The 2023 edition of Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in Thailand turned into a complicated one due to heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday morning, affecting the three longest race categories of which the 250km and 115km offered ATM Championship points. In particular, swollen rivers and flash floods forced a number of runners to stop for a whlle and there was also a minor last-minute re-route. As a result, only twelve runners were marked as official finishers within the 71h cut-off time of the Ultimate 250km race. This cut-off time had been extended mid-race by one hour due to the conditions. Meepoom Mongkolsuksri took the victory in nearly 63 hours, three hours ahead of Chanil Thainguan and Surayos Chuepanich. One female runner made it to the finish at the Sandu School, Patchara Buagun in 70h41 - meaning only 19 minutes within the time limit. Ann Jilian Pulanco looked like she was going to finish as well, but the very tough last 25km proved too big an ask - with the cut-off in mind. A very costly DNF for her, by the way, as she could have assured herself of a spot in Team Pilipinas for the ATM Final.

While the 100 miles category was impressively won by Filipino Rexell Aguirre, runners on the 115km had a good battle for the race win and the ATM championship points. In the rain, Malaysians Amir Zaki and Jeffery Budin built up a nice gap by km 33 and the fourth checkpoint. But the slippery conditions made it tougher than anticipated, and young Thai talent Thosaeng Kunno worked his way back to the front in the second part of the race, hereby also overtaking Filipino Ivan Macosa. Later than expected, Kunno reached the finish after midnight in 19h31, ten minutes ahead of Jeffery Budin and twenty ahead of Amir Zaki. This was a solid victory for Kunno, who burst onto the ATM scene just four months ago in Chiang Mai, winning the Trail of Man 55k race and backing that up with second behind John Ray Onifa in Akha Trail. Kunno looks like the leader for Team Thailand in the upcoming ATM Final, and one of too few Thailanders keen on proper competition. Budin and Zaki did a great job for their chances of qualification for Team Malaysia. The 77km race of Siksorogo Lawu Ultra is also a course that will suit both runners very well. In fourth and fifth in Chiang Rai we had the Italian Giacomo Giovannini, who made a wonderful remark five hours into the race, saying it’s “trail surfing” and not “trail running” when asked about the condition of the trails in the very wet weather at that point. Giovannini held of the Thailand-based Filipino Ivan Macaso, who did a great run in one of his first 100k+ races. For quite a while the duo was joined by the first female competitor in the race: Tara Savage. Living in Thailand already for a long time, the American started her race very fast and quickly put the other women on the backfoot. Singapore’s Vincere Zeng - known as a high mountain specialist - was the closest challenger for Savage but never really saw her during the race. Vincere nevertheless scored a solid second place in this race and is looking forward to the ATM Final, Gunung Lawu being a mountain she has climbed before. Third place in the women’s race looked like it was going to be assumed by Indonesia’s Qheiza Wiranda Edelwise. Born in Sumatra, living in Singapore, Edelwise has put together a nice string of race results this ATM season and will be part of her country’s team in Siksorogo Lawu. A third place in Chiang Rai would have been the cherry on the pie for her season in ATM, but it got denied by what appears to have been a confused race marshal who sent her on the wrong course (the 100 miles course). Eventually, Edelwise - understandably frustrated - threw in the towel, which gave the third spot on the podium to a surprised Malaysia’s Rija Anak Gunes, herself just ten minutes ahead of Pey Luan Ng. Race marshals are often well-meaning volunteers, and ultra trail races are very long with sleepless nights included, yet these kind of situations happen too often in trail events the world over.

Thosaeng Kunno arrives at CP 4 in the 115km race, half an hour down on then-leader Amir Zaki

Jeffery Budin used his ultra experience to grab a very good second place

Early race leader Amir Zaki eventually had to settle for third place, also due to some miscommunications

The Ultimate 250 was tougher than ever before. Meepoom Mongkolsuksri was clearly the strongest

The only female finisher on the Ultimate 250: Patchara Buagun

Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in the north of Thailand again features on the ATM Championship calendar for the first time since the magical edition of 2019, when a.o. John Ellis and Hisashi Kitamura went head-to-head for dozens of kilometres in what turned out to be that year’s championship-deciding race. This time, UTCR is the last points race of the season and so the last chance for Thai runners to collect ATM points within their own country in an attempt to qualify for their national country team at the ATM Final in Indonesia on 2 December.

UTCR has a new venue this year: the Bandu School grounds, closer to the city of Chiang Rai itself. The Ultimate 250 is still the longest points race in our series, and the 115km remains the second choice for points seekers. There’s also a 100 miles category, but that one only matters for the Grandmaster Quest.

On the start list of the 115km we have a lot of Thai runners whom we have not yet seen on the ATM circuit, so we might see a few surprises from a competitive point of view. From Malaysia, however, we have a serious candidate for the race win: Amir Zaki. Already a winner in Thailand a year ago at Doi Nhok Trail, Zaki is in full preparation mode for the last big races of the season, normally speaking for him culminating in the ATM Championship Final on 2 December. While previously a short to medium distance specialist, Zaki has proven this season he should no longer be afraid of the long ultras. In June, he won the inaugural Borneo Miler in a solid fashion and time. His teammate at Sportlicious Malaysia, Jeffery Budin, will also be running the 115 and is himself certainly a podium candidate. Thailand’s upcoming youngster Thosaeng Kunno will be cementing his ATM ranking and could be the biggest challenger for the Malaysians. Kunno was second behind John Ray Onifa in Akha Trail and won Trail of Man in Chiang Mai in June. Japan’s Seiji Morofuji might also find himself close to the podium this weekend.

The women’s 115km sees well-known ATM protagonists such as Singapore’s Vincere Zeng and Indonesia’s Qheiza Edelwise, with Grandmaster-seeker Rija Anak Gubes and also Thailand-based Tara Savage as a potential race winner.

The Ultimate 250km is a challenge not made for everyone, but some runners have made these extreme distances a bit of their specialty. Philippines’ Ann Jilian Pulanco, for example, could be grabbing her second ATM victory of this season after Sierra Madre 75, which could put her in a strong position to qualify for her country team in the ATM Championship Final. Thailand’s Patchara Buagun will be challenger. Malaysia-based Thai Siriporn Leumathong, Malaysia’s Yvette Chong and Manila’s Rhea Batac also can eye a potential podium. In the men’s Adrian Lee, Kittisak Pakton and Chanil Thainguan may be contesting the victory.

ATM will be reporting live from UTCR as of Saturday morning 4am local time, start of the 115km race.

What a run by John Ray Onifa last weekend along the Myanmar border in the far north of Thailand! The Filipino trail star gave a pure demonstration on the wet and slippery mountain forest trails of Akha Trail to win his second ATM race in a fortnight in an incredible time of 9h57. That’s 80 km with 5500 hm elevation gain! Onifa finished nearly four hours ahead of second-placed runner, Thosaeng Kunno, at this moment. He finished just before midnight, unfortunately when the whole village had already gone to sleep. It's the 7th career ATM victory for Onifa, which is one fewer than Hisashi Kitamura's eight wins.

Two weeks after comfortably winning MUSPO 100 in Philippines, Onifa felt confident from the start and immediately opened up a gap during the first, steep kilometre uphill through the Ban Pha Hee village. The others never saw him again. Young and upcoming talent Thosaeng Kunno - winner of Trail of Man in Chiang Mai six weeks ago - did not resist and focused wisely on his own pace in his first ‘long’ trail race ever. Kunno was joined by Chanil Thanguan and Wanna Sri Ati, with Hungarian Miklos Viczena a bit further back rounding up the top five. The weather conditions deteriorated halfway into the race as rain fell harder down on the forested hills. Wanna Sri Ati was unable to keep the pace up and would eventually DNF, leaving the podium to Kunno and Thanguan. Onifa was unbothered by the slippery conditions and kept running impressively forward, eyeing a sub-10 hour finish. Despite the high pace, it looked like Onifa still had an extra gear left should that have been needed to win the race. He is truly in contention for this year’s ATM Championship title now.

