Lots of Grandmasters and runners still on the Quest for their first star in Luang Prabang this weekend for the inaugural edition of the Ultra Trail. The new event follows V-Trail as the second major international trail race in Laos, and given its location has everything to become a cracker in the future. Organising company Teelakow from Thailand in any case has big plans for the development of trail running in Laos.

Luang Prabang is quite a popular backpacker destination already in South East Asia, thanks to its UNESCO World Heritage status. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Laos until 1975, when political developments moved that title to Vientiane further south. The city actually consists of several villages linked together and has been preserved remarkably well.

Sports is still in its infancy in Laos, in particular the leisure and mass participation industry. By means of UTLP, V Trail and more races already planned for 2020, organisers aim to develop a healthy lifestyle among its citizens as well as open up the country even more to the outside world. In V Trail last year, we already had a strong Lao runner finishing not far behind Alessandro Sherpa and Salva Rambla. Let’s see who emerges this weekend!

On the start list of the 96 km - the distance that matters for the ATM Championship - we find of course current female championship leader Carrie-Jane Stander, who continues her busy schedule at the beginning of the season. UTLP will already be her fourth race, and given her consistency and solid pace over longer distances she is definitely a podium candidate as well. The Canadian in any case looks set to open up a nice points gap to her nearest competitors in the championship, which means she might stay in the leading position for quite some time with ramadan and a more quiet period from late April to mid June approaching!

Another podium candidate for the women’s race in Laos this weekend is Thailand’s Montha Suntornwit - winner of Ultra Trail Chiang Rai 230 last October - and her compatriot Natthanan Matthanang.

In the men’s, we will be looking at the announced return of Japan’s Wataru Iino. Iino was a familiar face in Thailand in 2017, when he finished on the podium of UTKC and UT Panoramic. His regular work schedule did not allow him to compete much in Asia last season, but he re-emerged on the ATM scene at Izu Trail Journey in his native Japan. This weekend he should be the top favourite, even though Iino has struggled with hotter temperatures before. Two of his main competitors will be the rejuvenated Michael McLean and Sukrit Kaewyoun, who both ran an excellent Dalat Ultra Trail a fortnight ago. Grandmasters Ohm Malaihom and Masafumi Yamamoto are on the start list, too. Both of them also ran and completed the Vietnam SuperTrail, and Yamamoto even claimed his 2nd Grandmaster star in that race! Britain’s Stephen Wiseman is on the verge of achieving his Grandmaster Quest as well this weekend.

Stay tuned for updates from Luang Prabang during the weekend.

Wataru Iino is set to return to the ATM scene in Ultra Trail Luang Prabang

Masafumi Yamamoto is now a 2-star Grandmaster and starts chasing his 3rd star immediately in Laos now

The first Thai Grandmaster: Ohm Malaihom will be in Luang Prabang for his 9th ATM race of 70+ km

Montha Suntornwit was the big winner of the Ultimate 230 in Chiang Rai last October

We are happy to announce a new Candidate Race for the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship series. The Solang Sky Ultra in the Solang Valley in Manali, is also the first time an event in India is formally joining the Asia Trail Master community. The event is scheduled for 6 October. Three distances are on offer for runners of which the 60 km is the main race. Solang Sky Ultra takes place in the north of India and the valley is well-known as a ski and wintersports location. The event name and location of course indicate higher altitudes. The 60 km has a total elevation gain of 3500 metres and is ran well above sea level at 1500m and up. The highest peak during the race is 3448m. The Himalayas offer a breathtaking backdrop.

It is quite a remote area and it will take some traveling time from e.g. New Delhi, but your efforts will be highly rewarded. Shashwat Rao, a regular competitor in our championship series, is one of the technical advisers.

The Solang Sky Ultra is the finale in the Hell Race Trail Series in India. The event organisers write on their own website it is a gruelling and testing race through the rugged, jagged and mean single track technical trails of the Solang Valley. 

You can find out more details on the website of the Hell Race Trail Series, including online registration. The below video might also give you a better idea of what this exciting Candidate Race has in store.

Hong Kong’s John Ellis was a sensational winner of the men’s Vietnam SuperTrail in Dalat in the Central Highlands. He ran past Hisashi Kitamura from Japan in the final uphill of the last 4 km on sheer determination! Ellis’ came in in a time of 7:03, a new course record. Early leader and last year’s winner Quang Tran lost the right trail after approx 55 km and dropped back behind his closest chasers. Shortly afterwards he decided to DNF. 

Hong Kong-based Australian Ellis had taken a typical conservative start, before turning on his engine just before halfway. As ATM Championship leader Ander Iza Rekakoetxea retired at Checkpoint 2 with an upset stomach, Ellis and Kitamura have also become 1-2 in the updated ATM Championship ranking. Kitamura can’t be far away from his first ATM race victory now! For Ellis it was his second and first of the 2019 season.

The third step on the podium was for Malaysia’s Mohamed Affindi, the winner of Tahura Trail in Bandung. Excellent for his ATM Championship ambitions. Fourth came the rejuvenated Michael McLean, the Brunei-based Canadian who has had a tough few months on the trails with DNFs in UTCR and 9 Dragons. Gone Running’s Henri Lehkonen took fifth in his ATM debut , followed by Thailand’s Sukrit and Guillaume Degoulet from France. T8’s Mark Green was 8th and Ho Chi Minh City based Britain Grant Bowdery was next in 9th place followed by Vietnam’s Ngo Quoc Duong 10th, first runner of the home country.

The women’s race (finish video scroll down or go to our video section on Facebook) developed into the big dual between Tahira Najmunisaa and Kim Matthews, after all. Both former ATM Champions came into the Dalat race with legitimate fitness concerns, but they delivered a great running pace and honest competition. Tahira was leading until just over halfway, when Kim Matthews caught her and passed her. The Australian made it a double victory for her country after John Ellis won the men’s. Tahira crossed the finish line in second place about seven minutes behind. Another Malaysian, Christine Loh, scored her second third place of the season after 9 Dragons. Both SuperTrail podiums, also. Korea-based Carrie Jane Stander was fourth, her best race result of the season and certainly good enought to regain the ATM Championship lead ahead of Christine Loh.

New Grandmaster Ekin Hoe (Singapore)

New Grandmaster Richard Akol (Phlippines)

The Dalat Ultra Trail in Vietnam is the 3rd SuperTrail in this year’s Asia Trail Master Championship and the first ever in the country. Taking place in the cool Central Highlands city of Dalat, northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, the event has witnessed a spectacular growth in just two years. After last year’s successful inaugural edition, numbers now boomed to nearly 4000 runners for the varous distances on the programme, of which the 70K is what matters for the ATM Championship. A lot of regional top runners will be at the start at 4 a.m. on Saturday, including Malaysia’s Tahira Najmunisaa, who is returning to the ATM scene after nearly one-and-a-half years. 

Initially, 2018 male ATM Champion Alessandro Sherpa had also been announced as to open his points account in Dalat, but the Italian sent around a message this morning that he is unable to travel to Vietnam due to other commitments. Plenty of top runners left, though. Local hero Quang Tran was the winner last year and can certainly be expected to challenge for victory again. After Cao Ngoc Ha switched to triathlon, Quang Tran - a former winner of Vietnam Mountain Marathon as well - has become the most prominent Vietnamese trail runner. This Saturday he will be up against serious competition. Tahura Trail race winner Mohamed Affindi is aiming for his second consecutive victory on a course that should suit him as much as the one in Bandung two months ago. Dalat is almost 30 km longer than Tahura, though. Can the Malaysian keep up his fast pace over that distance? While Affindi will be running his second ATM points race of the season, a few will be doing their third already. Among those also last weekend’s CMU protagonists Ander Iza Rekakoetxea, John Ellis and Hisashi Kitamura. Manila-based Spaniard Rekakoetxea is the current points leader in the ATM Championship with a narrow margin of just 14 points over Ellis. Kitamura is 99 points behind, but in Dalat can reduce that gap significantly. A 2:38 marathon in Tokyo recently suggests that KItamura has become one of the fastest legs on the tour. Applying that speed to trail is always still something else, but Dalat is clearly less technical than CMU last Sunday, in which the Japanese finished 7th. 

