Hisashi Kitamura has done it! In last Saturday’s Vietnam Jungle Marathon the flamboyant Japanese runner scored his first career ATM race victory after numerous podium places and places of honour. But the Uglow runner had to give it all in the final 10km to keep the outstanding Veronika Vadovica behind him and arrived totally dehydrated at the finish. He fell down from exhaustion as he crossed the line, but recovered in the medical tent quite quickly. On the podium later in the afternoon, Kitamura was his usual self with a bit of show and clearly relief that he finally pocketed that elusive race victory. On top of that, he grabbed the points lead in the Asia Trail Master Championship at the expense of John Ellis.

Earlier on in the 70km race, which commenced at 4 am, Kitamura adopted the “John Ellis tactic” of not worrying too much about the early dozens of kilometres. Vietnam’s Hung Hai, winner of the 100k Vietnam Mountain Marathon last September and a character himself, took off like a rocket but ran out of steam come halfway. Kitamura first and then Vadovicova caught up and dropped Hung Hai in the next uphill section. Meanwhile, Quang Nguyen Duc stayed in the mix up front as well, but eventually couldn’t keep the high pace set  by the Japanese and the Slovakian. The experienced Quang Nguyen Duc ran a smart race and probably could have dropped Hung Hai for second, but refrained from doing so. Coming into CP8, the last checkpoint with 10k to go, it sounded like Veronika Vadovicova had the better of Kitamura, amazingly enough. However, Hisashi Kitamura was not going to let her spoil his first ATM race victory and ran the last kilometres downhill with his mind switched off. Vadovica realised that his downhill pace was a bit too high and decided not “to dude” or “to chick” him and settled for second. Second overall that is, because she was two hours ahead of the next woman!

Hisashi Kitamura is also the new points leader in the ATM Championship, taking over from John Ellis who has one race less so far. For Uglow’s latest protégé, now it already becomes a tactical game of trying to improve on his worst result of the season (7th in CMU) to score additional points as he already has five results in the bag. Both Kitamura and Ellis have planned to run in Penang Eco 100 miles on 22/23 June, which will be a very significant dual. Remember: Kitamura got the Hong Kong star last time out in Sungai Menyala already…

Veronica Vadovica was not in a rush anymore once she realised the big stunt of beating all men was not going to happen and finished seemingly fresh seven minutes later than Kitamura. The Shanghai-based Slovakian admitted herself that this was probably the best trail run of her still very young running career. She takes over the points lead from Carrie Jane Stander in the ATM Championship as well. Her next race is still undecided, but any female who wants to have a shot at the ATM title this season better plan their races carefully. Yet, it’s a five best count system, and the SuperTrails are important, as well as the final race in Taiping, the TNF Mountain Trail Festival in Malaysia on 14/15 December, and that might - we do say “might” - not be Veronika’s favourite course…

The podium in the men’s race was completed by the two Vietnamese aces Hong Hai, who probably learnt an important lesson this race and by Quang Nguyen Duc. They decided not to compete and were given a joint second place. ATM regulations, however, stipulate that as of Q2 (=April) a distinction must be made according to the last checkpoints. This puts Hung Hai in second and Quang Nguyen Duc in third. This obviously to ensure fairness for the Championship. Spain’s Ander Iza Rekakoetxea made it up to fourth place at the finish, despite being plagued by a sprained ankle during the race. Ander Iza’s ankle was massively swollen after the race. Still, important championship points for him and he is aiming for a shot at the title indeed. Tomohiro Mizukoshi managed to hold on to the top five. He had a hard time in the second part of the race, also still not 100% fit following achilles tendon injury and a bad cold. David Longo from Canberra, Australia, arrived in sixth place. France ‘s Valentin Orange was seventh. Sam McGrath continued his fine form of late with eight place.

Belgium’s Vanya Cnobs was second in the women’s race. The Belgian runner is now living in Singapore and is a former national champion cross country running in the U19 category. It was her debut on the ultra distance and admitted it was “long”. Considering she finished well inside the top ten overall, Cnobs ran a great race. it is just that Vadovicova is developing into world class material. The same applies for Philippines’ Fredlyn Alberto. By all means a solid run by the known runner based in Hong Kong, who scored her second ATM podium of the season after the 9 Dragons. Alberto’s journey to VJM was tiring already, and if one considers that runners such as Laura Hulgaard, Nathalie Cochet, Siokhar Lim and Evelyn Lek were behind her… in some races that would be a victory.

Tired but delighted with his first win and the ATM Championship lead: Hisashi Kitamura

On the way to the last checkpoint with Vadovicova applying pressure on Kitamura uphill

Kitamura and Hung Hai already knew each other as they battled in VMM last season, that time with the Vietnamese as winner

A great debut on the 70k distance for talented Vanya Cnobs from Belgium, but Vadovicova was running in her own league

Fredlyn Alberto grabbed another podium with a solid run too. The women’s competition was outstanding

Tomohiro Mizukoshi suffered from a serious cold, but fifth is a great result and a sign of much more to come again!