The women’s race was also dominated by one runner: Soingern Teekayu led from start to finish as well. Teekayu is still a relative newbie in trail, and this was her first ATM podium and so also her first ATM race victory. A finish time of just over 18 hours and eighth place overall is certainly a fine statistic for Teekayu.

A new mountain trail in Thailand this weekend by the established event organiser teelakow along the border with Myanmar. There’s quite a bit of mystery hanging over the race courses, but one thing seems certain: it will be tough. The 80km is the category that matters for ATM Championship and Grandmaster points, and on the start list we find none other than John Ray Onifa, just two weeks after his splendid victory in MUSPO 100.

Akha Trail stems from the people inhabiting the mountain region, an ethnic group spread out over mountain areas in Thailand, Myanmar, Yunnan (China) and Laos. The Akha people are quite well-known on the tourist trail for their colourful and distinctive traditional customes. Their home terrain here in Thailand , where the event takes place, is spectactular mountainous jungle with a number of caves in the mix as well. Runners will face a challenge, especially on the long distance of 80km with over 5500 hm. The course goes up and down, although there’s one long uphill climb, too, that follows a long descent to the second checkpoint at km 14. The last 20 km will be a test of strength, for sure.

John Ray Onifa, Filipino but highly familiar with the Thai trails, will logically be the one to beat. Despite only a fortnight since MUSPO, he says he also feels good as he didn’t go full throttle in Bukidnon. Potential challengers are podium contenders Miklos Viczena, in-form Narin Kongsiri and Thosaeng Kunno, the surprising young winner of Trail of Man in Chiang Mai six weeks ago. For Kunno this race will be a step into the unknown - his first long distance trail,and a technical one. The Chiang Mai resident is keen to learn fast, though, as he enjoys competing against the best. The Thai trail community vibe also suggests there’s quite a lot of as yet unknown talent on the start list.

In the women’s race, Thailand’s Issaree Kengnok will be trying to score her 3rd ATM race victory and her first since 2017. Her last ATM performance was 2nd in UTCR 125km in 2020. 

We will be reporting live from the start at 14:00 local time on Saturday on our usual channels (ATM Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) with further multimedia updates also on ATM Instagram. 

 

The Trail of Man night race in Chiang Mai City delivered some outstanding performances by runners new to the Asia Trail Master Championship series. Victory in both the men’s and women’s 54km points race went to locals: Thosaeng Kunno and Nisachon Morgan (picture left). Especially Kunno had to battle hard for it as he was under consistent pressure from Vietnam’s youngster Tran Van Nghia, France’s Chris Devoize and Hong Kong’s Luis Alvelais. Kunno finished in 7:28, just four mnutes ahead of Tran Van Nghia from Run For Life , who is now the second youngest ATM race podium finisher at the age of 22 , after Filipino Godwin Mirar, who took 3rd at The Punisher last year at the age of 21. Nghĩa Trần is a member of Run For Life club in Ho Chi Minh City and hails originally from Dalat. This was his first ATM points race, as it was for Kunno. Devoize placed 4th in April’s Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths, just behind Luis Alvelais. In Chiang Mai they switched positions. Both in any case did a fine job to boost their chances to get into the ATM Championship Final in December. Julien Petit from France was fifth. He scored two third places at VMM 70 back in 2017 and 2018 and is now returning to the front, apparently.

The race was more technical than most expected, but runners gave the thumbs up for the course and overall organisation. Some argued it would be better to race in daylight so you can actually witness and enjoy the scenery.

Nisachon Morgan won in 9h 11 and was 7th overall. She was out on her own and had wide margin over the other women. Roan Biguasen came second, for the third time this season in an ATM points race. The Filipino, based in Malaysia, is basically guaranteed already of her spot in Team Pilipinas for the ATM Championship Final with those results. Biguasen has been active all season, running well and selecting the races as to the best of her own ability. She also takes over as overall women’s points leader in the ATM rankings from her compatriot Irish Glorioso, who also already has four results in the bag this season. In the second semester of the year, they both can focus on trying to eliminate their worst result as only a runner’s best four results count in the ATM ranking. Third place in Chiang Mai went to Nachpraewa Srichokhtam ahead of Singapore’s Poh Suan Puah.

