Season 10 is approaching with Dieng Trail Run in Central Java, Indonesia, on 21/22 September as our opener this year! Every new season we reevaluate both our competition regulations for the ATM Championship and the Grandmaster Quest. In the context of the ever more popular Grandmaster Quest - the individual non-competitive challenge whereby runners need to finish six ultras on our ATM calendar within a period of two years - there are two rather significant updates that will go into force as of Season 10.

Firstly, due to the growing enthusiasm of the Grandmaster Quest across Asia, we will be publishing a separate Grandmaster Quest event calendar that will have a number of events not featured on our Championship calendar. That means there will be 70+km races where you can score a GM point, but no Championship points. The first one of those “Grandmaster-only” events will be SC 70 in Santra Cruz, Davao, Philippines on 23/24 November.

Secondly, as the number of events with GM points on offer is expected to grow, it has been argued that an amendment to the regulations is required in order not to make obtaining the Grandmaster status too easily. Instead of asking runners to complete more than six races within a period of two years to become a Grandmaster 1 star, we will request runners to do one of their six ultras abroad or in any case outside of their resident country. In other words, if you live in Malaysia, you will need to complete one of your six ultras in another country to receive the Grandmaster title. As such, we also remain true to one of the core pillars of the Asia Trail Master series, which is ‘fostering a pan-Asian trail community and bring people from various distinct countries, cultures and backgrounds together’.

These changes will thus go into effect as of Dieng Trail Run on 21 September.

Runners who wish to embark on their Grandmaster Quest are still kindly invited to sign up via the google form here, so it is easier for us to keep track. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhJmjAgjEV44_CPEpDBwHa0o2XdrUGkhPioL9VhoZYQ4mw3A/viewform

Please note that we will also be updating the ATM Hall of Fame to include all new Grandmasters of the past season. Stay tuned for more and exciting updates regarding this!

Let’s conclude this announcement by putting the spotlights on our three four-star Grandmasters to date: Masafumi Yamamoto, Hisashi Kitamura and since July also the first female : Rhea Batac! They are the only runners so far to have completed 20 ultras on the ATM calendar. Some of you have asked the question “will you add a 5th star?” . Our answer remains “no , we won’t”. We believe 20 ultra finishes and 4 stars is a great number, and all good things end some time ;-).

However, we will introduce a new non-competitive challenge for trail runners in due course..

Grandmaster Quest webpage

Masafumi Yamamoto, 4-star Grandmaster

Grandmaster Quest: Updates for Season 10