Takako Takamura and John Ray “Stingray” Onifa Win 40K Gold at the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships

Japan won the Women’s and Men’s Team titles

The inaugural Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships kicked off at 7am this morning from the Yeongnam Alps Welcome Center in Ulju, South Korea. The race course is a rocky and rugged 41km with 2,783m elevation gain. Conditions were dry and cool – a perfect day for trail running.

The women’s race was dominated by Japan’s Takako Takamura who led throughout in a calm and composed front-running masterclass. Finishing in 4 hours and 36 minutes, Takamura-san gradually built her lead, breaking the tape 5 minutes ahead of Nepal’s Priya Rai, who finished in 4 hours 41. Just 23 years old, Rai is one of trail running’s stars for the future. Japan’s Honoka Akiyama won bronze in 4 hours 53. In 4th position was Lam Cho Yu of Hong Kong, China, in 5 hours and Australia’s Patricia McKibbin took 5th, just 25 seconds behind.

Asked at the finish line how she felt, Takamura-san said: “Unbelievable. Amazing. I wanted to win this race so much. I’m very very happy. And very very tired. On the last climb I was always looking behind me!”.

The early stages of the men’s race featured a peloton of 3, Australia’s Charlie Hamilton running shoulder to shoulder with Japan’s Hajime Kasiga and Ogasawara Koken over the first two peaks. In close pursuit were John Ray “Stingray” Onifa of the Philippines, Nepal’s Tilak Bahadur Sunuwar and China’s Wu Erqing. On the steep, rocky descent from Cheonhwangsan (at 1200m - the highest point on the course), Stingray moved through the field into 1st position. This was no surprise – after a look at the course in the week before the race, Stingray said other runners might find it quite technical, but he loved it. Stingray held off subsequent surges from Ogasawara-san to retain the lead and win the first-ever medal of the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships in just 3 hours and 47 minutes. 

Ogasawara-san was runner-up in 3 hours 49. Australia’s Blake Turner won a dramatic sprint finish for the bronze medal, beating China’s Wu Erqing by just 12 seconds to round out the top 3. Kasagi-san clinched 5th in 4 hours 3 minutes.

In the team standings, Japan won both gold medals to cap their dream start to the Championships. The women’s team runner-up was Australia and Hong Kong took the bronze. The men’s silver medallist was Team Philippines, and Australia completed the podium.

Still to come: the U23 race (15.9km, 1,182m elevation gain) starting at 1 pm Korea timeon Friday, 25 October, and the Long Trail Race (74km, 4,787m elevation gain) starting at 5.30 am Korea time on Saturday 26 October.


APTRC Race Distances

The APTRC features races over 3 distances. These are the U23 (15.9km, 1,182m elevation gain, 4.5 hours maximum) for athletes who are aged 23 or younger, the Short Trail Race (41km, 2,783m elevation gain, 10 hours maximum) and the Long Trail Race (74km, 4,787m elevation gain, 18.5 hours maximum). Each race has men’s, women’s, individual and team categories and there is also a team ranking overall.

APTRC Runners

200 athletes from 19 countries / regions are competing. Here is the start-list.

APTRC Schedule

The main events take place at the following times.

• The Opening Celebration and Ceremony (including the Parade of Nations) is on Thursday 24 October from 5pm to 7pm.
• The Short Trail Race starts on Friday 25 October at 7am.
• The U23 race starts on Friday 25 October at 1pm.
• The Long Trail Race starts on Saturday 26 October at 5.30am.
• And the Closing Ceremony is on Saturday 26 October at 7pm.

The full APTRC 2024 timetable is here.


Following the APTRC

The Short Trail Race and Long Trail Race will be live-streamed. The details of the live stream, along with the GPS tracker, are on the APTRC website.
All the action will be on the APTRC’s Instagram and Facebook accounts throughout the event week and beyond. Also, check out ITRA’s Instagram accounts so that you don’t miss a thing as trail running history is made!

The APTRC features races over 3 distances. These are the U23 (15.9km, 1,182m elevation gain, 4.5 hours maximum) for athletes who are aged 23 or younger, the Short Trail Race (41km, 2,783m elevation gain, 10 hours maximum) and the Long Trail Race (74km, 4,787m elevation gain, 18.5 hours maximum).

Each race has men’s, women’s, individual and team categories and there is also a team ranking overall.

Download the Short Trail Race finisher photos here.
Download the Opening Ceremony images here.
Download images of the favourites here.
Download images of the previous race edition here.
Download elevation and race maps here.

All photo rights are to the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships.