This weekend we have the first of two new ATM Candidate Races in the Rizal mountains east of Manila. The Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run takes place in Tanay Rizal and has virtually no overlap with next month’s Sierra Madre Trail Ultra. This Saturday starting at 4 pm, runners will tackle 80 km or 30 km and it promises to be tough: the 80 km will not only be mainly a night race , there’s also 4300 metres of elevation gain to be conquered. No wonder some of the better known Filipino mountain trail runners feature on the Sta Ines start list. Among the contenders for the victory and the podium, perhaps Elmer Retolado is the top favourite. Retolado was the winner of Pilipinas Akyathlon 50k in 2019… but meanwhile that is indeed already three years ago. Noy Gentoleo will be a challenger for the win, and let’s not discount Grandmaster Aleksis Capili, arguably the most experienced in the men’s field when it comes to competitive ultra trail racing. But after such a long time without real races, who knows we get to see some real surprises.

In the women’s 80k field, Ces Wael is probably the top favourite for the race win. She has been very active over the past months and proper mountain trails suit her. It will be interesting to see if Sherlyn Fugaban can keep up with Ces Wael. Always podium candidates when it’s long and tough, Grandmaster Cheryl Bihag and Ann Jilian Pulanco will certainly be in the mix as well.

Stay tuned on our social media channels for updates from Santa Ines starting Saturday late afternoon!

Elmer Retolado won the 2019 points race Pilipinas Akyathlon. This Saturday, he’ll be at Santa Ines

We are happy to announce a new entry in Hong Kong on our 2022 Asia Trail Master Championship calendar: Ultramarathon de Sai Kung on the weekend of 22/23 October. Organised by the experienced team of XTE events, which also has HK 168 in its portfolio, the second edition of UM de Sai Kung features two race distance categories that both offer points for the ATM Championship rankings. Runners can choose between 105 km with 5200 hm, or 53 km with 2900 hm.

Hong Kong has had a rough battle with covid-19, as everyone knows, and the situation remains highly sensitive today. It is a good sign, however, that trail events are formally returning to the calendar. Vaccination certificates and a negative PCR test result are still a must-have, and other measures and restrictions to prevent spreading the virus are logically mentioned on the UM de Sai Kung website. Only time will tell if these will all still be strictly necessary come mid-October. Together with Lantau 70, scheduled one weekend later on 29 October, Hong Kong-based runners at least now have two local races to score points and qualify themselves for the ATM Championship Final on 17 December.

Ultramarathon de Sai Kung, takes place on the eastern side of Hong Kong, the so-called backyard of Hong Kong. With 75% of the course on trails and covering two country parks - Ma On Shan and Sai Kung Country Parks, it covers some of the most beautiful scenery in Hong Kong, including unspoilt beaches, remote villages, nature trails, reservoirs, undulating and steep hills. The course maps and details are added below.

The 2019 edition of the 105km race was won by Thomas Robertshaw in the men’s and Lora Chau Ying Wong in the women’s. The half distance saw Ngan Li victorious ahead of early years’ ATM protagonist Isaac Yuen Wan Ho and Wing Yan Lau in the women’s.

All details and registration for the UM de Sai Kung can be found on the official website below.

The Asia Trail Master season traditionally ends in the middle of December with the ‘Final’, the event that typically crowns the new champions. This year the date has been confirmed for the same weekend since 2019, and more specifically on Saturday, 17 December. The venue is different and will be formally announced in May, and we promise it will be a cracker!

The Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival hosted the ATM Championship Final in 2019 and the Malaysia Trail Master Championship last year in fantastic style, but has been compelled to move its event date forward to November from this year onwards. That left the door open for new applicants and new destinations to invite the best points scorers of the season to compete directly against each other in the ATM Final.

A new venue for the ATM Championship ‘new style’. As previously announced, runners will no longer be crowned champion on the basis of their points total at the end of the season, but by winning the final race. Winner-takes-all. Of course, points accumulated during the year remain very important, because runners need to qualify to be allowed entry into the ATM Final. To qualify, they need to be ranked in the top 3, 4 or 5 of their country before the final event. Those elite few will constitute their country’s ‘national’ team for the final race. Indeed, as of 2022, we will not only have individual ATM Champions, but also a country team champion! The number of runners in each country team depends on the number of ATM-promoted events in that country. The minimum is six (3 men, 3 women), the maximum is ten (5 men, 5 women). For non-Asians living and working in Asia, there will be a Team Asia Expat. More details can be found on http://www.asiatrailmaster.com/2022-atm-points-system

Four events have already taken place, two of which even had two points races, so quite a few runners have already made it into the ATM Championship ranking. Follow the progress and filter by nationality on this website: https://m.racetimingsolutions.com/rankings/2022

It is going to be another big party to celebrate what now looks to become the first full trail running season since the covid crisis. A celebration of Asian trail runners and trail running in Asia in general!

Stay tuned for all details coming in May!