We are happy to announce BIX Hydration as a new partner of the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship series. Bix is the world's first recovery hydration tablet with 11 vitamins and minerals improving your recovery and allowing you to perform at your best! Exactly what you need if you run a lot of races.

Each BIX tablet contains a.o. vitamins C and E, Q10, magnesium, zinc, potassium, BCAAs, calcium, sodium, and bromelain.

As the website reads, Bix Hydration was founded by Vlad Ixel, a professional trail and ultra runner who has won over 100 running races around the world ranging from 5k road races to 100km trail races. ​ Vlad is also an accomplished triathlete - previous world number one age grouper for the 70.3 ironman distance. For years Vlad has been using hydration tablets for recovery right after exercise, he would take 4-6 different tablets to give his body the right amounts of vitamins and minerals for the best recovery until he decided to create a recovery hydration tablet that had it all. ​ After 2 years of research and development with a top sports laboratory in Germany, he finally launched the world's first hydration recovery tablet, Bix Recovery!

Have a look for more details on the Bix website, and read the testimonials of a.o. ATM Champion John Ellis. Bix can be ordered directly on the website, but is also available via our retail partner Gone Running in Hong Kong (and online).

Echigo Country Trail has become a classic event in our Asia Trail Master Championship series as it has been a points race since 2016. The colourful 53km race in the Oguni Forest Park outside Nagaoka in Niigata has also grown in the Japanese trail scene itself with over one thousand participants in the last two seasons. The 2020 edition will build onto the success of the past five years and is set for its traditional weekend on 20/21 June.

Echigo Country Trail will, naturally, appeal to the faster trail runner, but sometimes those also get a small shock during the race. The course is not as easy as it may look on paper. Some of the forest climbs are very steep and even have ropes for those who need. The elevation profile is well-balanced with the final big bump coming after km 41.

The event is known for the enthusiastic support it receives from the local community around Nagaoka. For those coming from outside the country, Echigo offers a fine glimpse of rural life in Japan. This is emphasised when you stay in the traditional guesthouses or join the communal bathhouse. A welcoming show in the local town hall on Saturday afternoon is another feature participants have come to appreciate a lot. As a result, the opening ceremony now has a separate registration process that will be launched in May. The reason: there’s just too many runners now who join Echigo. This comes highly recommended and we will remind runners of this add-on come May.

To get to the Echigo Country Trail, you need to make your way to Tokyo or to Niigata directly. A few countries in Asia have direct flights to Niigata. Otherwise, it’s easy from Tokyo as well. Take the shinkansen to Nagaoka. There you could book accommodation, too. Shuttle services are foreseen between Nagaoka and the event venue at the Oguni Park.

New in 2020 is also that after five years, Hiroaki Matsunaga has left Echigo and no other than Yuta Matsuyama, who won Ultra Trail Chiang Mai in Thailand last August and has run Echigo several times himself, is now the new race director of the event.

The race registration is now open. Note that only the 53km is valid for ATM Championship points.

Yuta Matsuyama, winner of UT Chiang Mai last year, is the new race director of Echigo Country Trail

We are delighted to announce that Cameron Ultra will be the first Malaysian points race in the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship on 25/26 July. The very popular event, organised by BOLT Events, will celebrate its 5th anniversary this year and it will be the first time runners can score points for the ATM Championship and Grandmaster Quest on the 100 km race category. Registrations open today and are expected to be completed very quickly, indeed.

Cameron Ultra takes place in the Cameron Highlands in the state of Pahang, and is one of Malaysia’s biggest tourism drawcards. Apart from its tea plantations, it is also one of the country’s coolest weather spots. The event offers routes that are a mixture of jungle section and tarmac section for all categories with additional gravel section for 60km and 100km categories. All categories will traverse through Mount Jasar (1684 meters) while the 30km, 60km and 100km categories will also traverse through Mount Berembun (1825 meters). In the context of ATM, only the 100m race category is of relevance for points. The winner of the 100km (m/f) will score 500 points for the Championship and each finisher collects 1 point for the Grandmaster Quest as well.