On Saturday night, the first Thai points race of the 2023 ATM Championship season will take place in Chiang Mai City. Trail of Man is a 55km race catering for medium distance specialists who don’t mind running at nighttime. Most of the course will be on the trails used in last year’s world championship event. With start and finish very near to the city centre of Chiang Mai, it makes for a great weekend trip to northern Thailand.

With the sudden forced cancellation of UTKC in January, it’s indeed taken nearly six months before Thai runners get a chance to open their ATM 2023 points accounts. Luckily, after Trail of Man there’s also still Akha Trail early August and the classic Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in October. Nevertheless, several Thailanders are already on the points board. For example, Jay Jantaraboon won Korea 50k, and Narin Kongsiri won the V Trail 55km in Laos. Kongsiri fearures on this weekend’s start list, too, and ranks among the several podium candidates. So does his countryman Amorn Kimnguan. But there’s quite a number of international runners who will be challenging them. Ho Chi Minh City-based Frenchman Gaetan Morizur is on the start list. Having won several races in Vietnam since covid, Morizur took a break from trail running after VJM last season as he became a father. Let’s see if he is already back in shape to fight for a victory in Chiang Mai. Hong Kong-based Jose Luis Alvelais will be starting his 4th ATM race of the season and a win would put him on top of the men’s overall ranking. In any case, Alvelais is making it clear he wants to be part of Team Hong Kong at the end of the year in the ATM Final in Indonesia. Firmeza Washington and Chris Devoize are also contenders, having already scored a top placing in earlier ATM races this season. From Vietnam, the young Tran Van Nghia is one to watch out for.

In the women’s race, KL-based Filipino Roan Biguasen, already twice on the podium this year, is also competing for the fourth time and could reclaim the overall ATM points lead at the expense of her compatriot Irish Glorioso.

Gaetan Morizur was strong winner of Dalat Ultra Trail in 2022

Roan Biguasen will be starting her 4th ATM points race of the season and may claim the overall top spot in the women’s ranking again

Jose Luis Alvelais will be competing already for the 4th time in ATM this season

What was supposed to be a great trail running festival turned into a bitter last-minute cancellation. The 7th edition of UTKC cannot take place this weekend as a result of a dispute between event organiser teelakow and the management of the national park that is part of the race course. An official announcement explaining the precise reasoning of the decision to cancel the event is still pending, but teelakow has invited runners already to apply for refunds.

We will publish more information as soon as we receive them from relevant official sources.

UTKC was meant to be the opening race of the 2023 ATM season. That honour now goes to V Trail in Laos on 4 February.

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As previously announced, UTKC will open the 2023 Season VIII of the Asia Trail Master Championship series on the 21/22 January weekend, just as it did this year. Ultra-Trail Koh Chang is a classic on Thailand’s trail calendar and it certainly is a great event to begin a new story, a new year of exciting racing for ATM Championship and Grandmaster points across the continent.

Koh Chang is one of the southern islands of Thailand, reachable by ferry from Trat, which in turn is connected to Bangkok by highway or a short domestic flight. The island is in fact the home base of teelakow CEO Peeradon Suksawat, and he of course spares no effort to ensure ‘his’ event will leave nothing but great memories to the 2000 or more runners that every year take part in the event. ATM-wise, the focus has always been on the two Grandmaster distances of 100km and 70km and 2023 is no different. Ultra and medium distance specialists both can start their ATM season with a bang.

Registration has been going very well, as expected, and anyone keen on joining UTKC on 21 January should book very soon.

This year in March, the races were won by Britain’s George Burkin and Chonlada Kappiyanond in the 100km, and Danon Rattanatumrong and Areerat Kareeklin in the 70km.

