In this episode, we look back at the extraordinary year that was 2020 and highlight what we believe were the most outstanding achievements in endurance sports across Asia and Australasia.

It was a year in which too many races were cancelled and others went local-only. But also a year which saw the rise of virtual challenges, a newfound interest in FKTs (Fastest Known Times) and an obsession with backyard ultras.

No doubt we’ve missed many out (let us know!), but there’s no denying everyone we mention would be a worthy winner.

We’ve split the awards across two episodes, with Scott and Ric first discussing the category and honourable mentions, before diving into the top 3 picks, followed by an interview with the winner.

In this first episode we cover:

• Race / Challenge of the Year

• FKT of the Year

• Extraordinary Feat of the Year

Our finalists for each - in no particular order - are as follows:

Race / Challenge of the Year

We had a hard time choosing between the Hong Kong 4 Trails Ultra Challenge, the Vietnam Mountain Marathon and the APAC backyard ultras, both Dead***ing Last organised by Red Dot Running in Singapore and the Last Samurai Standing organised by Tomo-san in Japan.

FKT of the Year

• Stone Tsang of the North Face Adventure Team. He set a new record (and first official FKT) on Hong Kong’s 78km Wilson Trail, beating his sub-10h target by just 45 seconds. You can read about his effort here and watch a video here. See the official FKT record here.

• Stone’s teammate Wong Ho-Chung, who set a new record of 10h38m on Hong Kong’s iconic 100km MacLehose Trail, which has 4850m of elevation gain. Read about it here and watch Chung’s effort unfold here. Official record here.

• Kaori Niwa’s outstanding run on the Shiga Trail in Japan. Kaori has previously finished 4th female at both UTMB and Hardrock and now holds the outright (male or female) FKT on this extremely tough 438km route, which involves more than 28,000m of elevation. She did it in 6d 12h 10m 18s - official record and fascinating course breakdown here. For more on Kaori, check out this interview on iRunFar.

Extraordinary Feat of the Year

• Mayank Vaid’s Everestman, which saw him swim the height of Everest, then climb it again on a bike and then again on foot. We discuss this in depth with Mayank on a previous episode.

• Nugo Yam’s inspiring first place finish (and third fastest time ever) at the Hong Kong 4 Trails Ultra Challenge, which came just a week after HK100. Check out the video of his HK4TUC performance here.

• Stephen Redfern’s Self Isolation Ultra, in which he ran 360km over four days on a 32.5m loop inside his garage.

• We also have an honourable mention - among others - for Wong Ho Chung’s HK360.

Coming up in the next episode:

• Female Athlete of the Year

• Male Athlete of the Year

• Fundraiser of the Year

Hosted by Ultra Endurance enthusiasts Scott Pugh and Ric Stockfis. Thank you to all our listeners for your support over the last year. We’ve some big plans for 2021 and can’t wait to share them with you.