Apparently unhappy it did not work out in Philippines last weekend, John Ellis has now formally decided to start the 100 miles race of Ultra Trail Panoramic by boarding the plane to Thailand this Thursday afternoon. The ATM Championship points leader is worried the last race on the calendar next week, TNF Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival, suits his main challengers better and cannot wait to wrap things up beforehand. Hisashi Kitamura won’ t be there to stop him this time (he is running Izu Trail Journey, the Japan SuperTrail in his own attempt to still boost his ATM total) , but the Sabahan tandem of Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin are determined to make it hard for the Hong Kong T8 ace.

Siangpure Ultra Trail Panoramic has been redesigned for this year and is now totally centred around Pai in the northwestern corner of the country. Both the 100 miles and the 100k race offer points for the ATM Championship and the Grandmaster Quest. It is not exactly and easy miler , with a total elevation gain of 8800 hm. The latter increases the victory chances of the Malaysians against the faster runner Ellis. Last October, in fairness, Milton Amat did not have the speed to compete with Ellis and Kitamura. But on technical mountain and thick jungle trail, Milton Amat has been absolutely dominant the whole season. Precisely why John Ellis fears him more than Hisashi Kitamura: the ATM Final in Malaysia next week is Amat’s cup of tea, especially if it is wet like last year.

Currently third in the ranking, Milton can still hit a total of 2700 ATM points if he wins Panoramic and also wins MMTF. Ellis has 2650 today and that means he needs 51 points to get the job done. As we analysed last week before The Punisher, Ellis has a 425-pointer as his ‘fifth and worst result’ so a win (550 points) or a second place (500 points) would suffice for him to jump out of reach by taking his total points tally to above 2700. Hisashi Kitamura can only reach a maximum of 2675 anymore and needs to win Izu and MMTF for that.

In conclusion, Milton Amat and Hisashi Kitamura need to score race wins this weekend, and have to hope Ellis won’t come second. That’s why all Malaysians are hoping for youngster Wilsen Singgin to keep up and protect Amat knowing that next week all bets would be off. Footnote: by collapsing on the beach of Koh Phangan 3km before the finish of Moon 100, Singgin jeopardised Amat’s championship chances as Job Tanapong took advantage of the situation to take that race win ahead of Amat. Points Amat is surely missing now, but all the more reason for Singgin to do his best in defence of his friend this weekend! And let’s not forget Singgin was the big winner of Ultimate 230 in Chiang Rai last October….

Other potential spoilers for Ellis could be local top runners Sukrit Kaewyoun, Nikom Tongjai and Yotchai Chaipromma. Sukrit himself will be running the best he can to get into the top five of the ATM Championship again. The difference in points between him, Tomohiro Mizukoshi and Koi Grey is minimal.

Note that since last year, the ATM championship regulations stipulate that only runners who have scored minimum 1 ATM result in 2019 can still score points in UT Panoramic and Izu Trail Journey. This measure is meant to enhance fairness between the title contenders and prevent one of them from, say, recruiting Jim Walmsley or Francois D’haene to come and run and take points away from the other title contenders.

The women’s Asia Trail Master Championship is bound to continue all the way to MMTF next week. We analysed the situation thoroughly last week, and The Punisher did not affect the title challenge of the five protagonists. Hong Kong’s Jcy Ho ran herself in the top five, though, and she might be keen to stay there but she can no longer score the required points to become the new ATM champion.

In UT Panoramic, three of the five title contenders will square off against each other and - in fact - not for the first time this season. The 4 Trails Thailand series have proven to be a good form determiner this season. While points leader Asuka Nakajima is biding her time and waiting to see what happens, Christine Loh, Fredelyn Alberto and Siokhar Lim will go at it on the 100 miles. It’s a tough ask one week before the ATM Final… For Fredelyn Alberto it will even be her first miler ever! Contrary to Christine Loh, who won Penang Eco 100 miles in 2017. Loh and Alberto have been competing fiercely over the past few months and in the last two races it was the Malaysian who got the upper hand, albeit only just. Either one of them has the best chance to enter next week’s Final at MMTF as the championship points leader and therefore woman-to-beat. However, to finish first you first need to finish and Siokhar Lim is the only one who has proven not to suffer from multiple tough-races-in-a-row.

What about the fifth contender for the title? Veronika Vadovicova will be running Izu Trail Journey on Sunday (preview coming tomorrow).

As usual we will be reporting live from Pai this weekend starting tomorrow on our ATM Facebook Page.

Christine Loh could do a monsterjob for her ATM Championship chances this weekend

Fredelyn Alberto has not given up on her ATM Championship ambitions just yet

The dark horse: “Steel” Lim will run her own race and is capable of producing the upset

Smart move? Sukrit Kaewyoun goes for the 100k race win and the 500 points that come with it

One of the big returnees in the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship series is Ultra Trail Koh Chang, perhaps best known abbreviated as UTKC. The 5th edition of the popular southern Thailand event is set for 15/16 February 2020 and is back on the calendar after a one year break. In fact, the event did not take place at all in 2019 and it is therefore no surprise that most places are already sold out. UTKC is renowned for having some very technical hilly jungle sections and for the heat, yet it easily draws up to 2000 runners spread out over several race distance categories of which the 100km (A race) and 70km (B race) matter for the ATM Championship points and the Grandmaster Quest.

