin and Amierul Amin, as was to be expected. Rasyid Salehuddin, Tuan Hafandi Bin Tuan Ismail and Chong Teck Shuin followed and would determine the third spot on the podium. It was the very experienced Tuan Hafandi who grabbed it in the end. Up front, Singgin and Amin digested the conditions and the distance together until the final 30km, when the experience and toughness of Singgin began to prevail over the freshness of Amin - one of the 2023 season revelations in ATM. In the very tough final 10 km of the race - described as ‘sadistic’ by many - Singgin proved he still had quite a bit of juice in the tank as he ran more than 1 hour away from Amin to take his 3rd career ATM win, his first since MMTF in 2021. Not that it means much, but his finish time was 33h55’. When Singgin is in shape AND focused on a race, he is always able to deliver something special - especially on long and tough mountain trails. 

Sally Yap felt in trouble, sprained her ankle and was strangely worried about the cut-off time for most of Saturday until a welcome heavy rainshower cooled her off, and she started to get some pace in the legs. At that point, however, she was somehow one-and-a-half hours behind race leader Celeste Teo, with Hong Kong-based Australian Meg Sterling between them in second place. Both the Sarawakian and Sterling were having their debut 100 miler. Sterling was the race winner of Dark 45 in Hong Kong last season, an event coming up again on 1 October. Amazingly, all three women would suddenly find themselves together at the 106km aid station before the second sunset of their race. Sterling was struggling with knee pain and was reduced to power hiking the rest of the distance - which she did, and so third place was hers. Behind, Yvette Chong was the last survivor as all other women pulled out, but Yvette also had to throw in the towel at km 136 suffering from gastroentretis. Unsurprisingly, Sally’s raw talent came to the fore and she completed the final 50 km in first place to win in 42 hours. A welcome victory for the 2022 vice-ATM champion, which will be confidence booster with a view to what is still coming later this year. 

Penang-based Briton Alex Tilley took the 100km race, his second ATM win of the season after V Trail in Laos in February. Tilley had to work for it especially in the first half, when Achmad Tanjong, Jeffery Budin, Lim Wen Shan and Hijazi Rija Bin Mat Juri were keeping up and even setting the pace. Budin won UTOP in Penang last year and had the confidence he runs well on these trails, Tanjong showed in Mantra last month to be in great shape and Lim Wen Shan was the short distance dominator in Malaysia a few years ago, but now moving up in distance.  For a while, it actually looked like Lim Wen Shan was going to drop the others.  Then, the additional kilometers  compared to what he is used to in race trim still proved to be a big ask. Tilley and Budin took over command, and soon after Tilley would be on his own. Budin did not give up easily and was hanging just six to ten minutes back for quite a while until he realised that he was not going to close the gap anymore. 

In the women’s 100km, Lim Siet Fah lived up to the expectations and won her second ATM race after last season’s Borneo TMBT 100. She was never really bothered by the others to obtain the victory. Her second result of the season after a fifth place in Sierra Madre Trail in Philippines, where she perhaps underperformed a bit. The battle for second and third on the podium was exciting to follow all race with many position changes between Roan Biguasen, Goh Pei Fen and Heliana Arshad. Their tussle continued right into the final section, and it was local Goh Pei Fen who outran the two others for second. Busy bee Biguasen scored her fourth ATM podium of the season in third. 

100km award ceremony for men

Award ceremony for 100km women

Award ceremony 100 miles men