Arief Wismoyono gave the Indonesian trail running community something to cheer about as he became the first local winner of the country’s most renowned trail race, Mount Rinjani Ultra (MRU) on Lombok Island. Hailing from Bandung in Java, the 31-year-old Wismoyono held off a late charge by Hong Kong’s Kwok Lun Ng to cross the finish line in 13 hours and 9 minutes and 39 seconds (gun time). Switzerland’s Caroline Roehrl claimed the women’s title in just over 17 hours, making the difference on the climb up Mount Rinjani. 

450 participants from 38 countries travelled to Senaru, the traditional gateway town for multi day trekking trips on Gunung Rinjani, the active volcano that towers high above the small island at 3726m. MRU may only be 52km in distance, but it has a massive 5800 metres of elevation gain. As if that were not enough by itself, the organiser - Indonesian outdoor hero Hendra Wiyaya - also imposes a strict cut-off time of 22 hours. The DNF quota was very high in the first two editions of the event, and it was no different this year with only 34 out of 183 effective starters beating the challenge. All finishers of course score points for the 2015 Asia Trail Master ranking, and by exception - given the event's high degree of difficulty - also get 1 point for their quest to be come an Asia Trail Grandmaster (6 points required within 2 years). 

Participants were greatly rewarded for their efforts by fantastic views at the peak of the crater lake and even of Gunung Agung on Bali. In addition, there was the enthusiasm and appreciation of the local community. The start of MRU was at 10 p.m., which means that most runners had just reached or were on the way to the peak of Rinjani come sunrise. Those who competed in the 21km shorter Rinjani Altitude Run (RAR) could still look forward to the gorgeous sight of the volcano crater lake at 2600m as well.

Arief Wismoyono is on a roll this year, as he also won the Tambora 200 ultra race on Sumbawa last April. With two more big Indonesian races coming up in the Asia Trail Master series this year, Wismoyono has a good chance to finish high in the championship at the end of the year. His winning time at MRU is not a course record, though,as American Thomas Zachary achieved 12:44 in 2014. Similarly, Caroline Roehrl was half an hour short of the female best mark set by Nora Senn from Hong Kong, i.e. 16:30. 

“This is one of the toughest races out there, and very technical. People usually trek for three days on this volcano” said Pablo Diago, based in Singapore and third on the podium. “It is a bit crazy, but that is why we are here!” Women’s champion Caroline Roehrl was happy but totally empty at the finish. “I ran out of gas in the final part of the summit climb. It was so painful afterwards...” She kept an advantage of 49 minutes over the duo Woon Ping Leung and Lam Lai Po. 

26-year-old Caroline Roehrl was the fastest woman after a rocket climb up Mount Rinjani

The short distance race was won by Hong Kong-based Spaniard Daniel Perez and by local star Ina Budiyarni from Java in the women’s. 

Top results 52 km MRU:

1. Arief Wismoyono 13:09
2. Kwok Lun Ng 13:17
3. Pablo Diago 14:44
4. Regis Cabaret 15:17
5. Alan Maulana 15:57
6. Emmanuel Abade 16:25
7. Anthony Leung Kin Yang 16:33
8. Ullas Narayana 16:52
9. Fandi Ahmad 17:00
10. Caroline Roehrl 17:01
14. Woon Ping Leung 17:51
15. Lam Lai Po 17:51

Daniel Perez was unstoppable on the 21km Rinjani Altitude Run (RAR)

Podium of the women's RAR race with winner Ina Budiyarni in the middle. 

The 17th edition of Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset in the Hovsgol National Park saw a domestic winner on the 100km course. Tumenbayar Shagdar arrived solo at the finish in a time of 11:54., 46 minutes ahead of Spain's Fernando Gonzalez Rodriguez. Fastest woman was Aurelia Veyre from France, though based in South Korea, in 15:16.

As usual a field of close to 100 runners undertook the long trip to the remote national park in the northwest of Mongolia and spend a short week of holiday there. For many people the experience of a lifetime. This year's winner, Shagdar, had previously scored a few podium places on the marathon (42km) distance of this event. His move up to the ultra distance has now given him his first win in a solid time as well. Second-placed Gonzalez Rodriguez is an experienced trailrunner with UTMB and others on his record already. He lost some time as he missed a marker at some point, but the gap to Shagdar was clear nevertheless. 

Top results:

Men 100km:
1. Tumenbayar Shagdar 11:54
2. Fernando Gonzalez Rodriguez 12:40
3. Andrew Eastwood 14:29
4. Michael Hill 14:36
5. James Ferguson 15:16

Women 100km:
1. Aurelia Veyre  15:16
2. Laurel Pardue 16:33
3. Tracy Masuda 17:09

Men 42 km
1. Tuguldur Tselmegsaikhan  5:11

Women 42km
1. Jennifer Pasiciel 5:57

The 1st edition of the Tengri Ultra Trail in Tamgaly Tas, approx 120km from Almaty in eastern Kazakhstan lived up to its pre-race hype. The 300 participants enjoyed a gorgeous day on the varied but tougher-than-expected course, and are already looking forward to more. Local hero George Shejko was the fastest man on the 55km distance in 5:37:15. A member of the national team of Kazakhstan in olympic (speed) walking, Shejko discovered the sport of trail running with this race as also for him it was a new experience. The women's race was won by Akmaral Meirman in 6:48:31. 

The whole event was a true outdoor experience as participants camped in tents along the clean Ili River at Tamgaly Tas, a place where one can also do rock climbing. The long distance race consisted of two laps of 27,5km featuring a variety of terrain, including pristine grassland, steep and bushy hills and an impressive but technical and rocky gorge.  It was the best possible introduction to trail running for local athletes. A select group of non-Kazakhs who had made their way to the event spoke of a lifetime experience. 

Men 55 km:
1.Shejko Georgiy 1989 05:37:15
2. Galimbekov Ilyas 1995 06:13:42
3. Denis Vlasov 1983 06:22:44
Women 55 km:
1.Meirman Akmaral 1983 06:48:31
2. Teich Elizabeth 1991 07:41:55
3.Mergenbaeva Diana 1988 09:03:55

The race is set to continue next year and registrations are likely to open already at the end of this year. 

The Asia Trail Master ranking has been updated with the results of the Tengri Ultra Trail. There are no major changes at the front as Xie Zhangrong (men) and Yuen Kit Shan (women) lead. George Shejko enters in 13th place and Akmaral Meirman in 11th. 

The 1st Bussière Xi Shan Trail Challenge was held in Beijing's Haidian District last weekend, a Candidate Race for the 2016 Asia Trail Master series. Candidate races are races that have already applied for entry into our series next year, and pending evaluation of this year's edition, will indeed do so. Xiaozhao Zhao was at the scene last weekend and reports on an event struck by adverse weather conditions. 

Nearly 700 runners participated in the race which consisted of 4 categories: 88km, 42km, 21km and 10km. Among those runners, approximately 140 raced in the 88km (total ascent  4400m) while 160 in the 42km (total ascent 2300m) respectively. The time limitation for 88k is 24hrs, while the 42km is 12hrs.

The West Hills (= Xi Shan) of Beijing is affiliated to the huge Mount Taihang Shan, which embraces the west and the north of Beijing. The Yangtai Shan (1282m above sea level) of the West Hills is the highest point of Haidian District. There is also a large natural view scenery zone in the West Hills—the Phoenix Ridge. In the sunny days without smog, you can have a splendid view around here—steep cliffs, huge trees and Buddha temples from ancient areas, dense forests and winding trails.

The West Hills is not only famous for its natural beauty, but also for its unique story in the WWII. During the war time, the local guerrillas used this area as their supplying line and covert caches for the fight against Japanese intruders. Many heroes gave their ultimate sacrifice for the final victory in Sep, 1945. A French doctor named Jean Jérome Augustin Bussiere, who had a Master in Chinese and had lived in Beijing for nearly 30 years when the war broke out, stood together with the Chinese people and risked his life and career to smuggle medicine along the trails and footpath in the forest here to help the guerrillas and civilians. The command post of local guerrillas is not far from the Mansion of Bussiere in the West Hills. In 2014, Jinping XI, President of China, highly recommended Mr. Bussiere and his great courage and effort under in the 70 anniversary of China-France establishing diplomatic relations. The organizer of Bussiere Challenge Beijing Xishan Trail also hope to pay respect to Mr. Bussiere in their own way—by organizing a tough running event named after him. 

The 88km category started at 0800AM, 2nd, May while the 42km category started 10minutes later.

In 88km, we can see quite a few familiar faces in the trail running community of Mainland China, such as Zhijian DING, Changgui QIU, Fuyue LI and Shuwen CHEN.

Zhijian graduated from university 3 years ago and has kept running despite a lot of pressure at work. His specialty is coping with technical and steep downhills.