This is what the 100km course looks like on Koh Chang island

Running back in time

As previously announced, Ultra Trail Koh Chang (UTKC) will open the 2023 ATM Championship season on 21 January. Now we are happy to also announce the other three points race events in Thailand for next year’s Season VIII.

The quartet contains two events that will be part of our ATM calendar for the first time. Trail of Man is taking place in Chiang Mai on 24 June , and we are talking the city of Chiang Mai itself. In fact, it is held predominantly on the course of the world championship a week ago. The main race for points will be the 60 km category. One month later, on 15 July, we are heading to the Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park for the Rock 100 Evil Trail. The main race there is the 100k, said to be one of the more runable courses in Thailand. Finally, in October, we are delighted to be heading back to Chiang Rai for Ultra Trail Chiang Rai, which returns to the trail calendar in 2023. On offer there will be the Ultimate 250 and a 130k - something for the ultra trail runners. The Chiang Rai race venue and race courses will change, too.

But first UTKC in the south of the country, the classic early season event with its beautiful beaches but also very tough and technical hilly forests inland. ATM points seekers need to focus on the 100k or the 70k distance categories there - as usual.

Stay tuned for more updates on the 2023 calendar as more events are getting their dates confirmed.

The final points race in Thailand of the 2022 Asia Trail Master season saw a number of great performances by emerging trail runners, as the local and regional trail elites were competing 60 km further south in the trail world championship. Doi Nhok Trail in Wang Nuea also stood out for its wonderful event management by a redesigned teelakow team, including the impressively stocked aid stations (pizza!) and start/finish arena set-up. The many hundreds of participating runners will also remember DNT for the tough race courses, providing a mixture of runable sections and extremely technical single trails that made running hardly feasible. The latter translated into a very long day for those people on the longer distance categories.

The 124 km and 58 km races were the chosen categories for the ATM Championship ranking. The male and female winners Arnon Srimat and Areerat Kareeklin ensured themselves of a spot on Team Thailand for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo next month. Srimat was third in UTKC earlier this year, and was in a league of his own last Saturday at Doi Nhok. His finish time of 29 hours 10 minutes nevertheless was an indication of the difficulty of the terrain. Second and third on the podium went to Phanlop Deechob and Somsak Jaejong. Areerat Kareeklin already won UTKC 70 in March, and thus scored her second ATM race win of 2022. On the podium with her were Sirinapa Phimklang and Srida Pheunghua.

On the 58 km we had a strong Malaysian winner who therefore managed to get into his national team for the ATM Finals. Amir Zaki shrugged off the disappointment of his DNF at UTOP last month by taking his first ATM race victory, more than one hour ahead of Chaisak Wangsnam and Nuttapong Sreedach. The fastest woman came next, fourth overall, and hailed from Ireland: Rachel Nolan. She proved too strong for the other women in the field, of whom Srinual Kanta and Prapaphan Thongsao completed the podium.

The 100 miles category, considered the most extreme miler in Thailand and beyond, was won by Germany’s Stefan Boeck in over 36 hours. Strongest woman was Thanussarinya Thaviphan in 53 hours.

A double ATM race winner in 2022: Areerat Kareeklin takes the 124 km race at Doi Nhok

Ireland’s Rachel Nolan was clearly the fastest woman on the 58 km despite severe stomach issues the day before the race

Chaisak Wangsnam and Nuttapong Sreedach were second and third behind Amir Zaki on the 58 km

It’s busy weeks on the ATM circuit and the trail racing continues this weekend with the final points race in Thailand for 2022, the Doi Nhok Trail near Chiang Mai. The second edition of this event unfortunately threatens to be overhadowed by the WMTRC event, which got rescheduled from last year to this weekend and which also takes place in the Chiang Mai area. Some of the biggest names in ATM and in Thailand, and other neighbouring countries and regions, e.g. John Ellis, Milton Amat, Jeff Campbell, Ezster Csillag, Sally Yap, Ruth Theresia, John Ray Onifa and Jay Jantaraboon have received the opportunity to measure themselves on a global stage. As a consequence, we expect instead to discover several new faces at Doi Nhok Trail. The start list of the event is in any case very long. The list of race distance categories is unfortunately also very long. ATM Championship points will be scored on the 125k and the 58 km races. But runners on the Grandmaster Quest can do 80km, 125km or even 100 miles.

