The Endurance Asia Podcast

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

This week we catch up with Ned Phillips to discuss the Singapore edition of the Backyard Ultra Team World Championships. Thiis event saw another world record go down with the Belgium team putting in 110 yards, over 730km of running and the top 3 of Geerts, Steyaert and Gielen finishing together with none of them DNFing. An endurance feet of the ages!Whilsts Ned’s effort was not at the same scale, it was done in far more challenging conditions with the Singapore humidity and if given the chance with the right assist, Ned could have been out there double the time and will get the opportunity to truly test himself against the world best in Tennessee at the World Champs next year..We cover:•⁠  ⁠Ned’s background with Backyard Ultra, this being his 4th attempt.•⁠  ⁠What attracts him to Backyard Ultra•⁠  ⁠The 2024 SG team and his expectations going on•⁠  ⁠Plan on pacing, nutrition, support crew•⁠  ⁠BIGS in Tennessee next year? We also discuss the other Nedd, Brockmann who just put in as fantastic effort on a Guinness World Record attempt of 1000 miles, completing it in 12 day and missing out on the record but finishing with debilitating ailments.

Following an epic Asia Trail Master Finals at TMB in Borneo, we recap the event and catch up with male champion Jeff Campbell.Check out all the footage from ATM Finals:ATM Facebook Male final Podium winners videoMale Podium:Jeff Campbell - 09:49Hisashi Kitamura - 09:51Arnie Macarenes - 09:56Female Podium:Priya Rai - 11:00Vanja Cnops - 12:36Rashila Tamang - 13:13

We are back with an exciting weekend of ultra trail racing with the ATM Championship at the classic TMBT race in Sabah, Borneo. Endurance Asia will be live at the race and finish line on Saturday and in preparation, we caught up with Series Director, Kris Van de Velde and previous guest Chris Timms who will be represeting Singapore.With Kris we discuss:How the ATM season has gone. Some of the highlights? Best performances, most exciting races, best courses.The structure of the ATM points system and the finals. How the countries compete against each other. The reason for choosing TMBT as the final race.Who he expects to be at the pointy end of the male and female raceThe teams he expects to perform wellWith Chris Timms we discuss:How he feels representing Singapore at the ATM finals?How ATM season has gone for him? The highlights?After a top 10 finish in 2022, What his expectations are for this year?Who he expects the podium to be? Winning team?His recent addition to the T8 ambassador listThe new Singapore Running Club, Falcons and how that came to be.His plans / goals post ATM finalYou can follow the race and live streaming at:ATM FB pageInstagram PageDot TrackerYou can follow Chris Timms at:InstagramFacebookSG Falcons RC Insta

This week we were joined by Natalia Dau, Rockstar Arms, to discuss what she has been up to for the past couple of years and more importantly, what’s coming up in the next couple of months.We discuss:Her 4 marathons in Sydney, Singapore, Gold Coast, Tokyo last yearThe 4 ultras she ran in 2023, all of which she won and a couple of the ultras outrightHer first book Run like a WomanProject1000, Natalie’s goal to run 1000km from Thailand to Singapore and raise $150k for GRLS charityYou can follow Project1000:www.project1000.runhttps://www.instagram.com/rockstararmsThe charity https://www.womenwin.org/grls/Ric and Scott catch up after to discuss what’s been going on the world of Ultra Endurance including Tomo’s 3rd fun run at Barkley Marathons.

After another year of this awe inspiring event, we are joined by a survivor and finisher, Alice Mcleod and Mayank Vaid.We first chat with Alice to discuss: Her back story, growing up in Perthshire, Scotland and moving to HK from London in 2019 and exploring the trailsHer awareness of Four Trails from seeing the legend Nikki Jan finish in 2019 Her training block for 2024 and the volume and focusFour Trails goalSleep and nutrition strategyWhat next?? As the second Scottish lady to reach the green post box, Will Alice come back to follow Nikki Han and finish? And then we are joined by Mayank Vaid at 43m mark to discuss:The 3rd year taking on the challenge, what convinced him to come back after surviving last year.How last year went? What he learned from last year that he adapted in 2024What he’s been up to since 2023 edition when he did HK marathon just 2 weeks after! Competing in Hyrox and 4 peaks race, triathlons, 15k swim. Was cross training a big part of his plan.We go into details about the 4 Peaks Race in HKHis plan going in to 2024 edition.How he got his wife and eldest son Bono to crew himThe last 30k of Lantau chasing the clock and the 60 hour cut off. The feeling to finally finish the challenge.Hong Kong Four Trails continues to show why it is the most epic ultra running challenge in the Asia region. The community, the difficulty and the drama. It always an epic dotwatching and social media follow. Congrats to Andre, Paper, all the athletes and crew, photographers and everyone involved with this event.

