Hall of Fame: 3 Grandmasters looking for 4 stars!
The Grandmaster Quest has been increasing in popularity as every trail runner’s individual challenge of choice. Every time a runner, regardless of ranking or performance, finishes an ATM-promoted race of 70 kilometres or more, he scores a point. If you manage to collect six of those points within two years, you become an official Asia Trail Grandmaster. Now in its fourth year since the inauguration in 2016, three runners have almost reached the fourth and highest level of the Grandmaster Quest: four stars or 20 races!
Indonesia’s Ruth Theresia was the first runner overall who reached the plateau of 15 Grandmaster points in Nan in her championship-winning year 2018. Last year, the Bandung Explorer ace and Indonesian flag holder was joined by two great Japanese athletes, first Masafumi Yamamoto and then Hisashi Kitamura. While Ruth Theresia and Hisashi Kitamura are well-known as competitive elites gunning for our annual Championship, Masafumi Yamamoto is evidence that the Grandmaster Quest is made for everyone willing to grit his or her teeth together. Having finished more than 15 ultras is an incredible achievement that has spanned two years for them and slightly more than three years for Ruth, but of course she took a sabbatical last year.
Looking ahead, it is highly likely that they will reach the fourth star in the course of 2020, as soon as the corona crisis has been conquered. Ruth is only 3 Grandmaster points away from it, and our two Japanese friends even only two points.
Twelve trail runners are now at level 2. That means these runners continued to race and complete ten relevant races after they had become an Asia Trail Grandmaster (six 70+km races in 2 years). They are Aleksis Capili, Lily Suryani, Isaac Yuen Wan Ho, Milton Amat, Yim Heng Fatt, Jassica Lintanga, Ali Ajis Rasil, Rene Amigleo, Alessandro Sherpa, Tomohiro Mizukoshi, Arief Wismoyono and last but not least Cheryl Bihag.
Our ATM Hall of Fame is being updated these days and is the place where you can discover more about these amazing athletes’ achievements under the banner of the Asia Trail Master Championship series.
