Endurance Asia Awards 2025

It’s that time of year ago before the adventure season kicks off where we are joined by Chris Timms to recap the highlights of 2025. In this special awards episode, we discuss the stories that moved us and the people who mattered. Here are the categories and nominees:Male Athlete of the YearHisashi Kitamura, with his win at TMBTLodowijk Vriens, wins in HK and Bali and top 10 in Cape TownJohn Stingray Onifa, with multiple wins across AsiaGuangfu Meng, 2nd win at HK100 and win at Chiang Mai by UTMBFemale Athlete of the YearSunmaya Budha, 2nd in WMTRC and an miraculous win in Cape TownHau Ha, another amazing year with wins in Tsiagu and Chiang Mai by UTMBFuzhao Xiang, 2nd place at Western States and wins across many shorter distances across AsiaVeronika Leng, 2nd place at HK100 on her comeback and 5th at CCCRace / Challenge of the YearWorld Trail MajorsHong Kong 100Vietnam Mountain MarathonAsia Trail MastersPenang SkyraceIzu Trail Journey JapanUTMBTransLantau Chiang MaiOthersTsaigu Trail GodzoneEndurance Feat of the YearStone Tsang solo traverse across TaiwanGrant “Axe” Rawlinson and Luke Richmond Row across “The Ditch”Fundraising of the YearNatalie Dau’s 2nd Project1000 across Philippines, fundraising for female charities across AsiaJo Lodder and John Fan, 3100km UNBOUND ultra run from Beijing to China raising money for disabled charitiesListen to the episode to find out who the winners are..We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2025 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2026!

We joined the 2025 edition of TransLantau by UTMB, a stalwart race in the Hong Kong trail running calendar that was included in the UTMB series from 2023. Following a few logistically challenges in 2024 edition we were keen to experience the race and see what adjustments they had made and take on the 120k distance, one of the toughest ultra courses in Hong Kong.We are joined by:Salomon Wettstein pre race to discuss his preparation and plans 2:15Steven Carr, social media manager for TransLantau by UTMB and Race Director of 9Dragons, host of the 10t edition of Asia Trail Master in February 2026 10:50Salomon Wettstein rejoins to discuss how his race went 18:30Host Scott Pugh comes back to talk about how his race went and his overall experience of TransLantau by UTMB 36:45To listen to Salomon’s first time on Endurance Asia after Four Trails 2021 you can listen here..

This week we cover one of the longest standing races in Asia, TMBT and interview the eventual winner Hisashi Kitamura prior to the race as well as Race Director Claus Pedersen at the 50k finish line. Chris Timms and Scott Pugh catch up to discuss the results of the race and Scott’s experience as well as what Happened at UTMB:Hisashi Kitamura - 01:55Where Hisashi is from and lack of athletics growing upHis time in Malaysia getting into Ultra Running?His start with Asia Trail Master Races and 9 DragonsBeing the first ATM Golden Grandmaster to get to 20 ultra >70k.Vice champion year in 2019. In that year the format was just most points from 4 races and happened to end with a final race of the season where you and John Ellis battled it out. He talks about that season and what happened in the final race?Training on treadmill. How he does 95% of his training on TreadmillHow he has competed in TMBT 4 times coming 2nd every time what this race mean to himLast year you came 2nd to Jeff in the ATm final talk to me about that race..His plan for ATM final in Oct.Race strategy for tomorrow? Pacing, nutrition, how to beat Milton Amat and Daved SimpatHis preparation day beforeClaus Peteresen TMBT Race Director - 49:30History of Borneo Ultra and their racesThe community and villagers getting involvedHow the race 2025 race is progressingFuture races and planScott Pugh and Chris Timms - 1:00Hisashi’s training on the treadmillRecap if TMBT 100kRecap of TMBT 50kRecap of UTMB

Chris Timms and Scott Pugh catch up to discuss what’s been happening in the South East Asia Trail Season and some of the races they’ve been running around the regionRaces we cover:Silabur cave trailPenang 50k ATM and 30k Skyrace Bali Trail running UltraRinjani Checkout https://www.asiatrailmaster.com/ for upcoming races in SEA..Other discussionsDavid Roche 140g per houQuicksilver Endurance RunGoal setting for racesNatalie Dau Project1000, Russ Cook, William Goodge 

This week Chris Timms joins off the back of Seoul marathon to discuss how to set a personal best in a road marathon.We discuss:Marathon block and training fundamentalsHow to get the most out of a taperWhat to do the week and night before a raceHow to get ready in the morningPacing strategyShoes choicesFor training plans and to join track sessions with Singapore Falcons, check out https://www.singaporefalcons.com/ or on socials Instagram Facebook

Endurance Asia Awards Male athlete of the year for 2024, Jeff Campbell joins the latest episode.Jeff talks about:His background and how he managed to fall in to ultra running in Asia after a chance dinner with John Ellis.How he came to realise his talent? Being part of the Join Dynamics team and realising he had a V02 max of high 70s.The impact of being part of the Gone Running, Joint Dynamics team and T8 team and how being part of a squad improved his running.We talk about Oxfam Trailwalker, his 4 consecutive wins and what the race mean to means to him.We discuss the 2023 edition where he ran with Fuzhou the female winner of the 2024 Endurance Asia awards and Eszter Csillag and recent GPT 100 mile winner Ryan Whelan.We talk about his preferred distances and training for a marathon Blok.What his plans for the rest of 2025..Chris and Scott catch up at 01:03:00 to discuss marathon training for Seoul and up and coming Asia trail master races..

