2022: Regulation changes for the ATM Championship
We made an attempt, but alas. The merged 2020-21 ATM Championship resulted into nothing as the global covid-19 pandemic raged on and made any international trail running competition in Asia impossible. Still, we give kudos to the male and female Championship points leaders at the time of cancellation, Trung Nguyen and Julian Duong Thi Nguyen, both based in Vietnam. They deserve this mentioning, as both runners exceeded expectations and we sincerely hope they both can continue their upward trend, competitively speaking, into the new season.
2022 is edging closer and we are indeed not throwing the towel in the ring. The Asia Trail Master Championship series goes on!
Recently, several organisers have announced their forthcoming events will take place, or they have been confident enough to open registration. Of course, no Asian country is out of the woods yet and covid-19 is unlikely to disappear soon. International, even regional, leisure travel is expected to remain difficult for at least the first quarter of 2022, possibly going even beyond that. Most of the freshly announced events will feature domestic residents-only. As a consequence of this, we have been compelled to make adjustments to the traditional ATM event schedule and to the points allocation system. The biggest change is that the national country rankings become much more important, as they will determine who gets a spot in the National Team to enter and take part in the Asia Trail Master Final in December 2022!
The key points
The way in which runners score ATM Championship points does not change compared to the past. All finishers in an official ATM points race still collect 100 ‘finisher’ points, plus x number of ‘performance’ points according to the usual points table (printed below). In essence, male and female race winners go home with 500 points in their bags.
In trail running events there’s typically several race distance categories. Normally, the longest race is the one to focus on as the A-race for the ATM Championship. However, this is not always the case! It can be that there are two A-races at the same event. Therefore, always check our race overview to find out which race offers how many Championship points.
One stubborn misconception is still that you must do long ultras to become ATM champion. Not true: you can select medium distance A-races of 40 to 70k and get just as many points as for a long ultra of 100k or more. The best example of this is Veronika Vadovicova, who became ATM champion in 2019 although her longest race was “only” 84 km. Runners choose the race distance that fits their qualities best.
In 2022, again due to the ongoing pandemic, we will work with a “four-best-count” system. Not five. Only a runner’s best four race results will count for his or her points total before the ATM Championship Final in December.
Also the bonus points system is slightly amended for 2022. The Abroad Bonus (50 points for finishing at least 1 race outside of one’s resident country) and the 100 Miles+ Bonus (25 points) remain. On the other hand, we will not assign any SuperTrail labels to events next season, nor respective bonus points to finishing runners of these events. It’s been two years, the scene has changed, and as far as we are concerned, any organiser who manages to get his event on in 2022 deserves the “Super” label.
Asia Trail Master Championship Final
The 2022 Asia Trail Master Championship Final will be different than it was before. Again, the corona pandemic has forced us to rethink the concept. The reality is that certainly in the first quarter of next year, runners in quite a few places - take Hong Kong as an example - will be unable to travel anywhere, or will find that ‘real’ trail running event organisers still do not get the necessary permits from the authorities. This makes it impossible for runners living in that situation to play any prominent role in the Championship as it used to be, with an accumulative points system.
Therefore, the 2022 Asia Trail Master Championship Final will be decided on a Winner-Takes-All basis! The male and female finalists who cross the finish line first will be the new ATM Champions.
However, you do need to qualify to be able to take part in that last race, the ATM Final. In each country, maximum five male and five female runners who score most ATM points during the year will qualify and be invited to enter their country’s National Team for the Asia Trail Master Championship Final.
The Final is therefore projected to be a race with selected elites-only, who are members of National Teams. Maximum five male runners and five females. Apart from the Individual Championship there will also be a Team Championship. The latter will be based on the accumulated finish times of the best three male runners and the best three female runners in each team.
The number of runners per team is subject to the number of ATM points races in that country.
More than 3 ATM points races —> 5 male, 5 female
3 ATM points races —> 4 male, 4 female
Less than 3 ATM points races —> 3 male, 3 female
The date and venue of the 2022 ATM Championship Final will be decided in due course.
Additional Notes/FAQ
When there is more than one race distance at the same event
If an event offers two, three or more race distances, runners should check which of the race distance(s) offer ATM Championship points. Usually it is the longest race, but not always, and maybe two race distances have the same status.
Multiple-day stage trail races
Performance points will be awarded according to the final overall classification, not per stage. This is important for The 9 Dragons Ultra in Hong Kong, for instance.
Joint finishers
An important distinction will be made as of the second quarter of each season, i.e. 1 April (now as of 1 April 2022): If runners cross the finish line together hand-in-hand, their ranking relative to each other at the last timing checkpoint before the race finish will be consulted to determine who scores the most performance points.
We also like camaraderie and people enjoying successes together, yet the ATM Championship is a sporting competition and we must avoid a situation whereby, late in the season, a joint finish of two or more championship contenders could be done deliberately for tactical reasons.
ATM Championship Ranking before the ATM Final
Four-best-count system: only the best 4 point-results of each runner obtained during the calendar year will be taken into account for the selection into the National Teams for the ATM Final. This means if a runner has done six races, his two worst results will be deleted and not taken into account for his points total. Even if you run 13 ATM races, only your best 4 results matter.
In the last race of the ATM season - the ATM Final - all finalists will score additional points according to their ranking in the race result.
Abroad Bonus
Runners who score points in 3 ATM races get a 50-point bonus if 1 of the 3 races took place outside the runner’s country of residence at the time of the race
Joint points total in final Championship Ranking
If two or more runners have the same points total at the end of the year: preference goes to the runner who won the most recent direct confrontation between the relevant runners. If this does not separate the relevant runners, we check what their highest points score in 1 single race was and how many times that score was obtained (eg. three race wins against 1 race win). If this still does not separate them, the advantage goes to the runner who did most races and accumulated most total points during the year (e.g. a runner who scored points in eight races against a runner who only scored points in five races).
Let’s hope all of us can meet and play again on the trails of Asia in 2022!