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.