Cameron Ultra is known among trail experts as quite runable with breathtaking tea plantation scenery, yet throughout jungle sections expect trails to be technical, covered with tree roots, slippery ground, high steps, steep ascends and descends and several rolling hills. Not for nothing the 100km category has a total elevation gain of close to 5700 hm. Runners must take a cut-off time of 30 hours into account, which is flexible but still forces you to keep moving. If you come to Cameron for the ATM Championship or the Grandmaster Quest, the event’s tagline is well-chosen and no coincidence: “be prepared be very prepared” !

Apart from the race itself, the event offers pre-race activities such as Cultra Market, Cultra Tea Party, Local performances and more. ​ Cultra provides fun, excitement, and a unique experience to runners, family, friends, and spectators alike. Registration for this Malaysia flagship event is expected to go quickly, also given the time of year - end July - is excellent in terms of positioning.

Registration by ballot opens today. The duration for ballot registration is from 10th till 31st January. Successful applications will be notified during the duration as well. There will be a few waves of approvals. Each approval will be given their respective dateline to complete the registration by making payment. Failure to do so, your slot will be forfeited and given to those in waiting list.

Highlights of 2019 edition of Cameron Ultra

In the past few months we have received a lot of interest from India in our Asia Trail Master Championship series, which is a clear sign that the trail running sport has taken off in the large South Asian country. Today we are happy to announce Deccan Ultra as a 2021 ATM Candidate Race, scheduled for the weekend 8/9 February. The second edition of the event features four race categories of which the longest measures 115k and 4850 hm ascent. There’s also an 80km (3500 hm), 55km (2100 hm) and 30km (1370hm).

Deccan Ultra is set up by Grand Indian Trails and with Nupur Singh and Sandeep Kumar has two directors who know what distance and trail running is about. The races are on trails nestled deep within the Sahyadri Range, offering mesmerizing views of the Deccan Plateau. The Deccan Ultra route includes the highest peak of Maharashtra, Kalsubai at an altitude of 1646m and also the toughest triple-trouble forts in Sahyadri; Alanggad, Madangad and Kulanggad, commonly called the AMK.

The route is a mix of easy-ascent slopes as well as treacherous rocky outcrops overlooking the valley below. To climb the near-vertical slopes there are iron ladders along the course. The 115km and 80km category circulates around the Bhandardhara dam and involves climbing 5 forts and the Kalsubai peak

To get to the event, the easiest international connection is Mumbai - 165km away , which translates in a 4h car drive. A shuttle bus service from Mumbai is available in the early morning of 8 February. Local event accommodation is centred around the Akolemaza basecamp, which is a campsite. Please take a look at the event website for further details on logistics. The button link is below, as well as the race registration, which is still open.

We are happy to announce our first ever Candidate Race in Sarawak, the Malaysian state to the south of Sabah and Brunei on the island of Borneo. Jagoi Heritage Trail Run is an ambitious project to the benefit of the Bidayuh ethnic group and its 3rd edition is scheduled for 4 October 2020 in Balai Kampung Duyoh.

Organised by Grit Event Management, Jagoi Heritage Trail Run will feature three race distance categories of which the 50km is the main event. Those who prefer shorter can opt for the 20km and 6km races. This is an ancient rainforest trail, but still with elevation gain of nearly 1300 hm for the 50km. This elevation comes very much at the end of the race with the ascent of Bung or Mount Jagoi.

Jagoi Heritage Trail Run takes  place on the Bidayuh ancestral ground of Jagoi located in Bau and is 50km away from the state capital of Sarawak, Kuching. That is also the international gateway. The lead objective of the event is encouraging the local residents to embrace ecotourism as another source of income. Bidayuh is a collective name for several indigenous groups of people living in the southern part of Sarawak. The name “Bidayuh” means “people of the land”. They are the second most numerous group of Dayak tribe after the Iban, and they also have their own language (see YouTube clip below).

For more details on this 2021 ATM Candidate Race, please check the website and join the event’s facebook page.

Those runners with more time on their hands could explore the Jagoi Heritage Trail Run as final preparation for the Malaysian points race in ATM, Ultimate Trails of Penang, the following week.

