It’s early July and that means it’s Mantra time again! Arguably the toughest mountain trail race on our ATM Championship calendar, the 2024 edition has once again attracted a considerable field of trail runners in both the 116km and 68km categories - both also valid for the Grandmaster Quest. Most of Indonesia’s trail elites will be competing, with former ATM Champion Arief Wismoyono on the 116km against the likes of Taofik Hidayat, and Risqi Kurniawan against Akmad Nizar on the 68km.

The 116km has 7400 metres of elevation gain, which is not the highest number, but the technicality of the Welirang and Arjuno ascent and descent makes this race incredibly tough. Throw in the high altitudes of well above 3000m, potential cold temperatures, rain and wind and you are in for a real adventure. It’s the kind of race that elite mountain runners want to have on their record of wins, and regular runners want to have the finisher tee or medal of. While the 68km usually has a stronger competitive field, the 116km does draw most attention at this event.

Arief Wismoyono is approaching 40 now, but still ranks as the benchmark in Indonesia when it comes to long mountain ultras. His younger Bandung teammate Taofik Hidayat will be challenging him this weekend, along with Japan’s Yuta Matsuyama - who just ran Deep Japan Ultra 100 miles and finished fourth. There’s a strong Malaysian contingent featuring the likes of a.o. Hijazi Rija and Jin Heng Oh. The women’s race looks potentially more open, even though local runners such as Sianti Candra and Septiana Nia Swastika can be expected to lead the pack along with Mei Li. Malaysia’s Guan Shin Law, Japan’s Tamae Harada, Thailand’s Siriporn Leumathong and Philippines’ Irish Glorioso are all podium contenders this weekend on the 116km.

Risqi Kurniawan, already winner of the 68km last year, will again be up against Akmad Nizar and Hilman Maulana, podium runners a year ago. Normally speaking Risqi should have the edge on them, but he has been plagued by injury in recent times reducing his performance on the trails. Mohd Sulhan, Amierul Amin, Faris Azahri and Jeffery Budin from Malaysia could be challengers - at least for a podium spot. Thimo Kilberth has always been more competitive on the runable trails, but he has focused on Mantra this season. In the women’s race, Silabur Cave Trail winner Dening Lo from Singapore is one of the top favourites alongside former ATM Champion and former Mantra winner Ruth Theresia. However, Sabah’s Rejlen James may find Mantra to be a trail 100% to her liking. Also Malaysia’s Lynda Marylyn, in-form Yvette Chong and Halimatun Sa’adiah can be podium contenders.

ATM will be covering Mantra 116 throughout the weekend on our usual channels, with live feeds and most updates on ATM Facebook.

Arief Wismoyono: top favourite on the 116km

Rejlen James: if she can beat the high altitude, she could be hard to beat on the 68km

Singapore’s Dening Lo is one of the favourites on the 68km

Akhmad Nizar: always a strong podium contender, and who knows more than that this weekend

Jeffery Budin: impressive winner of Silabur 50 two months ago: can he repeat that performance?

We are happy to announce that Prenn Trail Challenge, taking place to the south of Dalat in Vietnam, has joined the ATM Championship and Grandmaster Quest calendar for Season 10. A successful Candidate Race last year, Prenn Trail Challenge is catering for all types of trail runners with a wide range of distance categories available on the long weekend of 20-22 December 2024.

Organised by UEM and managed by James Nguyen, Prenn Trail Challenge gets its event name from the Prenn tea resort, which will be the event venue host. The Dalat area is not only known for coffee, but also has several major tea plantations. From the tea resort, participants can embark on trail runs from 3 to a massive 182 kilometres. The race categories for the ATM Championship will be the 182 km long ultra and the 55 km medium distance. Runners just aiming for the Grandmaster Quest can choose between 182 km and 100 km. Expect lots of pine hills and old forests. Elevation gain for the 182 km is estimated at 8500hm, with 2300hm for the 55km. The start location for the two longest ultras will be at the Kala Lake and Samten Hill, respectively. The organisation will provide shuttle busses from Dalat City to bring everyone there.

If you want to try the 182 km, you must show proof of having already finished at least one race of 70km or longer. Obviously, also do not forget to check the mandatory gear list.

The Prenn Tea Resort is not so far from Dalat City , but it is nevertheless recommended to base yourself in the resort, as it is the event centre. You can find more details on the official event website. Registration is already open and accessible via the same website.

