Travelling to North Korea remains difficult and exclusive, but a number of specialised travel agencies in China have managed to take the hassle out of a DPRK trip. The mysterious 'hermit kingdom' itself has been opening its gates to the outside world bit by bit in recent years - and especially so for runners. The capital city's Pyongyang Marathon has already obtained a certain cult status on the road calendar, and convinced trail runners can now also look forward to the first ever trail race in North Korea in the brand new Masikryong Ski Resort area on 4 October 2015.

The Masikryong Marathon offers four distances to runners: 42km, 21km, 10km and 5km. Start and finish is at the resort's hotel and the course is of course quite hilly (see course map below). Via the China-based agencies Experience North Korea in Shanghai (for international runners), and ZX Tour in Beijing (for mainland China runners) the North Korean race organiser is allowing no fewer than 200 'foreign' runners to come and take part in the unique event.

Moreover, we are happy to announce that the Masikryong Marathon has requested Asia Trail Master Candidate Race status for its upcoming inaugural edition. The Asia Trail Master series is entirely non-political, and we believe this is a positive signal to help foster the integration of North Korean runners into the Asian and international sports community. Stumbling blocks for Masikryong to become a full member of the 2016 or 2017 ATMs race calendar will still need to be overcome, but we applaud the good intentions.  

The trip to North Korea for English-speakers will commence in either Shanghai or Beijing and has been designed by Experience North Korea, an online travel agency that offers safe and economically friendly tours throughout North Korea. Its itineraries are filled with those ‘once in a life time’ experiences and the goal is to provide clients with a unique and unforgettable trip, the likes of which only a handful of adventurous travelers experience every year.

Experience North Korea is the result of a professional union between respected members of the travel and tourism community. Individuals who were inspired by their own life changing experiences during their travels to the DPRK, so much so that they have now made it their mission to  promote regular cultural exchanges in order for people to learn more about North Korea through firsthand experiences. 

Specific details about the itinerary and  the 3, 4 or 7-day programme can be read here. 

You can sign up either via Asia Trail Master, easy if you already have a profile account, or via Experience North Korea itself (making reference to ATMs to ensure you receive a participant's gift). When you sign up your will be asked for your preferred payment method, and we will come back to you in due course to complete the registration procedure for this unique event.  

Video on Youku (mainland China)

As everybody knows Nepal was hit by a severe earthquake last April, resulting in many casualties and enormous damage to the infrastructure of the small developing country in the Himalayas. More than ever the country needs tourism and other incoming travel to help the local economy to recover from the devastation. We are therefore happy to hear that the organisers of the oldest trail running race in the country, the Annapurna 100 in Pokhara, are going ahead with the event scheduled for 10 October. The Asia Trail Master series lends it full support to the event. 

The 9th edition of the Annapurna 100 will see some changes to the race course that will be confirmed in the course of August. Of course, Pokhara - a short domestic flight or longer bus trip away from Kathmandu - is still the event town. You can check the race route here . 

The registration for the event has been opened. You can sign up via the event website (payment through PayPal) or also via the Asia Trail Master registration platform. Note that the registration fee includes several items, such as :

• Includes US$20 ACAP permit
• Official race t-shirt
• Fee supports Nepali runners to travel and compete
• Medal
• Certificate of participation
• Free shuttle from finish point to lakeside/hotel points
• Classic dal bhat lunch party on 11th with prize distribution
• 11 Check Points with mineral water, bananas and light food, basic first aid support

Participants who finish the 100km and 50km distances will score points for the Asia Trail Master ranking. A 100km finish of course also gives you 1 point in your quest to become a Asia Trail Grandmaster. 

The inaugural edition of Grand Wutai Pilgrimage started at  04:30 a.m. of the 25th of July in Wutaishan (Mount Wutai), a scenic zone in Shanxi Province northwest of Beijing, China. Actually, it was a trial race to prepare for the 2016 version, which will be a  formal member of the Asia Trail Master series.

Race report by Xiaozhao Zhao
Photos courtesy of race organiser and Xiaozhao Zhao

The course is 72km long with total ascent of approximately 3900m, and the time for cut-off is 14.5 hours. To maximize the experience of the inaugural runners, the organizer, Huipao Sports restricted the entries to merely 50 100km+ finishers. The race is so popular that the registration ended within 3 days, and the competition was set up as a duo race. 

The race is famous and hotly debated among the Chinese trail running community because of its spot: Wutaishan (Mount Wutai) scenery zone. It is the most famous place for Buddhism Pilgrimage in North China with great natural views and historical folktales  from nearly 2000 years ago. Wutai Shan is considered as one of the 5 classic spots of Buddhism in the world.

From the aspect of natural landscapes, Wutai Shan is the highest part of North China, with altitude ranging from 1540m to 3060m above the sea level. In summer, almost all the area is covered by meadows with many kinds of colorful flowers and pine tree forests. If the weather is good, you can see the ridgeline and peaks tens of kilometers away under the pure blue sky, just like the desktop of Windows XP. As for the course itself, there are 5 peaks along it named “East Peak”, “West Peak”, “North Peak”, “South Peak” and “Central Peak” and this is the origination of the “Wutaishan”, which literally means “Mountain Range with Five Peaks”. The meadow takes up 60% of the course, while the rugged trail and forest path take up 30%, leaving pavement road and stairs for only less than 10%. In summer, if it downpours, some part of the low country may turn out to be creeks and streams with cold water—ideal for soak your worn legs and feet for a rest. However, most of the course is comfortably soft and runnable.