Changgui and Fuyue have something in common: 40+ years old, harsh childhood, dedication to training in their limited spare time and extraordinary toughness and peace of mind, which has made them extremely competitive in all the trail races they ran so far. They often score places on the podium of a trail race.

Shuwen is a finisher of 2013 Tour des Geants, but compared with the 3 abovementioned runners, he does not have unique skills. But he is very experienced in running at night.

In the female field, Runqing MAO, a teacher from a university in Tianjin attracted the most attention before the race. Mao is not only good at descending but also highly resistent to exhaustion. Compared to her results in races, her training is one of high efficiency-cost ratio.

All things went smoothly until top runners stormed to the entrance of a trail after a long ascent by stone stairs. The volunteers showed the wrong direction, and runners followed their instructions. Nearly 30 runners of 88km and 42km ran in the wrong direction until they realized how far they went—almost 3km. Despite this unfortunate incident, most runners considered the extra distance as a surprising bonus. It did not affect the outcome of the race neither. 

Zhijian led the race almost from the start to the end, while Changgui and Fuyue took up the 2nd and 3rd positions in turn. But Changui and Fuyue missed a sign a second time later on in the race. 

Around 5 or 6 o’clock, a downpour began and a strong wind began to blow. The organizer altered the course according to the weather forecast and their emergency back-up plan: a shortcut to lower the difficulty and total distance of 88km to 63km in consideration of the safety of runners and volunteers.

In the end, the rainstorm ensured no more than 20 runners finished the long distance race. By the time of 4 AM, all the runners had returned to the finish line safely, which was of course the most important thing. 

Top 3 male:

1 Zhijian DING-11:18
2 Fuyue LI-11:53
3 Changgui QIU-12:47

For top females, Runqing Mao lost her way several times and ranked 2nd, while a new face, Xuetao ”Bee Queen” Wu,  became the champion in her debut race over a +50km  distance. It took them about 5 hours to run alone in the rain and then the dark wild. Ultra trail running is the game for brave and tough girls.

Top 3 female:

1 Xuetao WU-14:05
2 Runqing MAO-15:28
3 Ning ZHAO-15:54

In the 42km, we also saw familiar elites like Kailun WEI (from Liaoning Province, the fastest Chinese with best rank in the Tour des Geants: 107hrs 25min, 59th overall), Duanyang BI(Marathon PR under 2hrs 45min) and Qiuyu MENG(finished Vibram HK100 within 14 hrs) plus Jingfeng LIU(F, Marathon PR under 3hrs 15min). For those who practiced along the course already a couple of times, experience was their secret to finish, or even prevail. 

There was an innovation in this race, which is also the first attempt in a trail running race in Mainland China. If a runner of 88km category wanted to switch to 42km category, he/she could do so at a special checkpoint under the supervision of organizer’s representative. 1 UTMB point was still available after switching, but of course there was no access to the podium of the 42km. The race director, Mr. Daqing WANG said that it is the TNF100HK gave him inspiration to set this rule in regulation.

Top 3 male:

1 Dunyang BI-04:54
2 Linhu LI-05:06
3 Jindong LI-05:23

Top 3 female:

1 Jing LIU-06:36
2 Yan SHI-06:58
3 Liping WANG-07:12

Father & Son

Maofu WANG is the son of Yan WANG and Jingli ZHANG. Wang is a devoted trail runner and photographer in his spare time along with his wife, Jingli. As a Tecnica-sponsored runner, Wang will run the 2015 Tour des Geants this autumn in Italy and he also finished several 100km in Mainland China and Hongkong with solid performances. In 2014, he completed the TNF100km Beijing (105km, total ascend 6900m) in dark night and in dense fog within 20hrs. In Bussiere Challenge, he ran the 21km with his little son all the way. ”This is a good opportunity to teach him the meaning of challenge and achievement, as well as enjoy and respect the nature. Of course, he is very happy all the time. He finished the 21km all by his own efforts because I told him if he relies on my strength, he will be disqualified by the organizer. And, I trust his determination and fitness.” Wang said. “At the first I am a little worried about them because I lost contact with them, perhaps due to the bad signal of mobile phone. But on seeing them back at the finish line so happy, I am really excited! I am so proud of my family. ”Jingli said. She was a volunteer in the timing group and photographing during the race and offered more than 12hrs service.

The race director also appointed Maofu, the youngest finisher of 21km to distribute medals to some 21km finisher behind him. Maofu enjoyed it as a game, he also set the record of the youngest volunteer.

