Hong Kong Marathon’s cancellation pushes Jeff Campbell to the World Mountain & Trail Running Championships with Team Canada
- Campbell saw the writing on the wall with city’s flagship race, and hedged his bets by throwing his hat in the ring for Chiang Mai
- The event will take place in Thailand over November 3-6, with ‘very proud Canadian’ admitting ‘it will be really surreal wearing the flag’
Hong Kong-based Jeff Campbell was training hard for the 2022 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon all summer.
But when it was called off last month, with organisers saying they were left with no choice after the government did not grant approval in time, the 40-year-old decided not to waste his efforts.
He instead turned his attention to the World Mountain & Trail Running Championships where he will represent his native Canada in Chiang Mai, Thailand, over November 3 to 6.
“I thought it was a good year to have a crack at the marathon,” Campbell said. “It happened last year, despite Covid-19 restrictions, so I felt pretty confident it would happen this year. That turned out not to be the case.
“But I put in a summer of flat-base mileage with speed work out on the track, to see if I could have a good crack at the hometown marathon.”
Despite his hopes of competing in the city’s flagship sporting event, Campbell saw the writing on the wall when speculation about the race’s cancellation began to circulate as early as August.
“I made a quick pivot back to the trails,” he said. “I decided to hedge my bets, do the Hong Kong Trail Championships in September, put a couple of weeks of hill training in and then put in an application for the Canadian [Trail Running Championships] team to keep my options open.”
Canada’s team for Thailand was selected from the top performers at the 2022 Canadian Mountain & Trail Running Championship, which took place on September 17 in Vernon, British Columbia.
But beyond these automatic spots, they do consider Canadians at large. Campbell submitted his CV in the hope of being selected – and it paid off.
There will be four events in Chiang Mai – a vertical kilometre called the Classic Up, the Classic Up and Down, the Long Course (80km) and the Short Course (40km).
Campbell thinks that his experience in Asia, in the humidity and on the terrain, may have helped him win a spot on the team.
“I said, ‘I’ll run whatever you guys think you have a need for’ and I was a surprised and happy they found a spot for me,” Campbell said. “It was on the 80km course, which is maybe a little bit longer than some of my past performances, but I guess it’s where they could help me the most.”
Campbell’s strength lies in the short and fast races where he likes to go hell for leather, and try and lead the pack from the start. The longer course may not allow for that, and more importantly he has to bear the team in mind.
If he goes too fast, and blows up or does not finish, he will sacrifice the overall team’s points.
“It requires you to be in a little bit more of a conservative mindset,” Campbell said.
“It’s a bit of a change me, I’m a bit of an aggressive runner. But there’s a bit more of a risk in this event to blow up and not score points for your country. When you have been given a chance to wear the national top, there is a responsibility there to get the best result you can but also to make sure you score points.”
There have not been many races in Hong Kong since the pandemic. The government are still reluctant to issue permits to trail races, bar the odd one here and there.
Campbell usually lets racing be his training. He does a lot of base training in the summer during the off season, and then does his speed work by entering short fast races in the early season. By midseason, there are longer races for him to enter.
Without that natural cycle, Campbell may lack race sharpness.
“There is obviously a mental element,” he said. “Most of that mental element is confidence that you have the physical shape to finish the distance, and what sort of speed you are capable of running. When you are doing a long distance race you need to understand what sort of pace you are likely capable of and hope you are right.”
“But there is also a physical element. You need to be sure you have enough miles in your legs and for trail races, enough elevation.”
Campbell – who only took up trail running in 2014 when he moved to Hong Kong – already has the former from his marathon training, and is now cramming in the latter.
“My trail running career has been almost exclusively in Hong Kong,” he said. “So, I fancy myself a Hong Kong trail runner who happens to be Canadian, a very proud Canadian.
“It will be really surreal to be wearing the flag, and also running with some of my friends from Hong Kong, representing their own countries, including Hong Kong.
“Seeing them out in force is a testament to the trail running scene in the city and how good all of the people are within it. I’m going to trying to do my best for Team Canada and cheer on a lot of my friends too.”