We are joined by Wen Fei Xie and her support crew Jo Lodder to discuss Wen Fei becoming the first women to survive the 2025 edition of Four Trails in 65 hours 20mins. You can rerun the live tracker of the event here..We cover:Wen Fei’s ultra running back ground.. Just check out her amazing Itra profileHow long she planned forHer warm doing the Grand Sam at HroupK100 3 weeks beforeHow Wen Fei and Jo planned the challenge strategy and reacted to change in rulesHow she executed on the plan around MTR timingsHer eating and sleeping strategyJo discusses his HK5in5 fundraising event that won the Endurance Asia award in 2023What’s next for Wen Fei and Jo inc World Trail Majors for Wen Fei and a charity run from Beijing to Hong Kong for Jo!We are then joined by challenge director Andre Blumberg at 1:03m..We discuss:How this years event wentThe smaller group of 15 athletes instead of usual 30The impact the Four Trails movie has had on the eventWhat are the plans for 2026Follow Wen Fei and Jo on InstaFollow HK4TUC on Insta

We kick off the New Year with a look back at the most inspiring performances and challenges of the year just gone. In this special awards episode, we discuss the stories that moved us and the people who mattered. Here are the categories and nominees:Male Athlete of the YearJohn Stingray Onifa, with a win at the Asia Pacific Trail Running ChampionshipTomokazu Ihara with his Barkey Marathons Fun Run and first Japan race winSange Shepa, another year of prolific racing across the world with multiple podiumsFemale Athlete of the YearNatalie Dau, with her epic Project1000Priya Rai, burst on to the scene with overall winner of the Asia Trail Masters final 2024Sunmaya Budha, who won multiple races across AsiaHau Ha, another amazing 4th place at CCC plus wins across AsiaFuzhao Xiang, with wins at the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championship and 2nd place at Western StatesAurore Dacier, with exceptional wins at TransLantau and Should SKY50Race / Challenge of the YearHong Kong 100Vietnam Mountain MarathonTsaigu TrailIzu Trail Journey JapanEndurance Feat of the YearFynn Mitchell, becoming only the 5th person ever to finish The RevenantNatalie Dau for her Project1000 run from Thailand to Singapore Nedd Brockman, with his fundraising for homeless charities as part of his 1000 mile record attemptFundraising of the YearNatalie Dau, with her fundraising for female charities across Asia as part of Project000Nedd Brockman, with his fundraising for homeless charities as part of his 1000 mile record attemptWong Ho Chung. For his community efforts with Hong Kong youth as part of Peak Hunters FoundationListen to the episode to find out who the winners are..We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2024 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2025!

We catch up with Tomo for the first time since his US Grandslam effort in 2023. He’s been busy, knocking off another 6 milers.We discussWhat he’s been up to since Grand Slam inc taking on the Revenant Ultra Adventure Run in New Zealand, another fun run at Barclays and 6 milers on top of that!Backyard ultra World Championships and his role as Race Director Goal setting for endurance athletes. How he thinks about goal setting personally? The positives and pitfalls of setting ambitious goals?How to manage when you don’t achieve your goals. How to manage when you do??We then catch up with Chris Timms to discussRecent races with Malaysia UTMB and Chiang Mai Thailand UTMBSingapore Falcons RC Time Trial formatX-Trailblazers ChallengeYou can follow Tomo at Insta

Aurore Dacier is a native of France and has been based out of Singapore for the past 2 years and has fast become one of the best ultra runners in the region.We catch up with her following her emphatic win at TransLantau and 4th position overall.We cover:Her background and journey into trail running, how she grew up in the outdoors but with no specific sport.Her day job as a lawyer and how do you plan training around work, how she works with her coach and plans her training.Her races since being based in Asia and impression of the trail running scene.Her fascination with Hong Kong and specifically Lantau having raced there 3 times. How she prepared for TransLantau100 this year, her first 100km. How she prepared for the distance. How did the race go?Future plans with Asia Trail Master races and CCC in Chamonix next year.We discuss the female competition here in Asia and how she thinks about inspiring other female runners to give it a go.We also catch up with Chris Timms to discuss the Lam Dong Trail in Vietnam and Malaysia Ultra Trail this weekend.Aurore is sponsored by Red Dot Running, T8.run and Salomon. You can follow her on Instagram