Ultra Trail Unseen Koh Chang was the first big Thai hit in the Asia Trail Master series and we are certainly happed that after a one-year-hiatus the event in the south of Thailand is back on the agenda - and on the Asia Trail Master Championship calendar. UTKC was sold out very quickly and already several months ago proving that runners, too, were hot hot hot to return to this technically challenging but great island race. The event still features the traditional 100km and 70km as points races, and also offers shorter categories for the less ambitious. In a period where many races in Asia are getting cancelled due to the corona virus epidemic, we can warm ourselves up for a hot battle between Sanya Khancai, Hisashi Kitamura, Arnie Macaneras and between Joanna Kruk, Fredelyn Alberto and Montha Suntornwit.

The 100km is the classic distance and is known to be very technical in parts, as well as very hot in daytime. Sanya Khancai knows very well as he chased Jay Jantaraboon all the way to the finish two years ago. Khancai, now age 45, is one of those very talented trail runners in Thailand who is hardly known outside his home country. Hisashi Kitamura and Arnie Macaneras will certainly learn quickly this Saturday. The Japanese Uglow ace is still seeking his best shape after a stomach bug prevented him from training properly since Tahura Trail a month ago. Macaneras is entering uncharted territory: UTKC will be his maiden race outside the Philippines. For those wondering: Macaneras is the guy who put himself between Kitamura and John Ellis at The Punisher race at the end of last season.

Tomohiro Mizukoshi is opening his ATM season this weekend as well, and this is a race that - for once - he has been preparing exclusively for for quite some time. When fully fit, Tomohiro can cause the upset at UTKC - especially if he gets away well in the first kilometres.

Nikom Tongjai was a top 10 finisher in the ATM Championship last season and you do not achieve that without reason. A solid trail runner throughout, Nikom is one to pick up the spoils when the others drop out.

In the women’s we are happy to see the return to the ATM Tour of Joanna Kruk after more than a year. The police officer from Adelaide won this race back in 2017 and in fact has gone undefeated in our circuit with race victories in UT Chiang Rai, UT Panoramic and Borneo TMBT as well. Who can stop Kruk? If she is still as fast as in 2018, it might be an uphill task for the likes of Fredelyn Alberto, Ann Jilian Pulanco, Montha Suntornwit and the other women. Fredelyn Alberto is very keen to get her ATM campaign going and word is she has been working on her pure running speed in the off-season. A 100K race always needs to be run first, so who knows Alberto gets it together against Kruk just like she did in Moon 100 against Cartoon Wipawee on Koh Phangan last year.

The 70km on the programme of UTKC is also offering ATM Championship points as well as a Grandmaster point for all finishers. The winner scores 370 points for the Championship, and the hot favourite in the men’s is Hong Kong-based Britain Ryan Whelan.

We will be covering the UTKC races live via our social media channels, in particular facebook, as usual.

Three years after winning a first time, Joanna Kruk is once again a hot favourite to win the women’s 100k

Arnie Macaneras launches his 2020 ATM campaign with UTKC

Will Sanya Khancai be able to do another salto like he did when winning UTCR 2018?

We are happy to introduce Monkeys Trail as the second Thai points race in the 2020 Asia Trail Master Championship series. Organised by Teelakow, which also brings you UT Chiang Rai, UT Koh Chang and Moon 100, this event takes place on the popular holiday island Koh Samui on 16/17 May. The points race for the ATM Championship and the Grandmaster Quest is the 100km category.

This year all the events under the ‘3 Islands Trail’ are part of the ATM Championship, topped by the Thailand SuperTrail, Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in October. The Monkeys Trail will set up its arena at the Teeparatpittaya School on Koh Samui and has 4 am on Saturday as the starting time for the 100km, which features over 5000 metres of elevation gain.

To get a feeling of what the Koh Samui trails are like, have a look at the below teaser video. Registration is opening very soon.

Credit: teelakow officials

John Ellis is the new men’s Asia Trail Master Champion following his fourth victory of the season at Ultra Trail Panoramic 100 miles in Pai, Thailand. The 42-year-old Australian living in Hong Kong was untouchable last Saturday and left his main rival for the title, Milton Amat from Borneo, behind on the relatively runable course in mostly cool temperatures. Ellis added 125 extra points to his ATM total and with 2775 points he is out of reach for both Amat and Hisashi Kitamura with one race left on the calendar, next weekend’s TNF Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival in Taiping.

