Ultra Trail Chiang Mai is the second of the 4 Trails Thailand this year and promises a continuation of the battle between the Thai Siangpure Team and Team Uglow Malaysia from Sabah. Over two months ago, Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin controlled The Moon 100 seemingly easily, until the lights went out for SInggin with less than 3km to go before the finish on the beach of Koh Phangan. Milton showed his sportsmanship in that race to protect and take care of his struggling buddy, but had to accept that Job Tanapong still managed to catch and pass them to take the win. In the context of the Asia Trail Master Championship, we will still need to see how that may or may not affect the eventual outcome in December, yet there is no doubt that Milton Amat did the right thing that day. In any case, Amat already rebounded by dominating Mantra Summits Challenge 116 in Indonesia last month. Moreover, Milton Amat has never looked stronger than this year and some already call him the ‘real’ ATM Championship favourite. He still has some catching up to do on points compared to Hisashi Kitamura or John Ellis, but remember in the end only the best five results count anyway. For the young and upcoming talent Job Tanapong the unexpected victory at Moon 100 seemed to have also provided a boost of confidence. Whereas he was happy to stick with his Siangpure teammates for almost 80km during Moon, Tanapong did not wait for anybody during the Ijen 100 race four weeks ago. It was an impressive and interesting win because Moon 100 and Ijen 100 are completely different kinds of trail races: the former is extremely technical, the other almost entirely runable. This weekend, Sukrit Kaewyoun is also at the start in Chiang Mai. Best-placed Thai in the ATM Championship so far -4th- he will for sure his experience to try and score another podium. More contenders for that are Wasin Monghkolmalee, Mads Louring, and Guillaume Degoulet. There’s also several Japanese runners as yet unfamiliar to ATM - so let’s wait and see!

Wipawee ‘Cartoon’ is the woman to beat this weekend. Also for her it’s a real home race and unless there is someone we don’t know it is hard to see who can keep her away from victory. But of course, to finish first you first need to finish and that is something she failed to do in Moon 100, despite being in the lead after 80 km. Fredelyn Alberto went home with the honours that day and the Filipino is also competing in Chiang Mai, albeit on the 60 km distance. Remember Alberto suffered an ankle injury at Ijen 100 a month ago and she does not want to jeopardise the rest of her season. Uglow’s Jassica Lintanga is a podium candidate wherever she starts, but the Sabahan has always been more competitive on the medium than on the long distances. Montha Suntornwit is exactly the opposite: it cannot be long enough for her - winner of UTCR 230 last year and already two third places in ATM races this season. Two more Malaysians certainly also will be in the mix for the podium: Christine Loh, who should find Chiang Mai better suited to her running characteristics than Koh Phangan, and Siokhar ‘Steel’ Lim - currently fifth in the ATM Championship. Last but not least, we shoudld certainly mention Habiba Benahmed. Originally from France and now residing in Hong Kong, Benahmed has been getting back to her best form throughout the past months and it will be interesting to see what she can do in Chiang Mai. Another Hong Kong ace, Jcy Ho, will stick to the 60km as well this weekend.

Cartoon Wipawee won the 70km at Ijen Trail last month

Team Uglow Malaysia with Milton, Jess and Wilsen

Jcy Ho from Hong Kong will be one of the favourites on the 62km this weekend

Malaysia-based Japanese Uglow runner Hisashi Kitamura has become a very serious contender for the Asia Trail Master Championship by winning the Magnificent Merapoh Trail in Malaysia in breathtaking style. After “getting lost” just after CP1 and losing 15 minutes to race leader Alessandro Sherpa, he did not hesitate to start a ferocious chase in pouring rain and caught the Italian by km 41 at CP 4. Knowing he needed nothing else but a win to boost his ATM points total, Kitamura left CP 4 before Sherpa and never looked back. It was astonishing bravery. A year ago, Kitamura was beaten by the same Alessandro Sherpa in this race by one-and-a-half hours.

The weather deteriorated in the middle of the night and caused flash floods. What was already very tricky in river one early in the race became outright dangerous for the next big river crossing between CP4 and CP5. Kitamura was on such a “runner’s high” that he did not care about anything but pushing forward. He entered the river when Sherpa and Ong decided two-three minutes later that it was '‘too dangerous”. Kitamura later admitted he had to swim across against a strong current that “even pushed him back 50 metres” at some point. There was no question that his chasers made the right decision to stop and turn back. The race organisers, who were very reactive to the sudden circumstances and deserve a lot of credit for that, agreed that it had become too dangerous for runners to cross that river and re-routed the course back to a road that also led to the next checkpoint (7). The only alternative would have been to stop the race. For a brief moment, people got concerned about Kitamura’s well-being as he was the only one who had gone in … and through the river. The flamboyant Uglow runner emerged on the original trail and was in good spirits. Still in the lead, the adrenaline pushed him forward on the road diversion and he increased his advantage to safe margins. “I am faster than the marking!” he shouted when the ATM reporter drove by him in a car. The course markers, who had an excellent response time to the crisis as well, were indeed pushed to the limit by the speed of the race leader. Meanwhile, Steven Ong, the 2017 ATM Champion who suffered from injuries for over a year, was having the best trail race in a very long time and kept on pushing himself. He dropped a fading Sherpa and Chris Koelma and looked set for a great second place.