We are happy to announce that the 2nd edition of Broder 50 in the Bromo desert of East Java in Indonesia is a new entry on our race calendar of Season 10! The event is organised by the established team of Mantra 116 and takes place on 12 October 2024. The key points race is the 50km.

It has been a few years since ATM has had a race in Bromo on the schedule. Running in the high-altitude desert with its magical volcanic scenery. This race will be catering for trail runners with a good pace in the legs. The loop around the crater will be done twice, and refrains from including sections deemed too technical for the average runner. It is not flat-flat, with 1200m of elevation gain to be overcome. The cut-off time is set at 10 hours, so you need a minimum pace of 5km per hour.

Registration for the event is already open. Just go to the official website below. To get to Bromo, international participants best fly to Surabaya, main city in East Java. From there you can take ground transport to Probolingo and Lautan Pasir Bromo. The 50km race starts at 4am on Saturday morning.

Season 10 of the Asia Trail Master Championship series will thus initiate with two events in Indonesia. On 21/22 September, the season begins with Dieng Trail Run in Central Java.

An exciting and successful edition of UTSG 50 in Singapore saw the end of John Ray Onifa’s unbeaten streak of over six years in ATM. While our reigning champion ran a great race himself and looked like he was on the way to yet another victory, Hong Kong-Canadian Jeff Campbell found some energy reserves deep down at the end of the flattish race to catch Onifa again, and pass him for victory! Both great athletes finished the 50km within 4 hours, and eventually five minutes apart.

For Jeff Campbell it’s the 8th ATM race victory in his running career, his first of the season on a typical Singaporean and runable course that suited him perfectly despite a jetlag. He traveled back from London just the day before. John Ray Onifa took his defeat with a smile and lots of respect for Campbell, whom he knows very well, of course. In the end, Onifa did as he predicted the evening before at the pre race gathering at the Red Dot Running Company (see our video below). Onifa was right on the money finishing in 3h59, but Campbell just had too much speed in his legs.

Meanwhile, 2022 female ATM Champion Hau Ha was only four minutes behind Onifa... She was probably the fastest runner overall in the last 10km! Securing her wild card for this season’s ATM Championship Final, the Vietnamese star took a relatively modest start and even saw local resident Vanja Cnops coming back at her around the 10km mark. Competitive as always, Vanja had a brave run for sure, but an eye infection and the hard fact that Hau Ha has just become not only still a stronger trail runner, but also a faster runner, meant Vanja eventually had no answer. Going up on a road, Hau Ha just had too much strength in her legs for the Belgian. Still, Vanja’s finishing time of 4h25 nevertheless shows she had no off-day.

Hau Ha was running with Chris Timms nearby for most of the race. Timms, also a local resident, had a fantastic performance himself last Saturday. His third place on the men’s podium in 4h06 was illustrative of that, even though his podium spot was challenged severely by newcomer Siu Hong from Hong Kong. The latter went off course at some point early on, which may have cost him that top 3 podium spot. Still, Siu Hong, from the T8 squad, is a great new name on the scene. Singapore’s Deric Lau completed the top five with an excellent run himself ahead of Hong Kong Australian David Longo. Edmund Villaraza follows, then Gael Beron and Daniel Yap.

Behind Hau Ha and Vanja Cnops, Patsy Tan took the third podium spot. She finished just a minute ahead of Shifan Hu.

UTSG 50 showed that trail running, despite long concrete and road sections, can be great fun in Singapore. The X Trailblazers created a very fine experience for the 400-odd starters.

The five fastest runners in the finish

Initially, John Ray Onifa applied some serious pressure on Jeff Campbell.

Chris Timms and Hau Ha ran most of the race in each other’s vicinity

Patsy Tan completed the female podium in Singapore

Big names on the start list of the UTSG 50 event in Singapore this Saturday, the first ATM points race in the country since 2018. Organised by the large X Trailblazers community, UTSG will start and finish in the Macritchie Park and offers a course for the speedsters amongst the trail runners, in the absence of serious hillclimbs in Singapore. Pure running in other words, and it’s great to see a very well-stacked and international list of participants. Four names stand out: reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa will be facing Jeff Campbell for the men’s victory, and 2022 ATM Champion Hau Ha will be up against Singapore-resident Vanja Cnops.

