For the third year in a row, Grandmaster Shashwat Rao was by far the fastest 100k runner at the 8th Malnad Ultra in Karnataka in Southwest India. Rao had an advantage of nearly 50 minutes over second-place Yogesh Sanap and finished in 13h49’. The battle for third was decided in favour of Pulkit Jain, who stayed five minutes ahead of Santhosh Gowda.

Strongest woman, and in fact the only finisher this year, was Soma Datta. For Datta is was also the second consecutive 100k victory at Malnad.

As usual, the 50k category was also a points race for the ATM Championship ranking. The overall podium raised quite some eyebrows. Sandeep Kumar won the race in a fast time 5h09’ - remember there’s approx 1600 hm to overcome - , which was 13 minutes quicker than Mohammad Sahil Annigeri. Amazingly, they were followed by the first woman: Rayja Laxmi Rawal from Jumla in western Nepal! The young woman is no unknown on the ATM scene. Last April, she gave our reigning ATM Champion Priya Rai a serious run for her money in the Jumla Rara 50k, leading that race until just the last few kilometres. Her victory in Malnad last weekend, on completely different terrain, shows Rayja Laxmi Rawal is yet another major Nepalese trail running talent with abundant speed to match her technical mountain running skills. She ran the 50km in 5h40’, well ahead of her Karnali Sports Club teammate Mimu Budha in 6h27. Mimu Budha was 5th in April’s JRU race. Allison Lowenstein completed the women’s podium in 6h43’.

Shashwat Rao has now already collected 875 ATM points this season in two races, which puts him in a very solid position to qualify for next year's Season 10 ATM Final. Also, Rayja Laxmi Rawal and Mimu Budha collected 500 and 450 points, respectively, and so lead the very competitive Nepalese ATM ranking in this still early part of the new season.

Malnad Ultra is the only points race in India on our ATM calendar. In neighbouring country Nepal, the Manjushree Trail in Kathmandu has already been confirmed for 14-16 March 2025, while Jumla Rara Ultra is about to be announced for the weekend of 12 May 2025.

Malnad: Shashwat Rao does a triple / Rayja Rawal impresses