Others to watch out for on paper are Thailand’s Sukrit Kaewyoun and Hong Kong-based Fin Henri Lehkonen, together with many local Vietnamese runners who can cause an upset. 

Julia Nguyen Thi Duong won VJM 70 and came 2nd in Dalat last year

In the women’s we have two former ATM Champions on the come back trail, and another one trying to regain the lead in the current Championship standings. 2016 Champ Tahira Najmunisaa has been back in action since several months, but Dalat will be her first major international trail race since the birth of her fourth child last October. Still only 29, Tahira is unbeaten in 10 ATM races and shares the all-time record with Ruth Theresia. She is therefore a logical race favourite, even when 2017 Champion Kim Matthews is also on the start list. After winning last year’s Tahura Trail, Matthews suffered a bad hip injury that put her out of action for almost a full year. As Tahira, she has been building up speed and strength again in the past three months and Dalat will be her first international test as a competitor for race wins. Now based in Hong Kong, Kim used to live in Ho Chi Minh City and is therefore familiar with Vietnam. 

Korea-based Canadian Carrie Jane Stander is one of the busy bees this season and will be competing in her third ATM race out of five already. Championship leader until last week, when Cheryl Navarro took over, Stander can regain the points lead on Saturday if she scores another good result. Possibly her biggest competitior for the points lead will be another Malaysian, Christine Loh. She scored a fantastic third place in the 9 Dragons 50/50 at the beginning of February. Stander will like Dalat, however, and let’s remember that she won Ijen 70, another runable 70k course! 

Vietnamese runners Julia Nguyen Thi Duong and Vy le Phuong have scored podium places in several ATM races in the past years and can certainly be expected to do so again. Julia of course won the Vietnam Jungle Marathon last year and came second behind Dutchwoman Marieke Dekkers here in Dalat. Dekkers, by the way, does not feature on the 70k start list so far. 

Kim Matthews: coming back after a year of injury misery

Tahira Najmunisaa: coming back after the birth of her fourth child

Can Mohamed Affindi double-up after his great Tahura win in January?

Last year’s Dalat Ultra Trail winner Quang Tran is again one of the race favourites

For most people traveling to Australia remains a special trip to somewhere far away. So it is also for Asia residents. Nevertheless, air fares have come down substantially in the last decade and connections to nearly all Asian capital cities have increased in frequency. As Australia has been visibly edging closer to Asia, we have accepted the ATM application of Ultra Trail Gold Coast in Queensland, eastern Australia, as already announced before. But why no add some more time and experiences to your Ozzie journey and do a bit more trail running and sightseeing there apart from the UTGC event? In collaboration with Venture Travel, local outdoor travel specialists, we have therefore designed a week-long itinerary for runners in Victoria. The programme starts a day after the UT Gold Coast event in Melbourne, capital city of Victoria State in the Southeast of the country.

You need to take a domestic flight from Brisbane or Gold Coast to Melbourne on Monday morning, and we meet up in the late afternoon for a sunset run in and around the fabulous city. The full programme is listed below.

The cornerstone of the trip, along with the Great Ocean Road, is the Grampians National Park is 167,219-hectare (413,210-acre) and situated 260 kilometres west of Melbourne and 460 kilometres east of Adelaide. Proclaimed as a national park on 1 July 1984, the park was listed on the Australian National Heritage List on 15 December 2006 for its outstanding natural beauty and being one of the richest indigenous rock art sites in south-eastern Australia. The Grampians feature a striking series of sandstone mountain ranges, and its trails are great for running. From south to north is more than 150 km of trail. Halls Gap is the centre town of the Park, and is a great outdoor place with great restaurants.

At the end of the tour we make a relaxation and sightseeing stop in Ballarat for the final evening and night. A visit to the reptile park is jaw-dropping.