Until a year ago, few people would have bet against Campbell on a runable 50k against even Onifa. But the Hong Kong-based Canadian has been shifting his attention towards the long ultras. People who follow the stats on Strava’s ATM Club know that Campbell ranks very high every week in the ‘total distance run’ column. Still, his sheer running speed won’t have disappeared so quickly, of course. His main issue will be his late arrival into Singapore, and the potential jet lag after spending time in the UK. Running UTSG 50 is a bit of a must for him, given his ambition to qualify again for the ATM Championship Final in September. Campbell was injured earlier in the season, and has no points on his 2024 account yet. John Ray Onifa will be keen to keep his unbeaten ATM streak going for a while longer. Earlier this year, Onifa indicated having an interest in road marathons now - to try and increase his running pace on the flat. UTSG will be a good indication where he stands with that.

There’s several other fast runners expected to join, such as David Longo and Chris Timms.

The women’s dual for the win should be between Vietnam’s Hau Ha and Belgium’s Vanja Cnops. It will be the second time they face each other in the same race. At the 2022 ATM Final on Mount Apo, Vanja was the first woman ever to make life hard for Hau Ha in a race. Eventually, Hau would get the upper hand going up and down Apo, but on Saturday the course is flat and suited towards Vanja Cnops, who has been living in Singapore for over ten years. If there’s one race where Vanja might have a chance against Hau Ha…. Her half marathon PB is still significantly faster than Hau’s, but can she prevent losing too much pace on 50km?

ATM will be reporting live from SIngapore starting at 6:30 am on Saturday.

Reigning ATM Champion John Ray Onifa wants to test his sheer running pace in Singapore this weekend

Jeff Campbell is increasingly focusing on long ultras now, but on Saturday he is back on his 50k top distance

2022 ATM Champion Hau Ha and her coach Guim are using UTSG as the perfect tune-up for their big goal in August

What can Vanja Cnops do against Hau Ha on flat trails in her long-time resident country Singapore?

Trail runners across Asia will be happy to learn that Luang Prabang Trail in Laos is a new addition to the ATM Championship calendar of Season 10. The 3rd edition of the event, organised by the same team as V Trail, will be held on the weekend of 19/20 October 2024 and features two points race categories (105km, 55km) for the Championship ranking, and one for the Grandmaster Quest (105km). Luang Prabang is the former capital of the country, and now a large UNESCO World Heritage Site and tourism magnet.

While trail runners can look forward to a very scenic new destination, they should also come prepared. Luang Prabang Trail - like V Trail in Vang Vieng - is no walk in the park. The 105km race has an estimated elevation gain of 6850 hm and the 55km has approx 3500 hm. Luckily, the cut-off times are reasonable - as you can see in the image below.

Trail running in Laos is still very much in its infancy, but the team of Green Step has built a solid reputation since 2018 with V Trail. International runners are highly encouraged to join the event’s facebook page to stay up-to-date with latest developments in English language. Event Director Philip Tay is also available via whatsapp for any queries there may be. There are a number of international flights to Luang Prabang from Thailand, Vietnam, China and Cambodia. Alternatively, you transit in Laos’ country capital Vientiane , or take a long distance bus from there. Accommodation is plentiful via the usual hotel booking agents online.

Deep Japan Ultra in Japan’s Niigata region, roughly 2-3 hours northwest of Tokyo, is rapidly gaining prestige as one of the great challenging events in our series. Managed and directed by experienced Japanese trail runner Hiroaki Matsunaga, DJU again provided a very satisfactory experience for participants, despite the high degree of ‘toughness’ . There’s two long ultras on the programme with the 100 Miles and the 80km, and in particular the ‘Miler’ is a serious test for everyone. Total elevation gain is only just short of 10.000 hm. It caught 4-star Grandmaster Masafumi Yamamoto by surprise once again, and also Hong Kong’s Rachel Chan even had to throw in the towel at km 120.

It’s an event where the locals perhaps have a clearer advantage, just because they know what is coming. Ryota Nakatani won the men’s race in 27h02’. He was followed on the podium by Tatsuya Saguchi and Tomo Ihara. In the women’s race, Yukiko Sawada won comfortably ahead of Ayako Murai and Kiyoko Nakata.

Gediminias Grinius from Lithuania returned to DJU and Niigata after an injury-induced DNF last year, and this time managed to secure race victory in 8h55. The female winner was the same as last year: Miki Saito in 12h14. Honourable mention goes to young Filipino Poy Brillantes who scored a fantastic 3rd place!

On the 100 miles distance, Yuta Matsuyama took a great fourth place. The same for Vietnam's Julia Nguyen Thi Duong in the women's race. Both collect 425 points at DJU, which will help them get qualified for this season's ATM Final at Borneo TMBT on 14 September.