To get to Koh Chang, you need to make your way to Trat. You can do that via highway bus from Bangkok or via a short domestic flight. From Trat you take a ferry for roughly 45 minutes to reach Koh Chang island. There’s plenty of guesthouses and hotels in the area. For details on logistics, please contact teelakow and check the event website.

Thailand’s Jay Jantaraboon and Sanya Khancia were the big winners of the 2018 100km race, with an Indonesian top 3 in the women’s: Ruth Theresia, Shindy Patricia and Lily Suryani. A year earlier, it was Malaysia on top with Steven Ong who carried Wataru Iino the finish in the men’s, and Tahira Najmunisaa who was at the peak of her running form to claim the women’s race. That year Kim Matthews came to the foregound as well and won the 70km race. It does look like winning UTKC is a good omen for the rest of the women’s ATM championship.

In the first quarter of 2020 the spotlights will shine on various islands of the Philippines quite a few times. Culiminating in the Cordillera Mountain Ultra on 7 March - the country’s SuperTrail in the Asia Trail Master Championship series - no fewer than three Candidate Races will be held in the months of January and February. Local runners therefore have no excuses not to be in shape for CMU!

Last week we already announced the Philippine Mountain Run in Kibungan, Luzon on 11 January and the Mt Kalatungan in Bukidnon, Mindanao on 1 March, this week we are happy to add the Alicia Ultra as a 2021 ATM Candidate Race on the island of Bohol on 23 February. This will be Bohol Island’s first trail ultra marathon, happening in the beautiful town of Alicia, 3 hours away from the province’ capital Tagbilaran City. Bohol is the island to the east of Cebu.

The trail course is set over the luscious green rolling hills of the Alicia Panoramic Park also known as the Binabaje Hills, oil palm plantations, river banks, rice paddies, and the Batong Puti Cliffside Park. The highlight of the race is the chance to gaze upon the panoramic views of the Binabaje Hills at sunrise. Though the highest point of the route is just about 350masl, the short steep ascents, slippery descents, and sun‐exposed terrain offer a good amount of challenge even to the most seasoned trail runner.

The 50KM Trail Ultra will start on Sunday, 1:30AM at the Alicia Gymnasium followed by the 25KM Trail Run at 3:30AM. The 12KM Fun Trail will start 5:30AM.

More details can be found on the official website and facebook page.

Hisashi Kitamura has won the race he had to win to retain his chances to become Asia Trail Master champion and prevent John Ellis from becoming it last weekend at The Punisher on Babak Samal Island in Davao, Mindanao, Philippines. A hot Uglow runner led practically the whole race and finished in a blistering time of 8:49.21. It is Kitamura's third ATM race victory of the season after Vietnam Jungle Marathon 70 and Magnificent Merapoh Trail in Malaysia 100. Local favourite Arnie Macaneras was strong as expected and stayed with him for about 20km on a dry and runable course. Macaneras claimed second place at the finish in 9:35 (quite a big gap!). Hong Kong's ATM Championship leader John Ellis, who was trying to clinch the title in this race but had to win to do so, had to settle for third place in 10:35. That's a huge margin to Kitamura. In the post-race interview (see the video on our facebook wall), Ellis confirms his Japanese rival was just too fast and at the end he preserved energy for the next two final races to come. Third place means no extra championship points for Ellis, which means it ain’t over yet! He stays on 2650. KItamura anyhow could not improve his total tally in this race and stays on 2575. 

Sabah’s Milton Amat will draw a lot of courage from this going into his own crucial race next week in Thailand: Ultra Trail Panoramic. In it, he might meet Ellis while Kitamura will aim to win Izu Trail Journey in Japan. 

Arnie Macaneras finally delivered a strong result that has been in the tank for a long time. He could become one of the runners to watch out for in the 2020 ATM season. He is not alone: 19-year-old Godwin Lachica Mirar from Bukidnon on Mindanao was equally impressive by finishing in fourth place while another local Davao runner, Joemar dela Cruz, arrived as fifth. Canada’s Michael McLean secured sixth place.

The women’s race was dominated by Hong Kong’s Jcy Ho, who scored her second ATM race victory of the season after VMM 70. The podium was completed by very experienced Grandmaster Cheryl Bihag and Manilyn Mamugay, a former winner of The Punisher.

A great 2nd ATM race win for Jcy Ho! She consolidates her top 10 ranking in the ATM Championship

The two race winners of the Punisher 80: Jcy Ho and Hisashi Kitamura

Arnie Macaneras delivered on all his promise: 2nd place!

19 years old and fourth place: Godwin Mirar!

Cheryl Bihag can never be underestimated: a well-deserved second place for arguably the most experienced female filipino trail runner