Last weekend’s 9 Dragons in Langkawi, an ATM Candidate Race label event, saw a very nice victory by Andy Chong Chi Lee on the main 50/50 category, that is 50 miles on Saturday and 50 km on Sunday. Lee made the difference on Sunday, when he distanced Singapore’s Lem Chee Ng - with whom he had finished together a day earlier. Siokhar Lim was, as expected, the only female finisher of the 50/50. Francesco Floris ran with her quite a bit to be third in the men’s. The 50 miles single race was won by Ben Hails and Law Bee Chiao. The 50k single race went to Radzi Mokhtar and Gladys Ang.

The plagued Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping has now been forced to reschedule the event date as a consequence of Malaysia’s national elections taking place on the original weekend of 19/20 November. MMTF is now set for one week later. Both the 100km and 50km races have a very competitive field of entrants, hopefully most of them can still make it on the new date. Along with Malnad Ultra in India, Cordillera Mountain Ultra in Philippines and Izu Trail Journey in Japan, MMTF is one of the final points races for the 2022 ATM rankings, and thus opportunity for runners to get into their national country team for the ATM Championship Final on Mount Apo in Davao, Philippines, on 17 December.

A media conference on the Mount Apo Sky Race event was held in Davao City this week and can be watched here.

Runners who are currently in the Top of their country ranking will receive all details on the event in the coming days. As previously announced, all qualifiers will get free race entry for the 75k Final race, free 3-night accommodation, free country team t-shirts, and free airport shuttle services from/to Davao City.

Andy Chong Chi Lee scored a very nice victory in the 50/50 of the 9 Dragons Langkawi

Credit: teelakow/UTCM

Japan’s Yuta Matsuyama repeated his 2019 victory at Ultra Trail Chiang Mai in Thailand last weekend and added 500 valuable ATM Championship points to his 2022 tally. Matsuyama was pushed nearly all the way by Singapore’s Deric Lau, who somehow was running even pace but could not come any closer than ten minutes. After a 5th place at Cameron Ultra last month, Lau now scored his first ATM race podium and certainly is one to watch in the upcoming races and potential leader for Team Singapore in the ATM Finals in December. Matsuyama finishing time was 13 hours. Third place went to Germany’s Olaf Stuermer, just ahead of Norway’s Eirik Knudsen in 14h46.. Malaysia’s Nancy Lem Chee Ng was fifth in a 105k points race where Thailand’s competitive home runners were remarkably absent. Not so in the women’s category, however, as Chonlada Kappiyanand scored her second ATM points race win of the 2022 season in 17h00’. She was clearly the strongest with a 3-hour gap to her compatriot Chanchaya Naphawanroed. Japan’s Maeno Yuuka took third on the podium.

A Thai woman also won the second and shorter 65k points race of the UTCM event. Sutinee Rasp was 25 minutes faster than Malaysia’s Halimatun Sa’adiah, who ended up on an ATM podium for the third time this season already. Sa’adiah is therefore also the new leader in the Malaysian ATM women’s ranking. Srinual Kanta from Thailand was third, just a minute behind Sa’adiah.

The men’s race was won in impressive style by Bangkok-based Indonesian Rama Astra Bramastana, nicknamed ‘Rambo’. A still young trail runner who has been steadily improving and who has used the covid crisis to become more competitive. He was 47 minutes faster on the 65k course than second-placed Hungarian Miklos Viczena and 1h25’ faster than third -placed Yuthakan Mana. Bramastana won in 8h02’ and is suddenly in the mix now for qualification in Team Indonesia for the ATM Finals.

Credit: teelakow/UTCM - ‘Rambo’ Rama Astra Bramastana wins the 65k race in impressive style

Credit: teelakow/UTCM - Halimatun Sa’adiah scores her 3rd ATM podium of the 2022 season!