Ellis, who is part owner of the popular apparel brand T8, did not want to wait till next week’s ATM Final, fearing its technical 84km course suits his opponents more than him. Only a week ago he suffered a setback, though, when both Kitamura and even local Davao runner Arnie Macaneras beat him in The Punisher on southern Philippines’ Babak Samal Island. As such, Ellis went back home empty-handed, but quickly shifted focus on the Thai race and the 100 miles race, a distance he probably negotiates better than most runners in Asia. Before the weekend, the Sabahan duo of Team Uglow Malaysia, Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin, were optimistic about their chances to deny Ellis the first two places on the podium. That would drag the ATM title challenge to TNF MMTF and to Milton’s favourite type of trail terrain. But last Saturday, Ellis already quite early looked to have the race under his control, even when fellow Australian Damian Smith, who was not a ATM Championship contender, was still up front.

Thailand’s Yotchai Chaipromma actually led the race in the early stages. That was surprising, yet Chaipromma is one of those Asian runners who has been improving his performance throughout the year. Damian Smith followed and took over at some point, while Wilsen Singgin and Milton Amat were unexpectedly laying back. In fact, Amat had to let Singgin go and had difficulty keeping up with Ellis.

Our beloved Sabahans were apparently not in their element on the trails around Pai. Things got worse when reports came in of Singgin having hurt his knee around halfway. A DNF was being rumoured. The winner of Ultimate 230 in Chiang Rai in October kept on going, however, and eventually would still finish fourth. Now, Singgin’s participation in MMTF is in doubt. The 28-year-old is a raw diamond for trail and ultra running, but doing a 115k road ultra six days before an important trail 100 miler seems a recipe for getting injured. The knee issues of course also prevented him from challenging Ellis when the latter spurred on his engine.

Damian Smith began to feel the effort after 100km, and when Ellis caught him he had no real response anymore. John Ellis therefore had the perfect situation to celebrate his ATM Championship title in the final 50km of the race. He arrived in Pai after 20 hours and 20 minutes, relieved that all his efforts this season had eventually paid off. His current total score of 2775 is also a new ATM record. Throughout the season, he focused mostly on the SuperTrails and collected the 50 bonus points in each, which helps even if you don’t win the race. This is where Ellis had the better of especially Kitamura this season. His Japanese foe beat him twice, but in standard races and not in the SuperTrails.

Milton Amat suddenly found an extra gear in the last 25km and nearly caught Damian Smith still at the finish. The Sabahan will compete with Kitamura and Mizukoshi for second place in the ATM Championship in Malaysia on Saturday. Japan’s Yasuo Watanabe came into the finish behind Wilsen Singgin as a great fifth, indicating his leap in performance.

The women’s ATM Championship was always going to be decided next weekend, but after UT Panoramic we only have three out of five contenders left. Malaysia’s Christine Loh won her third consecutive Thai race and once again by outpacing Fredelyn Alberto. Unfortunately for the Filipino runner, that also meant the end of her title ambition. Nevertheless, she was delighted by finishing her first ever 100 miles despite hallucinations and what have you. Loh, who dropped Alberto after CP3 already in Pai, boosted her points total to 2700 and that’s a number Alberto cannot reach anymore. Even if she wins MMTF - not unlikely given the course - she can maximum hit 2689.

Also Siokhar Lim is mathematically out of the title challenge following her fifth place in Panoramic. “Steel” struggled a bit in the final sections and had to accept Pimprapai Ninsuwan and Montha Suntornwit ahead of her. Mostly this season it was the other way around. Siokhar Lim had a nice price of comfort, however, as she was announced as the winner of the 4 Trails Thailand series ahead of Alberto and Ninsuwan.

Asuka Nakajima and Veronika Vadovicova are the only women left who can dethrone new points leader Christine Loh next week in the final race. Nakajima needs to win in any case, while Loh and Vadovicova have a few more options.

Christine Loh won for the third time in a row and is the new points leader going into the final week of 2019!

Fredelyn Alberto was happy to come second in her first ever 100 miles

Pim Ninsuwan was a fantastic third place: her first podium in an ATM points race

Siokhar Lim won the 4 Trails Thailand Trophy, but lost the chance to become Asia Trail Master Champion

Yasuo Watanabe ran a great 100 miles race and finished fifth no less in 23:53

Also for Grandmaster and Sabah ambassador Jess Lintange it was the first 100 miles race ever: she finished in seventh place!

