Ultrarunner more exhausted organising races than running them
Entrepreneurial spirit of Hong Kong convinced Clement Dumont to throw in his job and launch races and trail racing magazine. He's not looked back since
As we enter the cooler months of the year when runners descend onto Hong Kong’s trails, we meet three race directors leading the burgeoning trail-racing scene.
Planning ahead for their 40th birthdays, most people dream of elaborate parties or holidays on remote beaches. Not Clement Dumont. He is dreaming of a 330-kilometre mountain run through the Italian Alps which would take roughly six days to complete.
“I like a challenge,” says Dumont, 38, while reminiscing about his adventures in life.
As a teenager he trained on France’s Olympic windsurfing team; aged 20 he cycled 2,500km through Australia’s desert with his brother. Two years later he became the youngest man to complete the 250km, six-day Marathon Des Sables through the Moroccan desert, and five years after that, to celebrate attaining his PhD, he cycled 1,800km off-road through five countries crossing Central America.
Dumont’s lust for adventure has even spread to his career: three years ago the doctor of marine biology gave up his profession to pursue his love for running. Today, Dumont is a competitive ultrarunner and, together with his wife Sabrina, is director of some of Hong Kong’s most loved trail-running races.