Australia’s David Longo of the T8 Team ran consistently and that resulted in a fine sixth place

Grandmaster Masafumi Yamamoto finished another 70k distance in his resident country Vietnam

A Miss Vietnam in the VJM: Bellissima Thuy finished the 42 km race

After a break of five weeks since Ultimate Tsaigu, the 2019 Asia Trail Master Championship returns to action in Vietnam this Saturday. The 3rd edition of the Vietnam Jungle Marathon offers a fantastic 70km course in and around the Pu Luong Nature Reserve, roughly 120km south of country capital Hanoi. Initially still dubbed the “little sis” of the famous Vietnam Mountain Marathon in September, VJM has matured over three years into a solid event in itself with a very competitive, international and experienced field of runners for the main 70k race. 

Vietnam is, alongside Thailand, the South East Asian country where mass participation outdoor sports has seen tremendous growth in the last two years. Only two months ago, runners were delightfully stunned by the Dalat Ultra Trail in the south of Vietnam with close to 4000 event participants. That event has put trail running firmly on the map in the south, just as VMM did in the north a few years back. Driving force and race director of VMM and this weekend’s VJM is Britain’s David Lloyd, who has been doing incredible work for the development of (trail) running, MTB and road cycling in Vietnam based out of Sapa and Hanoi. A detailed interview with David by our team at VJM this weekend will be uploaded in the next few days and will make for interesting listening.

Picking winners for VJM’s 70k points race is hard. Plenty of known talent at the start, along with several very interesting newcomers to the ATM series. Let’s begin with the obvious: both Hisashi Kitamura and Veronika Vadovicova get an outstanding chance to claim the lead in the championship rankings. In-form Kitamura needs only 110 points to jump ahead of John Ellis, and unbeaten Vadovicova requires 355 points to overtake Carrie Jane Stander, or in other words a top 5 race finish in Pu Luong. Kind reminder: only a runner’s best five results are taken into account for the championship ranking. This will be Kitamura’s fifth race already, and Vadovicova’s fourth. 

The Japanese runner, who has made an incredible leap in performance since he entered the trail scene at 9 Dragons early last year, is a big favourite to win VJM and his first ATM points race as well. After numerous second places, third places and other places of honour, it would also be well-earned for the motivated Uglow runner. This Saturday he will be up against a local hero who last September also pushed him into second at VMM: Hung Hai. Still little known outside his native country, Hung Hai is fast and has no issues with heat & humidity, a problem for several athletes at this event. At VMM over 100km, the gap between the Vietnamese and the Japanese was 18 minutes. Kitamura is stronger now than then, but reports claim that Hung Hai has certainly not become slower neither! 

When two dogs fight for the bait, a third may sneak away with it. At VJM, that is certainly a possibility with the likes of Tomohiro Mizukoshi, Ander Iza Rekakoetxea and David Longo also on the start list. Manila-based Spaniard Ander Iza Rekakoetxea led our championship standings early on in the season after great performances in 9 Dragons (3rd on 50 miles) and Cordillera Mountain Ultra (4th - ahead of Kitamura and Ellis). An upset stomach and infection forced him to quit early in Dalat, but now he is fully recovered and ready to try and claim his first ATM win of the season and edge closer to the top of the ranking again. The story of Mizukoshi is a little similar. After a massive 2018 season, topped by a win in Bali and a third place in the championship, the sympathetic Japanese runner began well again with third place in Tahura Trail, until injury forced him to the sidelines. He returned in Sungai Menyala but clearly not yet in the best form. Now we are seven weeks later. Given Tomohiro Mizukoshi won a super hot 70k in Bali last October against a stellar field, the climatic conditions at VJM should not bother him as much as it does perhaps for other North Asians. 

Other known podium candidates are Quang Nguyen, Thanh Lam Nguyen, Julien Petit, Sam McGrath - who was excellent in Sungai Menyala in Malaysia a month ago -, Vincent Casanova and Sergei Schlasev. 

Moving on with the women’s 70k race. Shanghai-based Slovakian Veronika Vadovica has been so overwhelming in all her races this season - three big wins -  that it is amazing not everyone is convinced she will also grab the race victory at VJM. The reason is the presence of Vanya Cnobs, a Belgian runner living in Singapore. Known to be extremely quick on the short distance and on the road, Cnobs is making moves into longer trails and VJM 70 will be a first big test for her competitively speaking. There are several dark horses in the women’s race as well. Also from Singapore, Evelyn Lek won VMM 100 and TMMT 100 last year and that says plenty enough. Hong Kong’s Filipino runner Fredlyn Alberto of Team T8  is very motivated to do well in her third ATM points race so far this year. Alberto was third on the 50/50 of 9 Dragons and fifth at CMU. Malaysia’s Siokhar Lim is not afraid of heat and technical trails. She won V Trail in Laos and scored 2nd on the Penang 100k last season, which she finished as fifth in the ATM Championship.  Another podium candidate is France’s Nathalie Cochet, and will we see the emergence of a local female star as well?

ATM will be reporting live from VJM - connectivity permitting - all day on Saturday from the start at 4 am.