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.

John Ellis defeated Hisashi Kitamura in a straight battle that went on for 60 km to the finish line. Milton Amat and Sukrit Kaewyoun had been distanced, and the two trail stars went head-to-head for the Asia Trail Master Championship lead and the prestiguous race win in Chiang Rai. The battle goes into the history books of ATM and Asian trail running in general, as Ellis regains the Championship lead with a 75-point gap over Kitamura going into the last six weeks. Milton Amat was third in Chiang Rai, but the Sabahan did well and is anything but count out yet for this year’s championship campaign.

Christine Loh from Malaysia scored her second ATM race victory of the season and is now a serious challenger for the ATM title. One of her rivals for the title, Fredelyn Alberto, had to be content with second place.

Wilsen Singgin won the Ultimate 230K race ahead of female champion Xie Wenfei.

The Classic 125K of Ultra Trail Chiang Rai, the Thailand SuperTrail event in this season’s Asia Trail Master Championship series, promises to be an all-out battle between the current top 3 in the points ranking and the number 6, who’s in better shape than ever. Hisashi Kitamura, John Ellis , Milton Amat and Sukrit Kaewyoun are set to treat all trail running fans across Asia and beyond to a fast & furious, but undoubtedly fair competition like we do no see enough in this sport. Kitamura is the Championship leader with 50 points advantage over Ellis, but the Hong Kong-based Australian has better improvement margins than his Japanese contender from Team Uglow Malaysia. T8-runner Ellis can boost his total points tally by no fewer than 125 points in Chiang Rai this weekend if he wins the battle. That would put him on top and the others on the backfoot. (note: as per ATM rules, only a runner’s best five results are taken into account for the total ranking. Ellis’ current 5th best is ‘only’ 425 points for 5th in CMU and 3rd in SMFT. A win in Chiang Rai earns a runner 550 points. By comparison, Kitamura’s 5th best is already a 500-pointer, so he can earn a maximum of 50 points only). Hisashi KItamura may be in the lead, but his foe - whom he considers also his ‘big example’ - John Ellis holds the key to the next chapter of the 2019 Asia Trail Master Championship. If Kitamura wins and Ellis finishes second, the points gap between then will still be reduced to just 25 with all still left to play for in the final couple of races of the season. If Kitamura does NOT win, and Ellis arrives back in Singha Park in the top 3 of the race he will always be the new points leader unless Kitamura comes in ahead of him in second place. Meanwhile, the hungry dog waiting patiently in the shadow to run away with the highest prize bone could indeed very well be Milton Amat.

The Sabahan grabbed his most prestigious and by all means best victory of his trail career in his home race Borneo TMBT 100 five weeks ago. Already for months, Amat is displaying incredible maturity, speed and resilience on the trails of the ATM circuit. In the Championship, he chases the two others by 125 and 75 points respectively, and even though in no scenario can he claim the points lead, just like John Ellis Amat has margins for improvement that Kitamura just does not have. MIlton Amat therefore looks like a Kingmaker who could still be crowned King himself at the end of the final running battle in Taiping, Malaysia, on 14 December. For the latter to happen, though, for sure he better beats his title opponents in Chiang Rai to avoid seeing the points gap open too widely.

Home favourite Sukrit Kaewyoun did not have the pace in the early season to compete for the race victories, but has made a step forward in the last two months that was proven with his podium result in UT Chiang Mai ahead of e.g. Job Tanapong. It will be interesting to see what the strategy of Sukrit will be in his attempt to get on the podium of his country’s SuperTrail and get back in the top 5 of the Championship ranking, a spot he lost two weeks ago when Koi Grey scored third place on Mt Talinis in Philippines.

