Vietnamese trail phenomenon and 2022 Asia Trail Master Champion Hau Ha delivered an absolute masterclass at the fantastic 2nd edition of Tioman Ultra 50 in Malaysia. Ever smiling, ever comfortable and ever self-confident, Hau Ha won the tough race overall in 7h14’ as if it were her usual Sunday’s fun run. Halfway into the race, at sunrise, she dropped the first male, local hero Yusof Ezkandar early on a lengthy and steep concrete road uphill. Ezkandar had to hike up, Hau could run it all the way up. The manner in which she performed that, and her dancing and playful moves in the ensuing descent even made her head coach Guim Valls raise his eyebrows. At least in an ATM-promoted race, this was the strongest she has ever been and she did not even have to push, despite a very crafty effort by Ezkandar, who exceeded his own performance level last weekend . Hau Ha’s limits have certainly not been reached yet and her Tioman showing bodes well for her ambition to win in Chamonix end of August. It was her 6th career victory in Asia Trail Master, made even sweeter by the second place of her compatriot and team mate at Team Mude Sports, Loi Luong.
Tioman Ultra 50 is the latest trail event project by Ewegene Tan and MMTF Consultant. It takes place on a relatively small but gorgeous tropical island, approximately two hours by ferry from Mersing on Malaysia’s southeastern coast. Logistical limitations put a cap on the total number of participants at the event (600), but that was certainly not a bad thing. Having learnt from the feedback of last year’s candidate race, the organising team has upgraded the event and racing experience to the highest level within the limitations of their budget. It takes time to get to Tioman, but once there, runners had an experience that the trendy among them would call ‘trail porn’. Proof, once more, that one does not need an overnight 100k to make a great and satisfying trail event.
You can re-watch a lot of livestreams and videos on our ATM facebook and ATM YouTube pages. Tioman 50 also made sure that worked and the result is one of the highest viewership numbers in ATM history.
The 50k race started at 3 am in relatively mild temperatures but with a high degree of humidity. Four runners quickly detached themselves from the rest: Singapore’s Chris Timms, last year’s winner Yusof Ezkandar, up-and-comer Lee Min Xiang and Vietnam’s Hau Ha as the first female. During the initial 7km on concrete roads that led to the ascent of Gunung Kajang, Tioman’s highest peak at just above 1000m, it was interesting to see the variations in Hau Ha’s pace. As if she was doing interval training. Afterwards, she did explain these short accelerations were to test her own legs, but also to see how the three guys responded. Timms had already raced Hau Ha before on Mt Apo in 2022. The two Malaysians knew her, of course, but were still amazed at what they were experiencing first-hand. Eventually, the quartet stayed more or less together until aid station 1 and the foot of Mount Kajang. On the climb, Ezkandar set the pace and would also reach the summit first - a bit ahead of Hau Ha. Ezkandar was first spotted as a young talent on the ATM circuit before covid, but had not been seen since. His professional duties do not allow him to compete very often - especially when long travel is involved. Freshly nicknamed as ‘the Flowerboy’ , Ezkandar was determined to try and give the Vietnamese girl a run for her money. His own split times were indeed considerably faster than he did last year. However, to no avail. In the descent of Kajang, Hau Ha used her technical skills to full effect and caught up with Ezkandar, who couldn’t hide his admiration upon arrival together at the second aid station. He took the punch with a smile of resignation, as they’d say in boxing, knowing the k.o. blow was coming. A few kilometres later, Hau Ha ran away from Ezkandar uphill.
From then on it was a true one-woman-show until the finish. Ezkandar did well in not giving up and keeping a steady pace of his own to finish some 35 minutes later as first male - which meant he had just won his first ATM points race. Lee Min Xiang arrived 45 minutes later for third place overall, second male. A great introduction to him, it was his first ATM points race. Chris Timms looked solid in third for a long time, but he ran out of steam in the last technical section - the ‘dragon back’. Experienced Malaysian Syahmim Nazmy caught him and managed to grab third away from the Singapore-based Britain. Seng Lip Ku was fifth in the men’s race.
Next was Loi Luong, the Vietnamese winner of Lam Dong Trail last year. Team mate of Hau Ha, Loi ran second female the entire race and finishing sixth overall is an impressive accomplishment for the young runner. Especially considering Adelinah Lintanga came third forty minutes after her. Lintanga did have a tumble in the descent of Kajang, but still. Loi Leung, who was also second in Cuc Phuong 42k earlier this season, will be among the favourites at Borneo TMBT Ultra in September - the ATM Championship Final. Obviously, that is considering Hau Ha is likely to give the ATM Final a pass, just two weeks after her only real goal of the year in France. Nevertheless, with UTSG 50 in Singapore next on her race calendar, Hau is in any case setting up a Plan B and looking to grab her wild card for the ATM Final as former champion.
‘Flowerboy’ Yusof Ezkandar: first ATM race victory in his running journey, even if it may not have felt like one
