After a thrilling race at Borneo TMBT Ultra in Sabah, Malaysia, Hong Kong’s Jeff Campbell and Nepal’s Priya Rai crowned themselves as the new Asia Trail Master Champions. Both elite athletes came out on top of a star-studded field after over 80 km of racing on a treacherous course that saw various re-routes due to heavy rainfall preceeding the start. Campbell and Rai succeed John Ray Onifa and Rashila Tamang, winners of last year in the history of the ATM Championship, while Team Nepal claimed the ATM Team Championship ahead of Team Philippines and the home team Malaysia.

While Priya Rai turned out to be utterly dominant in the women’s competition, leaving Vanja Cnops and defending champion Rashila Tamang no chance, Canadian-born Jeff Campbell had to dig deeper than ever before to salvage an advantage he ran together halfway into the race. First 2022 Champion Arnie Macaneras, and then eternal competitor Hisashi KItamura, appeared hot on his tail in the final 10km , which is notoriously almost entirely uphill to the finish line.

After some early skirmishes following the 5:15 am race start , mostly featuring John Ray Onifa and four of the Nepalese runners, the men’s Final had a first decisive moment around aid station 4 (km 30). Nepalese runners Arjun Rai Kulung and Lokendra Rai missed a marker and went off course by a long way, effectively eliminating themselves from contention. Milan Rai, also still very young, paid better attention and arrived at the aid station in the lead with… Arnie Macaneras, closely followed by home hero Milton Amat, for whom the race seemed to be going perfectly. Jeff Campbell was just a minute behind, but Onifa came in later and visibly struggling with stomach cramps. Kristian Joergensen was next, not looking too happy either. Both Onifa and Joergensen would later throw in the towel at AS 6. Kitamura arrived 13 minutes after Campbell.

A long descent on a re-routed section, all on tarmac, proved ideal for Jeff Campbell to try a move. Gutsy, because we were not even halfway into the race yet. He opened up a substantial gap using his inherent road running speed and by aid station 6 even looked like he could cruise home with nobody really looking to chase him very hard. Not even Milton Amat, who by then showed signs of fatigue and was not in the best shape we had seen him in before when he won TMBT 100 in 2019 and 2022.

The last 28km loop was known to had the sting in the tail. Plenty of runners in the past have cursed the final 10km section over the years, known from the traditional 109km race course. That includes Hisashi Kitamura, who saw race wins go up in smoke there and who had never been able to make a fist anymore, having already burnt all his matches previously. Enter race strategy and race tactics, and the beauty of race pacing.

As a first-timer at TMBT, Jeff Campbell experienced what Kitamura and so many others had gone through before. His pace slowed, his legs began to hurt and the 15-minute gap was melting before the sun, which in fact managed to peak through the cloud cover as well on occasion. Arnie Macaneras had timed his last attack to perfection and came closer and closer as they started going uphill for the last 10km, as can be revisited via the GPS dot track asia platform. Campbell became aware of the threat, as he saw Macaneras arriving at the last water station just as he was leaving it again. However, what nobody had really noticed up until then was that Japan’s Hisashi Kitamura was also suddenly coming on strongly!

With 5km left to go, Campbell looked cooked, but so was Macaneras. Major cramps all of a sudden ended his challenge and attempt to secure the ATM Championship for the second time in his career. 'Arnie would settle for third, because Kitamura stormed by desperate to still catch Campbell in the dying moments of the race. In the end, Jeff Campbell managed to hold on to a slender advantage of just over two minutes to clinch his first ever ATM title, after scoring 9 race victories in our series already since early 2018. A wonderful achievement by someone who used to be the King of Short Distance, but has now fully grown into a long distance racer as well. Hisashi KItamura was nevertheless a happy second. His strategy nearly paid off, the question can be asked whether he left it a little too late.

The performance of the young Priya Rai should also be underlined as it was her first race of more than 50km. Winner of both Nepalese points races in April, she grabbed the bull by the horns nonetheless and immediately applied pressure on co-favourites Vanja Cnops and Rashila Tamang. Contrary to Jeff Campbell in the men, Priya did not slow down at all in the last uphill. A fantastic performance by another young talent of whom we have definitely not yet seen the last. Singapore’s Vanja Cnops again settled for second on the the podium, while Rashila Tamang took a solid third - being plagued by some leg discomfort. Rashila required her fighting spririt at the end to keep Vietnam’s Loi Leung at bay. South Korea’s Hee Joo Jang was a surprisingly strong fifth, finishing just over two minutes behind Loi Leung at the finish.

Official race result atm final 2024

DTA rewatch the race

coach analysis campbell vs kitamura

Jeff Campbell and Priya Rai are the new ATM Champions!