In the women’s 125K Classic race in Chiang Rai, Fredelyn Alberto, Christine Loh and Ces Wael will contest the victory and take as many points as possible in the absence of Championship leader Asuka Nakajima. The latter may have a more comfortable position than her male counterpart and compatriot, but not making the journey to Thailand could turn out to be a miscalculation later on. Nakajima can never lose her points lead this weekend as her 136-points advantage is too large for Alberto to beat, but the Filipino can bring it all down to a mere 13 points with a race win and then she would still have good improvement margins in the same manner as described above for Ellis and Amat. Turn it around and if Nakajima were here and win UTCR 125, it could have been ‘books closed’ for many female contenders except the inevitable Veronika Vadovicova, who is waiting in the trenches for Izu Trail Journey and TNF MMTF Malaysia. Alas, the Championship competition for women remains exciting as well. Christine Loh can even join that debate in full if she scores a second race victory after taking UT Chiang Mai end of August. The same goes for another Filipino up-and-comer, Ces Wael, who only a fortnight ago took her maiden win at the Mt Talinis Mountain Ultra. Ever improving, we are excited to find out what Wael can do on the ultra distance of 125k in a country not hers and a trail that is generally runable. Not in contention for the title, but always a podium candidate if she doesn’t run passed herself is Jess Lintanga. For the home crowd in Thailand, hopes for the podium are being put on Natthanan Matthanang and Kanlaya Srinantawong.

A win or Milton would be desirable: he needs the points more than Kitamura and Ellis at this moment

Fredelyn Alberto is looking to bridge the gap to Championship leader Nakajima to just 13 points

Jess Lintanga will aim to go once more out of her own comfort zone on the 125K race distance

The 3rd edition of Ultra Trail Chiang Rai in the north of Thailand brings together a lot of trail talent from across the continent including most of this year’s Asia Trail Master Championship protagonists. It is not for nothing the Thailand SuperTrail. On the programme are two A-races, the Ultimate 230km - the longest points race in the Championship - and the Classic 124 km (race preview tomorrow). Contenders-in-need of extra bonus points - the 100 miles+ bonus - are gambling to tackle that mega distance in 60 hours. Among them ATM Champion Alessandro Sherpa, homeboy Job Tanapong and Tomohiro Mizukoshi. They are joined by other top runners such as Noy Gentoleo, Wilsen Singgin, Abimanyu Shunmugan, Yotchai Chaipromma and Robert Butcher, who knows the terrain in Chiang Rai very well and was on the podium of the 122K race here two years ago.

Sherpa is not convinced he is making the right choice because he would be a top candidate to win the 124K race. It is certainly brave that he wants to give the 230K - a distance even he has never done before - a try. If he were to manage to win it this weekend, it would be close to a miraculous comeback within a time span of just a few weeks. Many had already written the Italian off for this ATM season, after two consecutive DNFs in Mantra Summits and Magnificent Merapoh Trail, but a second place on Mt Talinis gave him the mental boost he probably needed a bit. A win in the Ultimate 230K is worth 600 ATM Championship points bringing his total to 2075. That’s a standard race win away from equalling Hisashi KItamura’s current points lead…

Thailand’s Job Tanapong is in a similar situation after a somewhat disappointing UT Chiang Mai result - fourth. The NKOTB scored 1450 points so far in three races, 25 less than Sherpa. Tanapong also still has UT Panoramic on his programme before the final in TNF MMTF in Malaysia on 14 December. But at the race briefing this afternoon, Tanapong claimed he is opting for the “slow-pace” 230K instead of the “fast-pace” 124K as he is carrying a hamstring injury. If he fails to finish this weekend, it will be all or nothing for him in the aforementioned last two ATM Championship races of the season - just like Veronika Vadovicova in the women’s.

Tomohiro Mizukoshi was a great third in last year’s championship and currently ranks fifth after what has been a tough season for the Tokyo runner - also plagued by smaller and bigger injuries now and again. Chiang Rai should be a course that suits him, though, and the distance should also not deter him - see his Penang Eco 100 miles last June - second and his best race result of 2019.

Jag Lanante, the fantastic Filipino based in Thailand who won the 230 last year in just over 37 hours is unfortunately not starting the race tomorrow. due to injury.

The women’s Ultimate 230K also has an impressive list of starters and podium contenders. China’s Xie Wenfei is tipped by many as the biggest favourite for the victory, but the colourful runner from Guangdong has also never been close to that distance. This year, she was 3rd in Ultimate Tsaigu last April - the Chinese partner race of UTCR. Thailand’s Montha Suntornwit won the race a year ago and is certainly a candidate to repeat that feat. Habiba Benahmed is not afraid of ultra long distances and usually keeps a solid pace throughout, just like Malaysia’s Siokhar Lim - one of this season’s new ATM Grandmasters and even #4 in the Championship ranking. Been Lee from Korea is not to underestimated neither.

We will be reporting live from the Ultimate 230 in Chiang Rai as of the start at 5 am on Friday morning. There is also a live tracking of elites via GPS provided by Dot Track Asia.