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 his clean sweep of wins at Asia Trail Masters races including the win in the finalTomokazu Ihara with his Four Trails win, Barkey Marathons Fun Run and Grand SlamFemale Athlete of the YearEszter Csillag, who placed 3rd at Western States and a win at Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong and IzuSunmaya Budha, who won multiple races across AsiaHau Ha, who put in a heroic 4th place at CCC plus wins at Doi Ithanon and Ultra Trail AustraliaRashila Tamang overall winner of the Asia Trail Masters final 2023Race / Challenge of the YearDoi Inthanon Thailand by UTMBHong Kong 100Vietnam Mountain MarathonRinjani 100Malaysian Mountain and Trail FestivalIzu Trail Journey JapanFundraising of the YearJo Loder Run for Freedom, running HK 5in5 Trails inc Tinworth Trail, raising HK$880KEndurance Feat of the YearVincere Zeng Everest Lhotse and K2. Listen to the episode hereLe Thi Hang of Vietnam who ran a marathon every day in 2023  inc a 2nd place finish in VMMMark Agnew kayaking north west passage. Listen to the episode here.. Listen to the episode to find out who the winners are..We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2023 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2024!

Joined by Valentin Orange, we recap last weekends Doi Inthanon by UTMB in Chiang Mai Thailand, the major UTMB race of Asia.We cover:Race organisationLocation, Atmosphere at start/finish lineThe races:50k100k100 mileAnd we go in to Valentin’s past year covering Sange Sherpa as he documents his life running ultras every weekend. You can follow Valentin at Insta Facebook www.valentinorange.com

Phil Snowden, a. military veteran, Personal Trainer and all round machine, joins us to talk about his crazy endurance exploits and the importance of strength and conditioning for endurance athletes.. His back ground in growing up in the military and getting into Personal Training after the miliirtaryHis first DNF doing the 24 hour Tough Mudder in the USUltra in the Antarctic, Borneo 100 milerPushing and pulling a body weight sled for 46km across the UfIt gym for 50 hoursUltra triathlon, 300 miles on Ski erg, Rower and bikeThen we get in to Hyrox, the years of training that led up to becoming the perfect athlete for Hyrox, concept for the race and plans to commit to the race in future.You can read more in depth info into Phil’s endeavours and the date on his blog https://www.philsnowdencoaching.com/Check him out on Insta Ric Stockfis and Scott Puigh catch up after to discuss:TrasnslantauWorld Trail MajorsEverything else going on in the ultra endurance scene

We are joined again by the Asia Adventure Journalist turned explorer, Mark Agnew. Having had Mark on the podcast 3 years ago discussing all of the amazing endurance feats he has covered for SCMP, he has become the story!He shared on that podcast (you can listen here) his passion for arctic exploration and his only plans to tackle the north west passage and be the first human as part of the team to cross it!Well he’s only gone and done just that. Along with a team of expedition kayakers from Texas, The Artic Cowboys, he has become the first person to cross the North West Passage by human power.Wr cover:Preparation and planning. Original plan for 2021 delayed. How did you train for it. What were the records you were targeting?Logistics and funding, team. Equipment.Record temperatures in 2023 made the pass possible?Distances travelled every day. How much camping sleep time.Biggest challenges, best moments / worst momentsWhat’s next?Check out some videos of Mark on ITV and BBCRic and Scott then catch up after to discuss:Adventure Race World Series Championships and previous guest Jay Jantaraboon’s Of The North Face Adventure Team getting 5th place as part of the Brazil Multisport Team.Bigs Back Yard World Champs and previous guest Joshua Toh doing 75 yardsSalomon Forest Force Race in SingaporeWhat’s next in the calendar inc MMTF, UTMB Thailand etc

We are joined on stage at VMM by some of the elites preparing to run. We get to speak toHa HauSange SherpaJeff CampbellTrùn NguyễnDavid LloydFollow them live for this weekend at https://live.dottrack.asia/mountainmarathon23/

We are joined for a live on stage interview at the Vietnam Mountain Marathon by T8 Athletes Jeff CampbellVanja CnopsKristian JoergensenStingray, John Ray OnifaFollow them live for this weekend at https://live.dottrack.asia/mountainmarathon23/

Repeat guest Tomokazu Ihara comes back to talk about his epic performance in the Grand Slam of Ultra Running in the United States, completing 5 of the oldest 100 mile runs in the same season and doing so in the fastest time of any athlete from Asia Pacific and top 20 in history.His results included:Old Dominion: 18:52:27 2nd overallWestern States: 20:19:58 39th overallVermont: CancelledDevil’s Gulch: 23:54:44 1st overallLeadville: 23:31:18 40th overallWasatch: 23:17:17 6th overallBest 4 x 100 times: 86:01:01 19th/403 finishers since 1986You can find out more about the Grand Slam of Ultra RunningFollow Tomo Insta Facebook Website