The Filipino ATM season continues this weekend in Bukidnon in Mindanao with the Mount Kalatungan Trail Ultra. A successful Candidate Race in 2020 just before the covid pandemic brought everything to a halt. Four years went by, and the team around Grandmasters Ramie and Rene Amigleo from the Ultra Runners Republic are delighted they can finally put the event back on. For non-Filipinos, Mount Kalatungan is a stratovolcano, albeit with no historical eruptions, and a serious altitude of 2860m making it just a bit smaller than Mount Apo near Davao. The ATM points race is 85km long with the ascent of Kalatungan located in the first third of the race. Runners better save some energy for after the big climb, in other words.

Bukidnon is the region roughly between Davao and Cagayan de Oro, from where lots of new trail running talent has emerged in the past few years. The Amigleo brothers did a lot for the sport there. Today, Yoyong Sacayle is arguably the best-known local top runner, Mary Joy Sumanda another up-and-comer. Both were ATM Finalists and top ten placers last year, and both will toe the start line in Pangantucan this weekend.

ATM Championship overall leader Julie Ann Morales will be aiming to make it three victories out of three races this season. Morales has been on a roll with wins on Mt Apo and last month at Bagtit Ultra. Another top performance would put her already in a very comfortable position to make Team Pilipinas for this year’s ATM Final. Her main competitors for the victory will be the aforementioned Mary Joy Sumanda, Ann Jilian Pulanco, Shally Yuson, Anne Maridol Rongavilla and Chloe Base. Keep an eye out for Sumanda, who on home soil could as well take her first ATM race win.

In the men’s race, Yoyong Sacayle will have to take care of Bagtit 100 winner Maynard Encormal, amongst others. Encormal looked solid three weeks ago, hopefully he has fully recovered from the effort. Sacayle ran the 9 Dragons 50/50, though, albeit rather anonimously. Perhaps that was calculated to be 100% for this weekend? On paper, Encormal and Sacayle look like the ones to beat, but there’s many other podium contenders in the race, such as Jonathan Pido, ATM Championship points leader Sean Aying, Florence Alave, Freddie Blanco, Henry Joe Cottilon and Ariehmar Bardoquillo.

ATM will be reporting from the Mt Kalatungan Ultra event on the usual channels.

Local Bukidnon runner Mary Joy Sumanda could go for her first ever ATM race win this weekend

Yoyong Sacayle: can he keep Maynard Encormal at bay ?

Maynard Encormal was a great winner at Bagtit 100 just three weeks ago

ATM Points Leader so far: Julie Ann Morales. Kalatungan is already her 3rd race this season

As usual, the Malaysian Asia Trail Master season starts a bit later and typically BUTM is the first big appointment in the country. Alternating with The Borneo Miler, BUTM is once again a points race event with the spotlights put on the traditional 100k and 50k races. The trail stars from Sabah are all expected to run - based on the start list - and also vice-2023 ATM Champion Alessandro Sherpa has planned to open his ATM account this weekend.

BUTM is often called the ‘little sister’ of the classic TMBT in September, but it is definitely wrong to underestimate the event as such. The typical ingredients of a Sabahan trail race are there - deep jungle alternating with ethnic village and river crossings, Kinabalu views and humid conditions. Trails are generally more runable than some other rainforest races, but that also implies hydration is essential in this race. Plenty of runners each year drop out due to major cramps. As TMBT, BUTM is mainly a daytime race with the start at 6am. That means the races are very scenery-friendly and is probably why they also keep attracting a lot of non-Sabah runners, including foreigners.

Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin both warmed-up for this weekend’s home event in Brunei a fortnight ago. At the BDUTM loop race, they both won their respective races and especially Singgin impressed by beating local hero Sefli Ahar in the final kilometres. He is known to be at his most competitive at long and tough ultras, but Singgin seems to be changing tactics and working on developing his running speed. This Saturday he will be running the 50km and not the 100km. The same applies for Milton Amat and for Alessandro Sherpa, which confirms the recent trend that sees elite trail runners shying away from the ultra distances in favour of running more medium distance races. In theory, the trio of Amat-Singgin-Sherpa are the most likely victory contenders, but we won’t be surprised if they first need to chase the traditional fast-starter Sefli Ahar first again. And let’s not forget that the more runable BUTM course suits the Bruneian more than the BDUTM loop two weeks ago. Chris Timms could get himself in the mix, too. The Singapore-based Britain has been away from the ATM scene for a while due to professional obligations, but we remember how fast he is on 50k. Plenty of new names on the start list of nearly 300 runners for the 50k, so who knows someone pulls a surprise , too.

The women’s 50km could see a battle for victory between Jess Lintanga and Shamiera Auther, with also Kona Laiu as a standard contender for the prizes. Last time out at TMBT, Lintanga still had the better of the young Auther. Plenty of unknown names on the start list here as well.

Looking at the 100km ultra, Daved Simpat appears to be the one-to-beat, certainly if he shows the same kind of pace and grit as in winning TMBT half a year ago. Simpat had arguably his best competitive performance in five years on that day, and if he can replicate that form again it is hard to see who could follow him. Hisashi Kitamura won’t be there, the usual Japanese challenger will be running Tokyo Marathon this weekend instead. Perhaps Vietnam’s young Nguyen Van Chung can make Simpat nervous? Van Chung is an up-and-coming talent in Vietnam who recently won the Prenn Ultra Candidate Race in Dalat. What can Davao’s Rexell Aguirre do at BUTM 100? Aguirre looked great winning the 100 miles race at Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in Thailand last October. Malaysia’s Moo Sat, Bernardo Linus and Gustin Tiam will be in the mix for the podium, as well as Japan’s Atsushi Ito. Fuminori Kondo is another Japanese runner who is returning to the ATM scene after several months out due to injury sustained at Mantra 116 last year.

Rejlen James is the obvious favourite in the women’s 100km race. Last year she won the so-called Borneo Triple, which includes BUTM 100, The Borneo Miler and TMBT 100. However, it did seem to take something out of her, too, as she ‘only’ came fifth at MMTF and the ATM Championship Final turned out into a competitive disappointment with James even failing to reach the top ten. Presumably a few months of rest will have done her some good. Celeste Teo and Adelinah Lintanga are logical podium contenders, and let’s see what the younger generation like Pei Fen Goh and Lynda Marylyn can do this weekend.

ATM will be reporting live from the BUTM event from start to finish on our usual channels.

Alessandro Sherpa starts his 2024 ATM campaign this weekend

Milton Amat: will 2024 be the year the Sabahan scores the championship title?

Rejlen James: unbeatable on home soil last year

Shamiera Auther: among the 50k favourites this Saturday