Job Tanapong

Montha Suntornwit

Xie Wenfei

Wilsen Singgin

Habiba Benahmed

Siokhar ‘Steel’ Lim

Japan’s Yuta Matsuyama Matsuyama has won the inaugural edition of Ultra Trail Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. He reached the finish line after a very wet race with a few section shortcuts due to flooding between CP6 and CP9 ahead of Sabah’s Milton Amat, for whom the course was probably a tick too runable, despite the foul conditions. Matsuyama this season already scored a 7th place in Echigo Country Trail in Niigata last June. Japanese runners are doing very well in Asia Trail Master races this season, and we are looking forward to seeing more from Matsuyama as well! For Sabahan Milton Amat, that’s another 450 points for his championship ambitions, but he will be looking to win his next few races to stay within range of Kitamura and Ellis. His Uglow teammate Wilsen Singgin started the rain race very well, but then missed a marking and lost terrain to the front runners.

Sukrit Kaewyoun ran a superb race and stayed ahead of his teammate and race favourite Job Tanapong. Sukrit Kaewyoun is third in the finish and boosts his ATM Championship total points tally. Job Tanapong had to be content with a fourth place today and probably had hoped for more. Much to his credit, he was not looking for excuses and just stated “it was not my day today, I will be back stronger”. His Thai compatriot Yotchai Chaipromma came in closely behind him in fifth. 

As stated above, just like last week in Merapoh in Malaysia, pouring rain caused havoc on the trails around Chiang Mai. Just like then, the organiser in Thailand did very well in quickly setting up a re-route halfway through the 100k race when running conditions became too risky. However, yesterday in Chiang Mai a lot more runners had already passed CP 6, where the shortcut got implemented, and including the first six women of the race...

It is unfortunate that no immediate action was undertaken to correct or at least clearly establish the ranking order of the women’s race at that point in time. This caused a lot of unnecessary confusion and even anger at the finish.

What we know from the checkpoint e-data is that six women passed CP 6 and all six also arrived in the finish in Chiang Mai later on. Christine Loh was first and logically therefore the real winner of the women’s race. Early leader Fredelyn Alberto was second and acknowledged that Christine passed her in the late stage of the race. Alberto, who has previously said to run ‘only’ the 62 km race category, is the new Asia Trail Master Championship leader as a result of this second place in her fifth points result of the season. She takes over from Asuka Nakajima, who has four results so far. Hong Kong-based French woman Habiba Benahmed completed the podium ahead of Siokhar Lim and Natthanan Matthanang. Jassica Lintanga was running third halfway through the race, but eventually came into the finish as number six.

A group with lots of Thai runners actually were the first women to reach the finish, among whom Montha Suntornwit. But these all ran the shorter course after the re-route.

Let’s emphasise that no woman made any error or mistake. It is just an unfortunate circumstance.

The same applies for some men such as Nikom Tongjai. A very solid runner himself, he ran the original non-shortcut course but for some reason finds himself down in 26th place in the race result. Guillaume Degoulet is another one suffering the same fait. Please note that while the top six for women was quite easily for us to assess, ATM is not responsible for the race result. Runners who feel they deserve or should have a better race result should get in touch with the local organiser. We thank you for your understanding.

Yuta Matsuyama is yet another Japanese runner scoring headlines in ATM this season

Sukrit Kaewyoun felt like a fish in the water in Chiang Mai; third place and ahead of Job Tanapong!

Local hero Cartoon Wipawee is struggling with an injury, yet comfortably won the 62k category

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

The first edition of The Moon 100 on Koh Phangan, the small island close to Koh Samui that is famous for its full moon beach parties, will be remembered for a long time. This was a very tough course! Of the approx 240 starters on the longest distance of 103km and 5200 hm, 94 made it to the line within the cut-off time of 36 hours. The winner’s time was 18 hours and 31 minutes, and the guys at the top of the board are no snails. Combined with the heat of day, the Koh Phangan hilly jungle trails proved to be even more technical than those on Koh Chang (UTKC). Plenty of protagonists called it a day at some point, and both the men’s and women’s race had some dramatic turnabouts towards the very end.