Furthermore, a charity running group including 10 handicapped runners finished 10km and they will continue their adventure in Gobi desert in Gansu Province soon.

Regarding the many participants on the 21km and 10km, most of them were recreational hikers and it was their first try of trail running.

Despite the bad weather conditions for the long distance runners, the event brought a lot of smiles. The organiser has taken note of the technical issues faced by some of the runners and will solve these for next year's 2nd edition. 

This weekend's first Indonesian race of the 2015 Asia Trail Master series was won by local Indonesian runners Jumardi in the men's category and Mila Marlina in the women's. 26-year-old Jumradi had an advantage of almost 50 minutes over second-placed Wijanarko and crossed the line (picture below) in 9:48:08.

The 42km long marathon distance proved to be a real hard nut to crack for most of the participants. Climbing up the two peaks was always meant to be tough. No fewer than 4000m of elevation gain had to be conquered on "just" 42km. On the bonus side, runners enjoyed spectacular views of the national park. 

Quick podium results:

Men: 1. Jumradi (indonesia) 9:48:08; 2. Wijanarko (Indonesia) 10:35:32; 3. Gaspard Dessy (France) 10:54:17 
Women: 1. Marlina (Indonesia) 14:43:37 . No other women made the 16h cut off time

View on the top

The 2015 (Inaugural) Tsaigu Tangsi Plus 57km Trail Race was held on 11th, Apr, 2015 at Mountain Kuocang Shan in Linhai, Zhejiang Province, China. It is the first in the four “Asia Trail Master” races in Mainland China and one of the 22 ATM races in the whole Asia along with UTHK (Hongkong), TMBT 100km(Malaysia), Vietnam Mountain Marathon(Vietnam) and so on.

By Xiaozhao Zhao

Click for Chinese language report

 Mountain Kuocang Shan is famous for its beautiful natural scenery and steepness, its highest peak-the Mishailang is also the highest point of southeast of Zhejiang and regarded as the first place in China under the sunlight in 21st century.

 Mountain Kuocang Shan is well-known for its tea plants and rich in wild bamboos. The rugged stones and clear creeks are also common in this area, plus almost 100% of blue sky which is rare in other area of the Eastern China under industrialization and urbanization.

Approximately 274 runners from all-over China, Belgium, Greece and Brazil took part in the race. 163 among them (144 males and 19 females) were in the 57km category and the rest (67 males and 44 females) in the 28km category. The total elevation gains are 3850m and 1850m respectively.

The race started at 6 AM at the foot of the stronghold built in Qing Dynasty in downtown but the route quickly switches into trails leading to the Mountain Kuocang Shan covered by dense bamboos, trees and bushes. All the runners were happy to indulge themselves into the amazing wild with a little adventure and exploration on their own feet.

The 2015 Vibram HK100 winner and current course-record holder Longfei YAN led the race all the way to the finish, in CP2, he created a gap with the second place for about 20 minutes, while at the finish, 90 minutes faster than the runner-up, Zhangrong XIE from Winzhou. Zipeng FENG was the 3rd male.

Top 3 males:

1 Lonfei YAN-6hrs 43mins

2 Zhangrong XIE-8hrs 27min

3 Zipeng FENG-8hrs 52min

Longfei was a professional marathoner from Heibei province with personal best marathon time of 2 hrs 15mins. In 2014, he switched from road marathon to trail ultras and won the Dalian Ultra 100km in his debut and has begun his career as one of the best ultra-trail runner in Mainland China. ”I am happy today, beautiful natural view, good organizing and hospitable locals make a race and my effort worth it well. So I finish as fast as I could and use the Tsaigu Tangsi as training to a 100km race in Australia in summer. I may come to run again next year. Compared with road marathon, I love trail running more.”

Belgian Nooureddine Sahibi is a manager in a electronic company based in Shanghai. He is also addict to ultra-trail running and finished UTMB and UTMF in 2014. He also ran several ultra-trail race in China, including Vibram HK100 (13hrs 13mins, 2013), HZ100 (19hrs 24mins in 2014) and Lantau 100 (17hrs in 2013). He finished as the 5th male and 5th overall and played and chattered with the locals, volunteers and children at the finish. “I like running in China, you see, lots of friendly people out there, runners, volunteers, locals, I like hanging out with them before and after races. This time, I enjoyed a tough but lovely race again! For a totally new race, I cannot image so excellent organization.”

