KAR Ultra 70: Wilsen wins, but Milton controls

Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin came out on top of a challenging ATM Candidate Race in Kota Belud last weekend. The two runners were clearly at ease at Kadamaian Ultra 70k on their home soil in Sabah and put considerable distance between themselves and the others, such as Daved SImpat, a surprisingly strong Gustin Tiam, the Sumping brothers, Marius Mousin and Guianus Salagan. The breadth of trail talent in Sabah seems to be still growing, but Milton Amat - along with Simpat among the elders there - shows no signs of having slowed down since the covid crisis. In fact, Amat was on the backfoot and considerably behind Singgin and Simpat in the early stages of the race, which also involved a number of river crossings. But when the number 3 in the 2019 ATM Championship and winner of BUTM 100 last March turned on his engine after checkpoint 3 it did not take very long before he was right at the front with Wilsen Singgin. Simpat had to let both runners go and had a battle with Gustin Tiam for the last step on the podium. The lead duo stuck together and Milton did not contest the official race victory for Wilsen. The pair concluded the course in 10h53. In any case, their performances bode well for the big race in six weeks: Borneo TMBT Ultra, when Milton Amat will need to deal with a highly motivated Hisashi Kitamura again.

In the women’s race, we saw a convincing performance by Mailin Salungin and Kona Liau. Salungin was leading nearly the whole race, but Liau kept the pressure on and finished just ten minutes behind. The two of them were in a league of their own, with Adelinah and Jassica Lintanga ending their race together in third and fourth, but two hours back.

Mailin Salungin : great win and performance!