Finally, we saw an almost miraculous comeback from Chiang Mai’s Job Tanapong on the beaches of Koh Phangan, after a gruelling day of trail running. The coming-man from Chiang Mai was still over 50 minutes behind the Sabahan duo of Milton Amat and Wilsen Singgin at km 70. But the youngster had juice left in the tank, dropped his Thai running mates (they were in a group of five, six most of the day) and began to chase the Malaysians. Milton Amat had looked like the strongest runner of all, but he decided to wait and run together with his teammate Wilsen Singgin. That proved to be a good tactic as together they developed a big gap on the rest, even when Thailand’s Supachuk Papetthong kept on lurking in the shadows. However, what nobody realised at the time - not even at the last checkpoint with 10 flat km left to the finish - was that Wilsen Singgin got increasingly dehydrated. This slowed the duo down so much that all of a sudden Job Tanapong and Supachok Pappethong were back within under 10 minutes of the leaders.

What happened then was sheer drama. With just 1,5 km left to go on the beach to the finish, Job Tanapong caught the leaders and Wilsen Singgin sank down to the ground. Heatstroke, dehydrated, hyponatremia. Milton Amat stopped himself to assist his suffering friend while asking for medical assistance. By the time the medical staff arrived at the spot, Supachok was there as well and Milton went with him together to the finish line. Wilsen never made it. His race ended at km 101,5. He was hospitalised and following a spell of heavy hallucinations was transfered even to a bigger hospital in Koh Samui, where he stayed the night. The runner from Sabah recovered to his full senses later at night but remained under observation on Sunday. If anyone still thought a heatstroke is nothing serious, think again.

Milton Amat showed genuine friendship and sportsmanship after the race by publicly congratulating Job Tanapong on his race victory without “ifs” or “buts”. Amat is gunning for the ATM Championship this year, and second place means he lost 50 points compared to if he had won. The price for fair-play can not escape him anymore. Video interviews with Job Tanapong and Milton Amat are available on our ATM facebook page.

Thailand’s other emerging trail star Sukrit Kaewyoun was fourth more than an hour later, and moves up to 3rd place in the Asia Trail Master Championship points standings. Thongsai Wongsaard and Suvatana were five and six. 

Also the women’s race had its fair share of drama today. Sri Wahyuni decided to DNF after she and her six male companions at the time unwillingly missed a hillclimb between checkpoints 2 and 3. As nobody else made that mistake, race direction had no other choice but to tell them to return to the section. The Indonesian from Surabaya, third in last year’s ATM Championship, was running very strongly - as even indicated by Fredelyn Alberto. Had she done what was asked, she could have still ended up on the podium. Meanwhile, the inspiring Phitchanan Mahachot lost her way during the night, too, and never came back to the front. Then, mid-race leader Wipawee Cartoon also turned into a shocking DNF at CP 8 with major stomach issues. Hong Kong based Filipino Fredelyn Alberto had already caught Cartoon very quickly all of a sudden and looked set for her first ATM race victory. Alberto managed it in style, and in so doing also climbs to 2nd place in the Asia Trail Master Championship points ranking. Video of her race finish is below this post.

Been Lee from South Korea had a great late pace and scored a second place she probably had not expected herself when she started and said smilingly “there’s too many women in this race” . The podium was completed by Thailand’s experienced ultra favourite Montha Suntornwit . Malaysian Siokhar Lim arrived in fourth place, only four minutes behind Suntornwit. Both the Thai and the Malaysian proved once again that nothing seems to hurt them in trail. Jassica Lintanga dropped to sixth place but finished, after she had looked like a potential winner at halfway distance. This Moon 100 shocked many runners, indeed.

Job Tanapong: new trail star from Chiang Mai

Milton, Jess and Wilsen: the three Sabahans from Team Uglow Malaysia were omnipresent last weekend

The two big winners of the weekend: Job Tanapong and Fredelyn Alberto

Sri Wahyuni had a great pace, but a judgemental error cost her a place on the podium

One could not drink enough during the very hot race, but salt tables were just as necessary!

The 2019 Asia Trail Master Championship series has been underway for almost half a year now, but this weekend is only the first of four points races in Thailand. A big country with a massive running population of which several elites will be opening their ATM accounts at Moon 100 on Koh Phangan island. The new event, organised by the reputed teelakow team of UT Koh Chang and UT Chiang Rai, features a 100k and 60k as main races on the southern island famous for its monthly full moon beach parties…. hence The Moon 100. As it happens, the moon will only be full on Monday night and not on race weekend, but there’ll be plenty of stars shining nevertheless, in all meanings of the word.