Images courtesy of Dogsorcaravan

Winner on the 100 miles: Ryota Nakatani

Female winner on the 100 miles: Yukiko Sawada

Lithuanian Gediminias Grinius had unfinished business at DJU and took victory on the 80km

Poy Brillantes ran a magnificent race to finish 3rd on the podium in the 80km

Miki Saito won the 80km for the second consecutive year

ATM 2023 Finalist Yuta Matsuyama scored 4th place on the 100 miles

Trail des Gombak, a new ATM Candidate Race in Selangor, Malaysia, saw a 100km victory for the duo Philippe Daniel and Malachy Kirwan! Both Singapore residents finished in 14 hours 40 minutes, well ahead of third-placed Malaysian Tuan Hafandi. Frenchman Daniel and Irishman Kirwan ran the race in duo format.

In the women's 100km, another expat, Carly Balmforth took the win ahead of Norlela Ismail in 21 h 20. Balmforth is an ATM Grandmaster and a two-time finalist in 2022 and 2023.

The 50 km saw a nice battle between eventual race winner Mohd Aminuddin Musa and Mohd Hatta Wahab. Finishing time was 6h32. Ahmad Aqwa Bin Othman completed the podium. Filipino Ritzy Amor Ectin was the fastest female runner in 7h58. She was 27 minutes ahead of Federica Lara and Daniele Finocchi, both from Italy.

Carly Balmforth

Malachy Kirwan and Philippe Daniel

This weekend the third edition of Trail des Gombak will be held at Dewan Serbaguna Orang Asli, Gombak in Selangor, peninsular Malaysia. It is a new ATM Candidate Race. The route of this race consists of jungle trails, river creek, waterfall, asphalt, rolling hills and much more that Gombak can offer, including scenic views on Kuala Lumpur.

The event is organised by Projek Hijo and offers traditional race distance categories of 100km and 50 km , alongside shorter versions of 30 km and 15 km. The 100km can also be done in duo format.

Gombak is located near Kuala Lumpur and to the Batu Caves, a touristic hotspot, making it a very convenient event from a logistical point of view. The event location is the Orang Asli settlement. On paper, Trail des Gombak is not the most difficult with approx 3600 hm of elevation gain for the 100k and 1800 hm for the 50k, but as usual numbers never tell the whole story. The 100km starts at day time, 11am on Saturday, and there’s a cut-off time of 32 hours.

The start list features some well-known runners from Malaysia, including some whom we haven’t seen in recent months. Grandmaster Ben Lee is scheduled to run the 100km, and so is Norlela Ismail. Malachy Kirwan and Philippe Daniel, both Singapore residents, are an interesting entry on the 100km duo race. Malachy is one of Vanja Cnops’ training buddies and known for his fast legs. Gombak may even be his first ever 100km distance. Philippe Daniel on the other hand is very much used to the ultra distances already. No better guide, in other words. On the 50km, we have ATM Finalists Carly Balmforth, Izzah Hazirah and Nur Amaani .

Penang and Endurance Nature have been an integral part of the Asia Trail Master series since the very beginning and continues to be in 2024. On the long weekend of 18 to 20 October, trail runners will score points for the ATM Championship ranking and the Grandmaster Quest at Ultimate Trails of Penang, better known as UTOP. The 5th edition of the event takes place on the island proper and is widely regarded as one of the tougher races on our calendar. This year, there is also a 100 miler on the programme.

UTOP 100 Miles and the 60 km medium distance will be the two categories offering championship points. There is also a 100km category, which obviously offers a Grandmaster point for all finishers as it’s above 70km.

Since the covid crisis, UTOP and Penang Eco, also by Endurance Nature under event director Seow Kong Ng, have alternated on the ATM calendar. The trail courses of both events are completely different, but have one thing in common: they’re both very tough even if they don’t necessarily look so on paper. Easy runable sections are mixed with steep technical jungle trails, and some serious elevation. The 100 Miles comes close to a massive 10000 hm for 171 km, whereas the 60km (actually 64km) also has no fewer than 4300 hm - which is only 200 hm short of Grandmaster qualification. In other words, participants better come prepared.

Start and finish is at the Lapangan Memanah Youth Park, which is really just outside the city centre of Penang’s capital city Georgetown, making it convenient for a family trip as well. Georgetown also has an airport with a few international connections, and plenty of accommodation options at various levels. If flying to Georgetown is difficult, there are many comfortable busses per day from KLIA and Kuala Lumpur to Penang.