PROGRAMME

Day 1

30/9: Melbourne: programme starts with a meet & greet and a gentle run, followed by welcome dinner

Day 2

1/10: Great Ocean Road: after van transfer, we run from Lorne to Port Campbell for about 50 km on trails along the famous GOR with astonishing ocean views

Day 3

2/10: Grampians National Park: we run from Dunkeld to Mt William, roughly 50k to the highest point of the Park at 1167m above sea level

Day 4

3/10 Grampians National Park: from Mt William to Halls Gap, main town of the Park. Estimate 40 km.

Day 5

4/10 Grampians National Park: from Halls Gap to the northern border of the Park. Distance can be adjusted according to the group’s wishes.

Day 6

5/10 Ballarat: after optional morning sunrise walk, we transfer to Ballarat, a small but well-known tourism town with exquisite wine and beer bars. A recovery day with a visit to the famous reptile park, swim/spa/sauna, and farewell dinner.

Day 7

6/10 transfer to Melbourne airport. End of the programme and return to home country

GENERAL INCLUSIONS

• Accommodation - 3 star cabin and hotel

• Meals - all meals

• Snacks and water - supplied for running

• All runs, reptile park, pool recovery

• Transport - bus and all included as part of itinerary

Pricing

USD 1599,- per person. (runners only).
HKD 12,550,- per person (runners only).

For more information, please contact kris@kuaisports.com

Ultra Trail Gold Coast (AUS)

John Ray Onifa and Kristian Joergensen delivered an awesome battle at the end of the Philippines SuperTrail in the 2019 Asia Trail Master Championship, the iconic Cordillera Mountain Ultra. With just a few km of the 47km left to run till the finish in Tinongdan, Joergensen caught Onifa, who had been dominating the proceedings almost from the start. However, the Filipino still found an extra gear to outsprint Joergensen again in the last Kilometre downhill towards the suspension bridge that leads back to the main village! Onifa’s time was an amazing 5:31. Last year he came second in this race behind Harry Jones. 
Koi Grey finished in third place a bit later. The home favourite opted for a quiet start but returned to the front relentlessly. Third place is a fantastic result confirming his come back to competition once more. He could have been the new leader in the ATM Championship as well, had it not been that Anders Iza Rekakoetxea and John Ellis were next in the finish. The Manila-based Spaniard Rekakoetxea was overtaken by Koi Grey in the last few kilometres, but fourth was good enough to become the new ATM points leader! Earlier this season, he was 3rd in the 50 miles race of the 9 Dragons in Hong Kong.

John Ellis ran very well after five weeks of rest, and fifth is a strong result for him. He left Davao’s Elias Tabac and Japan’s Hisashi Kitamura behind at the end. Ellis, Kitamura and leader Rekakoetxea are scheduled to compete again in the Dalat Ultra Trail next week, the Vietnam SuperTrail in the ATM Championship.

Filipino Arnie Macaneras was brave to follow Onifa for roughly 8 km, but paid the price at the end. Macaneras, who won Fifty Mapawa last season in a time faster than Onifa’s in 2017, arrived back in Tinongdan in 8th. Miguel Lopez and Malaysian Azuan Asmuni rounded up the men’s top ten of a fantastic racing day. 

In the women’s, Veronika Vadovicova scored a highly impressive victory in 6:31. The whole morning she had a small margin over American Laura Kline. When the young Slovakian ex triathlete briefly went off course, Kline took the lead but eventually could not respond to Vadovicova when the latter caught her again. Sandi Menchi did well to finish third, even when the two western ladies proved too fast. Cheryl Navarro comes in as fourth and is the new points leader in the Asia Trail Master Championship! Navarro was second in last month’s Akyathlon. Fredlyn Alberto is fifth today, and misses just 11 points to claim that points lead. Alberto was second in the 9 Dragons 50 miles race earlier this season.

