September kicks off with the two Southeast Asian classics on back-to-back weekends. Starting on Friday morning there’s the Vietnam Mountain Marathon in Sapa and next week we have the Borneo TMBT Ultra around Kota Kinabalu. Lots of the region’s top runners will be in action at either one of these two events, so we are looking forward to some great trail excitement. The VMM event this season has added yet another category to its programme with the 100 miles ultra, for the first time in Vietnam. It promises to be a brutal challenge with the weather forecast also predicting quite a bit of rainfall. The two dominators of the Mantra Summits Challenge in Indonesia two months ago, Quang Tran and Nguyen Si Hieu, have accepted the challenge and will be joined by one of the country’s other trail stars, Hung Hai. All local experts agree that those three are the most likely podium candidates with Quang Tran expected to collect his second ATM points race win of the season. But in trail and over 100 miles, a lot can happen and there can always be an unknown face appearing at the front. Theoretically more competitive is the meanwhile traditional 100k race at VMM, which also offers ATM Championship points. Picking a winner in the men’s 100k race is certainly more difficult. Dalat Ultra Trail winner Gaetan Morizur will be there, together with Nhon Trong - hoping to finally score his first ATM race victory. But there’s others strong contenders from Philippines and Japan. Larry Apolinario will be making his international debut at VMM, and showed in MUSPO 100 two months ago he does not mind a bit of mud sliding. Can Apolinario do one better than his countryman and former ATM Champion Manoliton Divina in 2017? Given the competition he will face in Vietnam, it certainly would mean his Asian breakthrough. Two strong competitors from Japan are also in the mix of podium contenders, and who knows, the race win. They’re even both called Tomohiro by first name. Tomohiro Mizukoshi no longer needs any introduction to ATM followers. He will be doing his second VMM 100 and based on his Echigo performance in June, third -after a very difficult period of time with illness and injuries -, he could aspire for more than 6th in 2019. If it gets very wet, however, Mizukoshi might struggle more with the trail conditions than the likes of Apolinario, for example. The second Tomohiro, Tomohiro Machida, is the dark horse of this race. Machida has three ATM race placings under his belt, 6th, 4th and 14th in the highly competitive Izu Trail Journey 2018, 2019 and 2020. That means he is very fast on a tough, cold and runable trail. How will he perform on a hot, humid and slippery trail? The fact that the 100k race starts on Friday evening will probably play in his favour.

The women’s 100k race will also feature Hau Ha, who had a dominant victory in Dalat in March - her first appearance in an ATM race. Hau Ha is the local superstar in Sapa and betting against her this weekend is almost inconceivable. Nevertheless, it will be her first 100k trail ever, moving up from 70k in Dalat. In between she has competed mainly in road marathons with great success, yet often with digestive issues as well. In order to finish first you first need to finish, and it will be interesting to follow how she performs vis-a-vis the top men. In Dalat, she was fourth overall..

In the 100 miles category, there’s some strong women who will be going for it. Ultra distance specialist Emily Raga from Philippines/Singapore and Tamae Harada from Japan are serious contenders, along with My Cung Thi Tra and Trang Tran.

VMM: A new 100 miles & a competitive 100k