 In women’s field, although the most ferocious Chinese runners like Junyan LIU, Qian ZHANG and Li DONG were absent, the race is still full of uncertainty. Junfang TAO was followed by Ai CHENG until halfway, then CHENG successfully made up the gap and caught up with TAO gradually. Finally, CHENG reached the finish 30mins earlier than TAO and won the race. TAO got the second place. Danyang LI finished the 3rd. CHENG completed 2015 Vibram HK100 with in 16hr and she is considered as one of the competitive female ultra-runner in Mainland China.

Top 3 females

1 Ai CHENG-10hrs 28mins (14th overall)

2 Junfang TAO-11hrs 12mins

3 Danyang LI-11hrs 45min

 Finally, 114 runners (105 males and 9 females) finished 57km in its 15 hours limitation, while 92 runners (57 males and 35 females) finished 28km during its maximum time of 7 hours.

 The Race director, Yu CAI thought that the race is a success, “We have so many kind and warm-hearted volunteers from Linhai Mountaineering Association, a grass-root organization consisting of local hikers and runners. They are familiar with the runners’ need during the race. I also appreciate the sponsors who support our race. I think that joining ATM series is an effective way to promote our race in Asia area and even the international trail running community. The improvement might be asking the locals to keep eyes on their dogs in order to keep the runners safe. At the very beginning, I almost designed a 78km loop course, but cancelled the last 20 km because it is all boring road running and might be in the traffic.” CAI is an experienced trail runner with UTMB and UTMF finishing in recent years.

 Volunteers seriously devoted themselves to their work and also were happy in helping runners. In CP2, a father and his child worked as volunteers to distribute the food and timing. The father said, this is a good chance to let his boy know the meaning of helping and giving, as well as respecting the nature. Many volunteers used their own cars or SUVs to serving the race. 2 of the 6 checkpoints offered hot meal with local flavor. Not far from the finish, several volunteers use the kitchen of a household to cook delicious porridge and fried bamboo shoots for runners reaching the finish.

Where does the name Tsaigu Tangsi Plus come from?

*Origin of the name “Tsaigu Tangsi” -- it is from a local slang in Linhai, it means “beat somebody black and blue with a wood stick”. CAI and his fellow volunteers use it to describe the challenge and difficulty of the race as a humorous joke.

Picture material of Tsaigu Tangsi Plus is available on our instagram account, and later this week a selection of high quality photos will be added to our pinterest page. 

Dominant winner of the 92 km race: Lam Chi Yung (HKG)

The first edition of the 175 km long Ultra Trail Hong Kong tool place last weekend in the New Territories and turned out to be much harder than most runners expected. As could be seen on our live coverage page, only 37 runners finished within the 50-hour deadline, with a buffer granted to three more runners to get a place in the official race result - which is also the basis for the distribution of performance points for the Asia Trail Master ranking. 

The first race of the ATMs began in cloudy but generally great running conditions on Friday early afternoon. Runners from China took off very fast, but then would miss a couple of signs when darkness fell. This opened the way for a number of local runners to grab the top spots at checkpoints. Eventually, four of them, Alex Fan, Lau Hoi Fai, Wong Tze Wan and Chun Pak Hang, would reach the finish together in a time of 39:31:26. Rather than sprinting against each other, they crossed the line in brotherly fashion.

In terms of Asia Trail Master points, this will put the quartet also at the top of the first ranking with 575 points each. The ATMs ranking committee has decided not to distinguish between them, but to avoid controversial situations in the future, it has also added a detail in the points regulations: if runners cross the finish line together, the ranking at the last checkpoint before the race finish will be consulted to determine who scores the most performance points. 

Two women mastered the 175 km course last weekend, with Yuen Kit Shan even scoring tenth overall in 43:45:51! Behind her in second was Kathy Yu  Hiu Kit, and Tan Seow Ping was the last timed finisher in third in 51:04. 

There was also a B-race at UTHK, but not exactly short neither at a length of 92 km. One man dominated that race, Lam Chi Yung in 15:58. He scores 92 distance points and 200 performance points for a total of 292. Eagle Lee Kin Wai and Lino Lopes grabbed the remaining steps on the podium, aided by a last-minute retirement of Neil Fraser, who got lost with a mere 6km to go. Suzanne Liu was the fastest woman in 21:29, with Poon Yuk Pui not far behind in second and Kennis Chueng Ping Ting in third. 

The next race where points for the ATMs ranking can be collected is next week's Wild Elephant Trail in Sri Lanka (event sold out), before the series moves to China for a couple of races in April.