As described on the official website, Penang Island is blessed with amazing numbers of trails for many decades. Blazed by the local inhabitants of Penang, these trails link up various heritage sites and points of interests all over the island. Starting from Youth Park and Botanical gardens, the trails spread out from the north to central and southern part of the Island, from Air Itam, Batu Ferringhi, to Teluk Bahang and Balik Pulau.

Two years ago, Jeffery Budin pulled off his first ATM race victory at UTOP 100km, which was a very popular achievement. Budin did benefit from a few other contenders going off course, but managed to defend his position once he realised he could win. It was a liberating win, too, because since then Budin’s competitive performance has improved further and last month he grabbed his second ATM race win at Silabur in Sarawak. The strongest woman in 2022 was home favourite Siokhar Lim, during a season she proved that the post-covid Grandmaster had also become a very competitive runner.

Registration for UTOP is already open. Make sure you check all the details, including mandatory gear, before you sign up.

Jeffery Budin took his first ATM race victory at UTOP in 2022

We are delighted to announce that Dieng Trail Run in Central Java, Indonesia, will be the opening event of Season 10 in the Asia Trail Master series. ‘DTR’ , as it is commonly known , will have its 3rd edition on 21/22 September and offers points for both the ATM Championship ranking and the Grandmaster Quest. Organised by the experienced Goat Run Team, Dieng Trail Run offers one of Java’s typically breathtaking trail courses and is not for nothing taglined “Run Above the Clouds”.

As the official website, linked below, states: “Dieng Trail Run isn’t just a race; it’s a commitment to a positive impact on the environment and local communities.” Event organiser Jeffri Riccardo is driven by a passion for trail running, but also for environmental protection and focus on sustainability. The event upholds the principles of Leave No Trace, and has a commitment towards a positive impact on the environment and local communities. The team is also active in raising awareness amongst runners and has introduced the option to register without purchasing an event shirt, reducing carbon footprint and waste.

It is not the first time Indonesia will host the ATM Season opener. Before the covid crisis and before we changed our season parameters, Tahura Trail in Bandung was our traditional and highly successful opener in January. Central Java has had several points races on our calendar over the years, not in the least the 2023 Championship Final in Solo and the Siksorogo Lawu event.

Technically, runners first of all need to be aware of cold temperatures at nighttime, despite being in Indonesia. The Dieng plateau is the highest one on Java island as has an average altitude of 2100m above sea level. Both the 100k and 60k will have nighttime running. The 100k starts mid-afternoon on Saturday, the 60k has a flag off at midnight. This is a mountain trail run, so make sure you check the mandatory gear list and the route description carefully on the event website. GPX files will be provided and should be downloaded.

The 2024 edition is significantly different from last year’s ATM points race, in which Risqi Kurniawan took the measure of mountain running veteran and former ATM Champion Arief Wismoyono in a 50km race. It was regarded as the ‘changing of the guard’ in Indonesia’s trail community - at least for the medium distances. This year, the medium distance has been boosted to 60km and a 100km has been added to the programme. The 60k has no fewer than 4000 metres of elevation gain, and by far most of it comes in the second half. In other words, the first Championship points race of the new season will be a tough one.

Registration is open already and can easily be done via the official event website.

There are various ways to reach the event venue at Taman Syailendra Dieng. As described on the website, you could fly to Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surabaya and take a bus from there. Or you just go to Jakarta and hop on a long distance bus or train. To reach the event location, you will at the end always need a bus or car to Lapangan Pandawa. International runners with questions on logistics can contact event director Ms Ayu by email on info@diengtrailrun.id , or find her telephone number on the website.

Last year’s men’s podium with Risqi Kurniawan defeating Arief Wismoyono

Event teaser 2023 edition of DTR

We are happy to announce that Marilog Ultra 70 in Davao, Phillipines, has received the ATM Candidate Race label for the event on 31 August/1 September. Organised by Team BRAD, Marilog aims to be more than just a race. It's about giving back to the community, protecting the environment, and promoting eco-friendly tourism in the area. The race director will be Julieann Morales, herself one of the leading trail runners in Philippines and a winner of three ATM points races already this season.

The Marilog event has four different distance categories on the programme. The 70km is the longest and has an estimated elevation gain of 3629 hm. The 42km has 2325 hm of elevation gain, the 21km 1300hm and the 12km nearly 800 hm. The course map can seen via Google Earth and is linked below. Start and finish is MWES Marahan in the Marilog district of Davao, to the west of the city.

Registration is open and can be done easily online.