One Thai trail runner has been very active already this season as well. Sukrit Kaewyoun has already done three races abroad with fine results. Sukrit, as he is commonly referred to, can leap to third place in the Asia Trail Master Championship ranking this weekend. He is for sure a podium candidate for the 103 km long race that goes almost entirely around Koh Phangan island. If Sukrit wants to win, he will need to get passed a long list of fellow-contenders. Let’s begin with Sabahan Milton Amat. The young Malaysian was. surprise force last year in the championship, which ended a bit on a sour note as severe viral illness prevented him from challenging Sherpa, Rambla, Mizukoshi and co for the championship in December. However, Milton has already bounced back this season with another 4th place in the 9 Dragons 50/50. Now under Team Uglow Malaysia, Amat is a technical ultra runner who is definitely going to be prominent again in the championship later this season. The same applies for Thai runner Job Tanapong and Brunei-based Canadian Michael McLean. Also from Sabah, Malaysia, comes Wilsen Singgin - 3rd in the classic Borneo TMBT Ultra last year. And from Philippines, Jared Teves is never to be underestimated.

The women’s Moon 100k race is likewise quite open with many very good runners who match each other in terms of overall performance level. A lot will depend on the shape of the day. Hong Kong-based Filipino Fredelyn Alberto continues her busy ATM schedule just three weeks after scoring third in the Vietnam Jungle Marathon 70. How well has she recovered from that very hot race? If the always smiling Alberto delivers another strong result, the T8 ambassador will be moving up to second place in the ATM Championship ranking behind Veronika Vadovicova. Her main competitors this weekend are likely to be coming from the home nation Thailand, but possibly even more so from Malaysia. Uglow runner Jassica Lintanga, 4th in last year’s ATM Championship, will be competing in her first points race of 2019. Athough the Sabahan Grandmaster is known to be faster on the 50 to 70km distance range, she has proved many times 100k is not a big issue for her neither when in form. Usually, “pocket rocket” Christine Loh moves up the leaderboard the longer a race lasts. Loh has started the ATM season very well with podium performances in two SuperTrails: the 9 Dragons 50/50 and the Dalat Ultra Trail. Loh has reportedly set her eyes on winning the 4 Trails Thailand series (Moon 100, Ultra Trail Chiang Mai, Ultra Trail Chiang Rai and Ultra Trail Panoramic —> all points races in ATM as well). The Malaysian who now lives in Singapore will therefore one to watch very closely. Also from Malaysia and never to be underestimated is V Trail Laos winner Siokhar Lim. 

From Surabaya in Indonesia comes Sri Wahyuni. Number 3 in last year’s Asia Trail Master Championship and a Grandmaster as well, Wahyuni has become more selective in her races this season and that should boost her speed even more. Wahyuni is a typical female Indonesian trail runner, renowned for their toughness over the ultra distance. But Sri Wahyuni also has a fast pace, which she showed again in Tahura Trail 42 at the start of the ATM season, where she finished second behind Asuka Nakajima. With fellow Indonesian runners Ruth Theresia and Shindy Patricia currently pursuing other goals, Sri Wahyuni is currently a bit carrying the flag. It will be interesting to see what she can do in her first race in Thailand. 

The home runners will obviously aim not to disappoint on Koh Phangan. Montha Suntornwit has become known in ATM over the years, and not in the least by winning the Ultimate 230 of UTCR last October. Her compatriot Wipawee “Cartoon” Pratumsuwan delivered an outstanding second place in Ultimate Tsaigu 80 last April, behind the almighty Vadovicova but ahead of Paulina Svoboda and some top Chinese runners. Coming from Chiang Mai, Cartoon is very determined to imrpove as a runner and will be close to victory this weekend. Another Thai runner will be as well: Phitchanan Mahachot. Impressive winner of UTN 100 in 2017, Mahachot has not run in ATM points races since and as such has been flying a bit under the radar, but if she can copy that performance of Nan here in Koh Phangan she could arguably be the best bet for victory. 

Moon 100 is of course the A-race for the Championship, but runners will also score points on the 62km B-race according to our usual points distribution table. 

Asia Trail Master will be reporting live from Moon 100 on Koh Phangan all weekend via our usual social media channels, facebook and instagram. Stay tuned for updates on the 103km and 62km races. 

Wipawee Cartoon is one of the local women to watch this weekend in Moon 100

Michael McLean: dangerman on the 100km

Sukrit Kaewyoun: 7th in the current ATM standings after 3 races abroad: what can he do at home?