The 70km race at the second edition of Matanao Mountain Marathon was held in mostly sunny conditions and saw a first ever ATM race victory for Yoyong Sacayle and a second one for Cecille Wael. Both pre-race favouirites came out on top at the end, but had to fight for their wins. Matanao was the final Filipino points race in this season’s Asia Trail Master Championship.

The 23-year-old Isaiah Paraiso made an excellent debut on the scene, as he topped the leaderboard at many early checkpoints. Former Mt Apo race winner Ronnie Torlao was also very much in the mix in the early stages of the nighttime after the 9 pm start. But as sunrise approached, Yoyong Sacayle appeared first to win in 10h33, fifteen minutes ahead of Paraiso, who held onto a very promising second place. Angelo Maynard Encormal again managed to run a great second half to grab his third third place of the season, along with the important points that come with that. Maynard is looking good to join Yoyong, Arnie Macaneras (who was a DNS in Matanao), John Ray Onifa and Sean Aying (sixth this weekend) in the men’s Team Pilipinas. The sixth runner (Macaneras as defending ATM champion has scored a wild card) is still very much up for grabs in the remaining ATM points races in Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and India.

The early leaderboard of the women’s 70km race in Matanao, showed Cecille Wael only in sixth place. Shally Yuson, Julie Ann Morales and Manolyn Mamugay were setting the pace. Later it was discovered that Wael had gone significantly off course and thus had to play catch-up for a long time. Especially as Shally Yuson, another newbie from Bukidnon, turned out to be a serious opponent for the victory. Even Morales had to let Yuson go ahead. On the last of the main climbs, Wael returned and attacked, knowing the remaining downhill to the finish would suit her more than the young and inexperienced Yuson. Thanks to her first ATM victory since CMU last year, Wael moves up to third place in the ATM Philippines’ ranking. She could have been safe already for ATM Final qualification, but her VMM race last month proved to be an unexpected struggle. The five slots for the team will remain highly contested until at least Lam Dong Trail on 11 November. Only Roan Biguasen is already secure with four strong results during the season.

The women’s podium with Cecille Wael in the middle

Mindanao’s Yoyong Sacayle has assured himself of a spot on Team Pilipinas for the ATM Final with his debut race victory in ATM

After a disappointing VMM, Cecille Wael bounced back with a solid race win in Matanao

The men’s podium with Yoyong Sacayle on the far right

The second edition of the picturesque Matanao Mountain Marathon in Mindanao, Philippines, is the final chance for Filipino runners to score ATM Championship and Grandmaster points within their own country this season. Places for Team Pilipinas are hard-fought, and several of the ten regular spots, such as Arnie Macaneras, John Ray Onifa and Roan Biguasen, are already secure. Matanao Mountain Marathon - MMM - will shake up the rankings nonetheless with many of the country’s protagonist runners this season featuring on the start list of the 70 km race.

Matanao is located in the province of Davao del Sur on Mindanao, approximately 90 minutes car drive from Davao City and airport. It is a flourishing town and area for tourism and leisure activities and those who have been there already understand why. Runners in the event this weekend will enjoy lush green scenery, plenty of impressive waterfalls and beautiful rolling hills. In the context of trail running, locals refer to the race course as ‘trail porn’. Natural trails, most of them single trails, will provide technicality to the race and the rollercoaster up and down the hills can make the 70k quite tough, indeed. MMM was an ATM Candidate Race last year and is part of the extensive portfolio of events of Vertical To Sky and Doi Calbes, who also does, amongst others, the Mt Apo Sky Race in December and The Punisher in August.

Reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras, who is from Davao, is scheduled to run the 70k as part of his late season campaign that should lead to the defence of his ATM title at Siksorogo Lawu Ultra on 2 December. Just three weeks ago, Macaneras very much looked the part in Vietnam Mountain Marathon, where he demolished the rest of the competitive field on the 70km race distance. Based on that performance, it is hard to see who can follow him in Matanao this weekend. Still, there’s quite a lot of other podium challengers and recognised race winners in the field to give it a go. Yoyong Sacayle has been in great form this season, having collected three ATM race podium finishes so far already. Maynard Encormal scored two himself and is reportedly very determined to ensure he gets qualified for the ATM Final. So is the 22-year-old youngster John Ivan Zonio, a surprising second behind Jeff Campbell in the Sierra Madre Trail 75 in May. Zonio also finished his first 100 at the very competitive TMBT early September inside the top ten. Angelito Vertudazo was an ATM Finalist last year and always strong in Mindanao. Avelino Versola III and Iasias Tonog II have been running very well this season, reflected by their current sixth and seventh place in the ATM Philippines ranking. Sean Aying had an off-day in Vietnam Mountain Marathon 100, but has otherwise been a regular top placer with third on the podium at Mantra 116 as a highlight. Ronnie Torlao is a former Mt Apo race winner and always in the mix for a solid result. Ariehmar Bardoquillo finished fourth in Sierra Madre, and Richard Akol came 8th in TMBT 50.

The women’s 70k race is likely to develop into a battle between Davao’s Julie Ann Morales, who knows the trails, and Cecille Wael. Morales was a great newcomer on the scene last year, culminating in a great fifth place in the ATM Championship Final on Mt Apo. She has won two ATM races so far: The Punisher in 2022 and MUSPO 100 last July. Wael has been around since 2018 and collected many race podiums before her stand-out competitive performance in winning CMU 50 last year ahead of many other ATM protagonists. She does a lot of races, but if she is fresh Matanao offers a great opportunity to bag another 500 points in her quest to be part of Team Pilipinas in the ATM Final this season. Manilyn Mamugay is arguably the dark horse in this race and never to be underestimated. Mary Joy Sumanda can do a great job for her ATM Final chances, and so does Irish Glorioso, winner of the first ATM race this season in Laos.

Julie Ann Morales and Sean Aying during a course check end of last year

Plenty of eye candy in Matanao!

Three weeks after a dominating performance in VMM70, reigning ATM Champion Arnie Macaneras will be looking for his second race win of the season

Cecille Wael won a local ultra just a week ago, and is looking to add Matanao to her ATM record this weekend

Tioman is a small island roughly 30km off the Malaysian east coast and as of this weekend an official new trail running destination. MMTF Consultant, the company behind the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping, has successfully established Tioman Ultra, a tough 50km trail race on the island. Measuring only 39 km long and 12km wide, Tioman nevertheless has a mountain peak of over 1030m : Gunung Kajang. The island is sparsely populated and covered by dense rainforest.

Event venue was the beachfront of Kampung Air Batang.

The longest race category was the 50km, which had some of Malaysia’s better known runners in it. Yusof Abdul Manan proved to be the fastest man, covering the course in 9h17’47”, a solid 35 minutes faster than Mohamad Syahmim Nazmy and Seiji Morofuji. The finisher times indicate the high degree of technicality of this race. In fourth and fifth we had the first two women, with the highly experienced ultra runner Siokhar Lim having to push a bit to stay ahead of the surprisingly quick Norhani Mohd Jaffar. Norhani has been around for several years, but is known as a short distance specialist. Her performance in Tioman shows that she is growing on the 50k medium distance as well now. The gap between her and Siokhar Lim was just 9 minutes, and Siokhar herself has increased her standard running pace a lot compared to pre-covid years. In third place we had Guan Shin Law, another useful podium for her this season. Guan Shin Law also managed to stay quite a distance ahead of Halimatun Sa’adiah , fifth, for example. Succy Lee was fourth in between them.

Images courtesy of MMTF Consultant

The men’s overall winner Yusof Abdul Manan

Siokhar Lim was fourth overall, but pressed forward by Norhani Mohd Jaffar to win the women’s race

On 10 February 2024, Bagtit Ultra will open the points accounts for many Filipino runners in the new season of the Asia Trail Master Championship series. Organised by The Pace Republic, the former Candidate Race replaces Santa Ines on our calendar and features 100km and 50km categories valid for championship points. The 100k of course also offers a Grandmaster point.