Outstanding battle between John Ray Onifa and Kristian Joergensen

New face in the female championship: Veronika Vadovicova impresses in her winning run

Ander Iza Rekakoetxea is the new ATM Championship leader after scoring 4th in CMU

Cheryl Navarro finished 4th in CMU and grabs the ATM Championship lead

It is only the fourth points race of the 2019 season but the Cordillera Mountain Ultra will heat up the championship significantly this coming Sunday. The Philippines’ SuperTrail has attracted lots of regional and intercontinental top runners to Baguio for the meanwhile classic 50k race on and around Mount Ugo. We will see a number of races-within-the race, too, and in particular the inter-filipino battle between John Ray Onifa, Elias Tabac and Koi Grey for the unofficial honour of fastest 50k trail runner in the Philippines!

The host village has changed from Dalupirip to Tinongdan this year but the race course has remained 70% the same as it used to be. The long ascent and descent of Mount Ugo defines CMU and is a scene set for breathtaking trail running. On top, the mountain villages in this part of the Cordillera were hit heavily by typhoons during the wet season last year and running events like CMU are a great and necessary boost for the local community.

The list of protagonists for the race win in both the male and female category is so long we cannot name them all. Starting with the women, Baguio hero Sandi Menchi returns to CMU for the first time since winning it in 2017. She knows the trails like the back of her hand and has shown to be in good form in this early part of the year. Several other filipino women can make her life difficult, though. Cheryl Navarro comes to mind. Navarro is always a contender wherever she starts, which she illustrated only last month again with second place in the Akyathlon. It makes Navarro the likely new ATM championship leader after CMU, subject to a fine result of course. Cecile Wael, third in Akyathlon, is also on the start list but is reportedly unable to race. Maria Sepe is a southern filipino athlete who can also be expected to challenge for a podium spot, as well as local Gretchen Felipe, who won this race in 2016. Arguably the fiercest competition for Sandi Menchi will come from foreign athletes such as Laura Kline, who is flying in from the USA, and Shanghai-based Slovakian Veronika Vadovicova, who is more and more making the switch from triathlon to trail running, similar to last year’s winner Carole Fuchs, who cannot take part on Sunday.

The men’s race is bound to be action-packed with the pinoy trio of John Ray Onifa, Elias Tabac and Koi Grey squaring off against each other for the first time since they reached the top of their game. Onifa is arguably the man-to-beat, especially as he has the experience of last year when he finished second behind Harry Jones. But the four-year-younger Tabac has been hot on his heels and is familiar with Mount Ugo, too, winning last year’s Akyathlon. Koi Grey is the local hero and most experienced trail runner of the three, and completely rejuvenated of late after being out of the scene for two years. On top of it all, to spice the race up even more, they all come from different islands in the Philippines.

The three pinoys will push each other forward on Sunday. It will be needed, too, because there’s a lot of other victory contenders! Hong Kong-based Australian T8 runner John Ellis has been looking forward to CMU for a long time. Kristian Joergensen is in the best shape of his life and has done this race before, too. Tomohiro Mizukoshi will find a course and a distance that should suit him, and then he is always a dangerman. Anders Iza Rekakoetxea is a Manila-based Spaniard who is capable of causing an upset. Perhaps the biggest dark horse comes from Malaysia: Mohd Azuan Asmuni. Azmuni is a triathlete / runner who raised quite a few eyebrows last year when he defeated Mohamed Affindi by nearly half an hour in a technical 30 km trail climbathlon in Malaysia. The profile of that Mt Tahan Climbathlon is similar to CMU, albeit shorter. Still, Azmuni - who two weeks ago won the Johor Bahru Duathlon - should not have an issue with the distance and his technical skills are clearly phenomenal. For runners such as Ellis, Joergensen and also Hisashi Kitamura, 50k may actually be just a little too short for their characteristics. But who would ever bet against John Ellis?

Another race-in-the-race will be between five runners for the ATM Championship lead. Virginia’s Chris Miller tops the ranking, but John Eruel Oquino - who will be doing his 3rd of the 4 ATM races so far this season), John Ellis, Anders Iza Rekakoetxea, Hisashi Kitamura and Koi Grey all have chances to claim the lead in their second race of the season.!

We will be following all the action at CMU as usual via our social media channels, with video on facebook as well. A separate ATM Trail TV episode is also planned for Saturday evening (subject to connectivity).

Sandi Menchi will try to win CMU again after 2016