Overview of the ATM Trail TV Live Broadcast in Taiping, the afternoon before the big final race of the 2019 Asia Trail Master Championship: TNF Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival. All videos are the raw cut from the live broadcast on the Asia Trail Master Facebook page on Friday, 13 December.

Live TV doesn’t come just like that. The afternoon heat in Taiping affected the recording equipment but nevertheless there remains plenty of relevant footage for the archives. With special thanks to Lim Chun Chai for the camera assistance.

Part 1 with Alessandro Sherpa and Ruth Theresia, the outgoing 2018 ATM Champions

Part 2 with Robert Butcher, Aileen (from Borneo TMBT), Izzah Hazirah and Cheryl J. Bihag

Part 3 with 9 Dragons RD Steve Carr, Andrew Chinalpan, Kristian Joergensen and Koi Grey

Part 4 with Hisashi Kitamura, Veronika Vadovičová, Asuka Nakajima and Tomohiro Mizukoshi

Part 5 with John Ellis , Jcy Ho , Nhon Trong and Quang Nguyen

Negros Oriental in the southern Philippines will once again play host to a points race in the Asia Trail Master Championship as the 3rd edition of Puncak Tanawan Mountain Run enters the race calendar on the weekend of 6/7 June. Puncak Tanawan, which will be held in conjunction with a local town fiesta celebration, thereby replaces the ill-fated Mt Talinis Mountain Ultra from last year.

Race Director Rhodel Sarande offers runners a beautiful 60 km race with scenic views of Puncak Tanawan Natural Park going up to the mossy forest of the Balinsasayao mountain range. The majestic Malindog waterfalls system "Tres Marias Waterfalls" awaits you as you run across the ridges of Puncak Tanawan. The town of Sibulan functions as the start/fnish venue. The event also has 42k and 15k options and even a Vertical Kilometre on Saturday morning. The main 60k race is scheduled to start at 2 am on Sunday early morning and has a cut-off time of 16 hours.

To get to Negros Oriental you can fly from Cebu, Manila or Davao domestically to Dumaguete, the main city on the island. As always in the Philippines, the races may not be that long but often have technical sections that require your attention. Stay tuned for a course recce of Puncak Tanawan at the end of February.

Registration opens on 15 January:

Puncak Tanawan online registration

Welcome to Ultimate Trails of Penang in the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship series! The 3rd edition of the event by Endurance Nature substitutes its elder sister Penang Eco in our series and is scheduled for 10/11 October 2020.

The Malaysia programme for ATM 2020 will see a quite lot of changes compared to previous years. The classic Borneo TMBT Ultra remains and its upcoming 10th anniversary already been announced as the new Malaysia SuperTrail, but both Sungai Menyala Forest Trail and Magnificent Merapoh Trail (TMMT) will not be organised this year. With UToP - the abbreviated title of Ultimate Trails of Penang - taking the place of Penang Eco as well, it means we will effectively have four new Malaysia events on our calendar, which we will all reveal in the next few days. Plenty of new trails to discover in other words, and on top of those there will be a handful of 2021 Candidate Races in peninsular and East Malaysia to boot!

Seow Kong Ng and Allan Lee, the men behind Endurance Nature, are proud of Ultimate Trails of Penang and have every reason to be. When ultra legend Seow Kong gets involved, it will always be tough but participants in the previous two editions of UToP have indeed been excited about the race routes. The main event is the 100 km, which has approx 6000 metres of elevation gain. The precise course for the 3rd edition in October will be announced later this month. Of course, the event also has shorter race distance categories as well for the somewhat less ambitious.

As UToP takes place entirely on the island of Penang itself - unlike Penang Eco - this event is very family-friendly and easy-to-get-to. Main city Georgetown has an international airport so there is no immediate need to travel to Kuala Lumpur first. Should you wish to do so nevertheless, there are plenty of domestic flights from KLIA to Georgetown or you can just take one of the frequent and comfortable long distance busses.

Below you can watch the video highlights of last year’s edition.

Registration for 2020 will open soon. Meanwhile, block the date in your calendars!