The main risk also lies behind the amazing natural beauty. Due to its altitude and mountainous terrain, in summer, the weather may change drastically and quickly without any warning signs. The sunshine with breeze will switch to shower with thunderbolts and blowing wind with a big drop of temperature of more than 10 degrees. For reasons of safety, and also for offering a optimal experience of friendship and cooperation, the 50 runners were requested to race in pairs (2 persons in a team) and ready to help each other all the time according to the regulation.

On the other hand, Wutai Shan is well-known for its diversity in culture, especially the long history and wide distribution of Buddhism. There are many temples and pagodas in this area swarming with Buddhist monks and nuns. Every year, it attracted tens of thousands of tourist in the summer alone. Several elaborately decorated temples sits along the course and some runners stopped to pay their respects to the Buddha during the race in and out of the temples.

The race is well organized. The logistics are sufficiently supplied. The course is well marked and measured. The Supplying point offers a wide array of food and drink such as bread, banana, fruit sauce, nuts, plain water, flat coke and sports drinks (see photos below). Volunteers are patient and motivated, and were highly applauded by all runners. The organizer also appointed 2 experienced elites to work as “bodyguards” for the runners at the last checkpoint, until they finish the race or quit. Rescue teams was standing by during the race at designate checkpoints and supplying points. Meanwhile, there is a long list of compulsory gears to ensure the safety of the runners and volunteers, and the runners’ gears were checked before, during and after the race.

To protect the vulnerable ecology there the organizer do not offer any one-time used items such as paper or plastic cups, and did not allow runners to take bottles of drink or food with package away from supplying points, and any violation led to elimination of the whole team directly. Good news, is, all the runners abided by this “leaving no trace” rule. After the race, some volunteers were appointed to check nevertheless and collect the course signs and any garbage along the course.

14 teams finished the race in 15hrs and 38mins (the organizer postponed the cut-off time at the finish during the race), while 10 teams were eliminated because of failing to meet the cut-off time or volunteer dropping of at least one runner of the team.

The last 4 finished teams was stroke by the heavy rain and thunderbolt at the sunset after the whole sunny day with cozy breeze.

Along with his teammate, Mr. Guangya ZHANG, a 2014 UTMB finisher hit the finish line the 10th, and recalled his fear of the thunder: ” Around 19:20, when I was 500 meters to finish on a ridge, I saw a terrible thunderbolt kilometers away but within my sight. I was very scared! ”

Allan TAN, a runner from USA but has lived and worked in Beijing for years also ran the race with his French Friend Cedric. They said that the race is well organized along an amazing beautiful course and would like to continue their pilgrimage in 2016.

The podium ceremony is also unique and with its own socializing characters of friendship and mutual support. All the finisher would be given a full metal head sculpture of the Buddha weighs about 3 pounds (1,5 kg)! A senior monk was invited by the organizer to give the prize to the winning team. The other prize was given to the runners by the volunteers and even the DNFs received a racing T-shirts (but without the Buddha trophy), while the runners gave the volunteers their certification sheets of devoted service as appreciation.

Duanyang Bi and Fengyun Zhu were the fastest duo in this successful start of the Grand Wutai Pilgrimage. To note is also the first place in the mixed team category of Xiaoyan Lin and Zichen Wang, the winner of the Dalian 100 earlier this year and currently 15th in the Asia Trail Master ranking.

The Grand Wutai Pilgrimage will next year also feature a solo race, and looks set to become a big hit on the Chinese trail running calendar, and Asia Trail Master calendar as well. The precise date of the 2016 edition will be announced in due course, but late July is the estimate. 

Top results

1. Duanyang BI & Fengyun ZHU  10:45:28

2. Qiuyu MENG & Jun WANG  11:27:16

3. Chengliang GU & Haichun GU  11:51:25

4.  Zichen WANG(M) & Xiaoyan LIN(F)   13:08:00 ((1st of mixed team-male and female)

The third mainland China race in this year's Asia Trail Master series takes place in one of most popular tourist destinations of the Southwest. The Dali 100 is scheduled for 31 October and international runners can now sign up exclusively via our website here. 

Dali is the capital city of the Bai ethnic minority in Yunnan Province, and is often referred to as the original backpacker mecca in China. Tourism is super important for the population, and it is indeed worth it to pay a visit to Dali. Central to the city is the big Erhai Lake, which is surrounded by high mountains. It is therefore no coincidence that the Dali 100, and also the 50km, trail race cover quite a bit of altitude. 

Organised by the same people as the Dalian 100 in April, Dali 100 is also one of the most popular races in mainland China and has sold out all of its mainland China entries (800) in less than 24 hours! Only international runners can now still sign up, and score a solid number of Asia Trail Master points by finishing this race.  Please take note that this race is not meant for beginners. The organisers demand a certain level of experience:

• 100km: must have finished 1x 100km trail race already, or 2x 50km trail races, or 3x road marathon in less than 5 hours 
• 50km: must have finished 1x 50km trail race already, or 2x road marathon in less than 5 hours

Map of the 100 km race

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Profile of the 100 km race

The organisation committee of the  inaugural Altai Ultra Trail in Russia on 22 August has regrettably informed us of the need to postpone the 100km and 50km race distances to next year. Official permits have only been received for the shorter distances, which do not meet the requirements for entry into the Asia Trail Master series. However, as a token of support for this new and exciting event, the Altai Ultra Trail will receive the label of  2016 Candidate Race.

The event organiser of the new Ultra Thai Chiang Mai in Thailand has informed us the event will be postponed to next year. Originally, the 150km ultra race was scheduled for 4 to 6 December but the plan has had to be shelved due to official permit issues in a key area of the running trail. 

All participants who have already signed up for the event will be contacted and receive a refund. More information regarding the 2016 date will become available in due course.