However, one side effect of the sudden re-route was that the organisers did not have enough time to move the CP 6 aid station from the original location to a new location. At least not for those front runners. As such, they went without aid station for 20 km. Poor Steven Ong, who had accidentally lost one of his bottles early on, began to dehydrate and got very dizzy. Experienced as he is, he decided it was medically unsafe to continue running. Alessandro Sherpa’s blister had also gotten worse, and without a chance to still get a podium, he also decided to DNF at CP 8 (km 80). By that time, Tomohiro Mizukoshi and Seiji Morofuji had already overtaken him and would contest the podium between themselves. Kitamura was far ahead.

When he approached the finish line back in Merapoh town, he even made time to wait until the cameras were in place for his meanwhile trademark ‘flying karate kick’. It was the apotheosis of what was for sure the trail race of his life so far. The progress - through hard work AND analysis - he has made in just 18 months is astonishing.

For Hisashi ‘Karate Kit’ Kitamura it is his 2nd ATM points race victory of the season after Vietnam Jungle Marathon in May, but surely this one is most important. Kitamura earns 50 points today to boost his total to 2575 points and claims the championship lead for himself at the expense of John Ellis (2525 points).  The pressure is now on the Hong Kong-based Australian star… and of course also on others such as Milton Amat, Job Tanapong, Mohamed Affindi, Alessandro Sherpa and so on.

Steven Ong, who was running in a superb second place till CP8, retired from dehydration. Due to the reroute, one checkpoint (6) was left out for the front runners as there was no time to put up a new aid station so quickly. As such, they ran 20k without aid. Alessandro Sherpa repeated this explanation also for his own DNF at the same checkpoint 8 at km 80. Sherpa had led the race until km 40 when Kitamura caught him back quite surprisingly. Already then, Sherpa was struggling with a blister (see our video footage on facebook). That blister got worse and with podium eventually out of the question, he decided to save energy for Borneo TMBT in 3 weeks. Of course, another DNF means he still only has the 550 points from Penang Eco in the 2019 bag… It’s not over yet, and Sherpa proved last year how resilient he can be when the going gets tough but it is high time for him to put in another result.

Tokyo’s Tomohiro Mizukoshi scored his second consecutive podium in TMMT: second again in 11:45 approx. Mizukoshi had an unpleasant experience in one of the early river crossings at nighttime and even thanked Steven Ong for saving his life. Tomohiro apparently got swept away by a strong current in the first river crossing early on. That water level had also risen much higher than normal. One more testimony that the race organisers did the right thing by redirecting the route away from the rivers as of CP4, even if that meant one checkpoint less (for front runners) and more road sections. 

Third place was also for a Japanese runner: Seiji Morofuji, who managed to stay ahead of Malaysian Tan Chong Jen and Ong Wei Keong from Singapore. 

Estzer Csillag is an impressive winner of the women’s race in 12:07 no less. The Hong Kong-based Hungarian made her debut in an Asia Trail Master points race, and crossed the finish line as third overall! Malaysia’s Izzah Hazirah scored a great second place by virtue of a strong second part of the race. Not far behind was Chong Mei Tze, a newbie in trail running and also from Malaysia. Lynil Martinez is experienced enough to handle tough situations and fourth place did not come as a big surprise, but it is nevertheless a great personal result given that she left behind runners such as Carrie Jane Stander and Been Lee.

Live video of Kitamura’s arrival at the finish

Summary of first part of the race till CP 4 (km 41)

Even at km 64, Hisashi Kitamura, by no means certain of his gap over the rest, was unafraid to do his kick!

The men’s top five podium of the final edition of TMMT 100

Podium of the women’s 100km minus race winner Eszter Csillag who had to leave earlier

This weekend the Asia Trail Master Championship series continues in Malaysia with the fifth and final edition of the Magnificent Merapoh Trail, also known as TMMT. Event organiser Ten Senses announced it would be the last time the event will be held under its ‘Running Project’ umbrella before its team moves to Baling, another venue in the north of the country where there is a need to protect the local environment from logging and mining industries. Since the beginning of TMMT, Merapoh has witnessed a blossoming eco tourism scene that has benefited the local villages’ economy and stalled the deforestation and destruction of the many natural caves in the area, which is on the fringes of the vast and famous Taman Negara National Park. After five years and objectives reached, the management of the annual trail running event and all the expertise it entails is now ‘given’ to the local people. So, while TMMT will cease to exist, there will still be trail running in Merapoh next year!