“Bagtit’ is the Ilocano translation of the word “crazy”. Ultra trail runners are often called ‘crazy’ , but what makes this event crazier is the difficult and technical trails of Mt. Damas and Mt. Sem-ilya. Mt. Damas is situated near the border of three Tarlac municipalities: Mayantoc to the southeast, Camiling to the north and San Clemente to the west. The usual trek starts at Barangay Papaac in Camiling known as the Papaac Eco Trails. One can experience a panoramic view of the Tarlac and Pangasinan plains and Mt. Arayat from afar. Mt. Damas may arguably have the distinction of being the most scenic mountain in Tarlac. On the other side, not far from Mt. Damas summit is Mt. Sem-ilya which was less explored. There are also trails from Sitio Dueg in San Clemente that would lead to Barangay Labney in Mayantoc, the jump off of the Mt. Tapulao Traverse route. These trails will be the highlight of this event. This year, the route will be extended to Anzap Twin Falls in Mayantoc and Sitio Tala in San Jose, making the longest category to 100km, instead of the 80km half a year ago.

Flag off is in Mayantoc and the 100km has a total elevation gain of nearly 5000hm. The 50k has about half of that. Mayantoc is located just under 2 hours drive from Clark international airport, itself a few hours north of Manila. Guidelines on how to get there are mentioned in detail on the website linked below.

In the Candidate Race last June, Julius Iglesias came out on top together with Arnulfo Aquino. Shekinah Velasquez was the strongest woman.

The event will help in promoting tourism and healthy lifestyle in the community. The Pace Republic is also active in the discovery of local talents in trail running and provide them with more racing opportunities and venues. Registration is open via the website linked below.

We are happy to announce that Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau will for the first time be a points race event in the new season of the Asia Trail Master Championship. The sister event of VMM is scheduled for 20 January 2024. Runners aiming for championship and Grandmaster points need to focus and sign up for the 70 km race category.

Vietnam Trail Marathon follows VMM and VJM as the third offering by the Topas Team, and is a wonderful early season event characterised by a not-too-difficult and colourful course thanks to the many orchards with white and pink blossoms. This 70k ultra has everything that Moc Chau has to offer. As usual, participants will go through some remote areas and enjoy a warm welcome by the villagers. The course covers a huge variety of trails and landscapes, taking runners to wild areas rarely visited by anyone but locals. Total elevation gain is estimated at 3000 hm.

Registration is already open, click on the button below.

Moc Chau is also located in the north of the country. The international gateway is Hanoi , from where there’s shuttle busses to the event venue. Travel packages including accommodation are also available as usual. The official website has details. Please also make sure you read the mandatory gear list for the 70k race.

Vietnam Trail Marathon 70 will be the first of two Vietnamese points races in the first semester of 2024. The second one will be Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths in April.

 

One of this season’s successful newcomers on the Asia Trail Master Championship calendar has already opened registration for next year’s edition. Deep Japan Ultra in Niigata will take place from 21 to 23 June and again feature two points races: 100 miles and 80km. As 2023 proved, Deep Japan Ultra is an event to be taken seriously!

Hiroaki Matsunaga is a very experienced and competitive trail runner in Japan, who on top is very familiar with the international running scene. Almost ten years ago now, he created Echigo Country Trail, but since the corona crisis he focuses his efforts on his new brainchild, Deep Japan Ultra. The event takes place in his native Niigata Prefecture, roughly 2-3 hours by shinkansen northwest of Tokyo. There’s also a few international flights to Niigata city. Visitors not familiar with Japan will experience the real countryside, which often remains unexplored. The host venue is the Mount Asakusa Park. Participants should be prepared for technical mountain trails, which at higher altitudes may still be covered in snow. Especially if you sign up for the 100 miles, do not come unprepared and unfocused. This is not a race to ‘try out’ 100 miles for the first time. The 80 km category has plenty of spice and technicality as well.

Register as soon as you can, because spots are limited. Give yourself time to plan the event, including accommodation and travel, and get yourself ready for a wonderful trail experience next June!

A little later than usual due to very heavy workload over the past few weeks, here is the Tale of the Trail video of La Sportiva Penang Eco from just over a month ago in Malaysia. The 100 miles and 100 km races were points races for the Asia Trail Master Championship ranking. Wilsen Singgin and Sally Yap won the miler, Alex Tilley and Siet Fah Lim were fastest on the century run.

Penang Eco has been part of our series since 2015. Since last year, the event alternates with Ultimate Trails of Penang, aka UTOP, as a points race event for the championship ranking and Grandmaster Quest. Both events are organised by the same team of Endurance Nature with Seow Kong Ng at the helm. Incidentally, this weekend is Ultimate Trails of Penang on its traditional weekend on the second weekend of October.

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