Home star Ruth Theresia won the women’s 100k and extends her ATM points lead

While Bandung’s own home star Ruth Theresia managed - narrowly, though - to score an important victory on the 100 km last weekend, Arief Wismoyono had to accept Sabah’s Milton Amat was the faster man. The Bandung Ultra 100, also the Indonesian SuperTrail in the Asia Trail Master Championship series, was the first ever ATM points race win for Amat, after three four places earlier this season including Borneo TMBT 100 just two weeks ago. His success in Bandung propels Amat into the top five of the Championship and with a genuine chance to compete for this year’s title during the final stage of the 2018 season.

As usual, Milton Amat took off fast. But contrary to the 9 Dragons and Borneo TMBT, he managed to keep a consistent high pace and did not allow anyone to come back. He crossed the finish line in 15:10:41, also indicating how tough this race course is. In his home race 2 weeks ago, Amat came 4th in 13:37 and that after breaking down in the final kilometers. Arief Wismoyono spent most of the race in the company of Spain’s Salva Rambla. A newcomer on the ATM scene who has come straight from his home country and will be living and running in ATM points races for almost six months, gathering intelligence for the trail market in Spain. Rambla was surprised of the technical difficulty of the Bandung race, but nevertheless satisfied with his first result. Even when he had to let Wismoyono go in the last part. Brunei-based Canadian Michael McLean grabbed fourth place in 18:03, or just over 2 hours slower than when he took 6th in Borneo TMBT. Last year’s winner Fandhi Achmad finished in 7th place in 23:16.

Ten minutes later Ruth Theresia entered the finish arena as winner of the women’s race, and therefore extends her points lead in the Asia Trail Master Championship. It is her fourth victory of the season, which means the championship crown is very much within reach. She could wrap things up with another - fifth - strong result, which would eliminate her off-day at CMU in Philippines (33th place). One of her biggest contenders for the title, Aggy Sabanal, is running this weekend’s Vietnam Mountain Marathon.

However, Ruh Theresia had to struggle to obtain this success last weekend. Having injured her ankle during training two weeks ago, the local Bandung star was unable to run full power. As such, Hong Kong’s Jocelyn Cheung kept up with Theresia nearly all the way to the finish! Cheung - third in Magnificent Merapoh Trail in August - found a trail course much to her liking in Bandung, being a great technical runner. She arrived just four minutes behind Theresia in second place. The podium was completed by Poh Suan Pah. Shindy Patricia decided she needs more recovery time after UTMB and did not take part in the race.

BDG 100: Milton Amat outruns Arief Wismoyono!