The overarching meaning of the event has apparently not gone missing. Many runners this weekend are returning to the Merapoh trails and caves, including last year’s entire men’s podium: Alessandro Sherpa, Tomohiro Mizukoshi and Hisashi Kitamura. All three will once again be favourites for the 100km race that starts 3 hours later than usual, though, at midnight. A year ago, exactly those top runners - and others - were argueing that it was a pity they ran for 9 hours through the night and therefore hardly saw anthing at all during the entire race. TMMT is a fast course, namely. Sherpa’s winning time was 11:26 last year. The course is flattish and has a few spicy and technical sections, yet there has always been ’tempo’ in this one. Even despite the 3 km long river crossing, which aside from the four cave crossings is another main feature of this race. The Italian will be looking to win again and collect another 500 championship points. After a quiet start of the year, recovering from surgery, Sherpa returned convincingly in Penang Eco 100k two months ago. He is counting on a strong second part of the season to bring him in a position to retain his ATM title, a battle that is likely to go all the way to the last race: TNF Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping on 14/15 December.

But incidentally, Hisashi Kitamura is the one who can claim the points lead in Merapoh. Currently on equal footing with John Ellis (2525 total points each in five races), the Japanese Uglow runner requires a win to boost his total, though. His fifth and “worst result” is 450 points for Sungai Menyala - where he finished second. He has not exactly been resting a lot since his fantastic second place in Mantra Summits Challenge, a technical mountain race that normally does not suit his characteristics as a runner. How much is left in the tank after what has already been a very long and tough campaign for him? His compatriot from Tokyo, Tomohiro Mizukoshi, was faster than him in Merapoh last year and also in the recent 100 miles race of Penang Eco. For Mizukoshi, TMMT is indeed the kind of race that he excels in. Now in fifth of the ATM Championship, Mizukoshi can become third as it will be his fifth result of the season.

What can 2017 Asia Trail Master champion Steven Ong do in Merapoh? It is a race he has not yet done, and Steven is still working his way back to the top after prolonged injury in 2018. If he is in good shape, Uglow Malaysia’s Steven is of course a dangerman for anyone on a 100k distance.

Other podium candidates we know are Thibault Bertrand, third in Ijen 70k three weeks ago, and Grandmaster Yim Heng Fatt, who is always doing well in this race.

In the women’s 100k, it seems quite an open race with Carrie Jane Stander once more toeing the start line this season. The Canadian is third in the ATM championship and only needs 56 points to overtake Veronika Vadovicova for second place again. One of her competitors for the win in Merapoh is likely to be Been Lee, also known as Bikini Been since Moon 100. The South Korean finished second in that very tough race in Thailand and especially showed a lot of grit in that one. There’s several Koreans on the start list, in fact, so we may get to find out some new faces as well. The same applies for the many Malaysians with little to no previous track record in ATM. From Philippines comes Lynil Martinez and she was 6th in Sungai Menyala and 7th in Penang Eco 100k.

Connectivity can be challenging in Merapoh, but our team will be reporting live from the event throughout Saturday on our social media channels.

ATM Champion Alessandro Sherpa is aiming for a second victory in Merapoh

2017 Champion Steven Ong is on the way back. He will be in Merapoh.

The Great Malaya Trail across three states in peninsular Malaysia is the latest new Candidate Race for our 2020 Championship series, scheduled for 19/20 October. Organised by the experienced crew of Team Pacat, the Great Malaya Trail will be a technical race with over 6600 hm elevation gain on the 100 km, making it rather unique for the country - known for its rainforest but unlike Indonesia without the abundance of high mountains. The centre of the event, which also offers 50km, 30km and 16km options, is Taman Negeri Kenaboi, Negeri Sembilan, as finish location for all four race categories.

The event will cross 3 state lines on both the 100k and 50k options: Pahang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, and offer 95% of pure trail. Along the way runners will climb several hills, cross streams and rivers and enjoy local hospitality. The event will also offer convenient hotel stay in the Kuala Lumpur Sentral area, from where shuttle bus services can take runners to their relevant starting point ( Kem Ghafar Baba, Kampung Kemensah, Selangor for 100k runners, Pangson Trail Head, Selangor, for 50k runners).

Registration is open via the quality service provided by Checkpoint Asia.

We are proud to present our latest partner in the 2019 Asia Trail Master Championship series: Milestone. Experts in lighting, the Milestone compay produces headlamps that please every trail runner who uses them.

Milestone is indeed a lighting company based in Osaka, Japan. The founder, Shuhei Nishioka, was born in a family that has specialised in lighting business since as far back as 1920. Milestone has mainly focused on headlamps using a Warm White LED (natural warm color) to get better visibility when snowing or getting foggy. Its uniqueness distinguishes Milestone from other brands in the sector.

New in the line of head lamps is the Trailmaster. A very fitting name! The company spent 3 years to produce Trailmaster and is strictly made for serious trail runners. It also matches with a running cap, especially designed to go along with the headlamp and its strap. Milestone proudly produces the Trailmaster in Japan. Every single piece is tested by their professional engineers before packaging.

Below you can checkout the lookbook on Milestone products and deliverables, and you can even order the trail master and other goodies directly online.

Milestone aims to be present at selected ATM promoted events still in the course of the 2019 ATM Championship, including the Final in Taiping. For further inquiries please contact info@asiatrailmaster.com .

Milestone lookbook online

Milestone products for purchase online

Milestone Promo Song:

milestone MS-F1 "Trailmaster" PV from milestone on Vimeo.

A big and very impressive winner at Ijen 100 this year: Job Tanapong of Team Siangpure in Thailand. The 28-year-old youngster , who works as a coffee barista, scored his second ATM points race victory of the 2019 season after Moon 100. It brings his total of Championship points to 1000, and with 2 race victories out of 2 races he does better than John Ellis and Hisashi Kitamura, to name just a few. Job Tanapong will be a serious contender for the ATM Championship victory later this year! 

At Ijen 100 nobody was able to match his quick pace. Tanapong finished the 109 km (!) m and 5000 hm in 14:17 without breaking too much sweat, although he admitted the final 20km were tough. 

Central Javanese newcomer to the trail scene, Rachmat Septiyanto, who was 4th in Mantra Summits Challenge three weeks ago, scored a sold second place today in 16:50. Septiyanto is still young and certainly talented. Mantra 116 was very technical, Ijen 100 is very runable and he does great in both! Third place went to Thailand as well, with Sukrit Kaewyoun crossing the finish line together with Sri Sritabitha Wahyuni . Another fine race for Sukrit means he will cement his top five ranking in the Championship.

After four points finishes and one DNF, the surprisingly versatile Asuka Nakajima has conquered the top of the Asia Trail Master Championship ranking at the expense of Veronika Vadovicova after her 100k victory in Ijen. Based in Jakarta, the smiling Japanese runner is having a fantastic debut campaign on the trails and has already won three A-races plus a third place. She now totals 2025 ATM Championship points, 45 more than Vadovicova, who has scored four race wins but one was a B-race with fewer points. Suddenly, Nakajima is the benchmark as the women's championship is beginning to heat up! In Bondowoso, Nakajima stayed ahead of an in-form Sri Wahyuni, who scored yet another ATM podium but is still chasing that very first victory. Before the Ijen race, another contender has most chances of grabbing the points lead, but Fredlyn Alberto dropped out of the race with a twisted ankle after around 40 km. Alberto adopted a better safe than sorry approach and did not want to jeopardise the rest of her season. Another strong newcomer in the Asian women’s scene is Thailand’s Wipawee Cartoon. Second behind Vadovicova in Tsaigu 80 last April, Cartoon was an unfortunate DNF while leading Moon 100 after 80 km. At Ijen, she decided to go for the 70k rather than the 100 and smashed that one to grab her first ATM points race victory, albeit the 70K B-race. On the 100, behind Nakajima and Wahyuni there was a nice battle between Montha Suntornwit and Melanie Hingpit, decided in favour of the Thai UTCR 230 winner from last year. Hingpit did lose a lot of time by missing a key marker halfway through the race, though.

Thailand’s Job Tanapong did the job very smoothly and bagged his second ATM points race win!

Asuka Nakajima is the new ATM Championship leader after winning Ijen 100

Rachmat Septiyanto is a welcome new face in high level Indonesian trail running. Coming from Solo.

Wipawee Cartoon decided to go for the 70K B-race, which she won. Still, she misses out on important ATM Championship points

Photo: teelakow

You can now watch our own race video summaries of the Moon 100 in Thailand and Penang Eco 100 in Malaysia, two races that produced quite some excitement and may later prove vital for the outcome of the Asia Trail Master Championship this year. Most of the video content was already published previously on our facebook page in separate clips, but the below is the entire race summary with some previously unreleased footage on top. Enjoy the show!