V Trail: ATM Champion Jeff Campbell in a league of his own

While Alessandro Sherpa and even Francisco Faria were initially able to keep pace with Jeff Campbell, the reigning ATM Champion went solo already before halfway and even increased his advantage in the very technical second and mountainous half of the V Trail in Laos.

The Hong Kong-based Canadian was out of his own comfort zone but completed the 53km course in approx 8h39, a little faster than Arnaud Beck last year. Second victory for him this season, after Prenn Trail Summit in Dalat, Vietnam, in December. As such, Campbell collected his wild card for the ATM Final at Mu Cang Chai in Vietnam on 4 October. It was a tough day out there in Vang Vieng, with temperatures well above 32 degrees as of noon.

Jeff Campbell winning a 53km race in 8 hours and 39 minutes, that certainly does not sound like Campbell. But this is how difficult the V Trail course, especially the second half, really is. Anyone who knows the ATM Champion for some time is aware that he has never been a fan of these ‘technical hiking’ courses and prefers to make use of his fast running speed. Kudos to Campbell for nevertheless always giving these type of trail races a try. Eventually, one can only learn and develop further as an all-round competitive trail runner here in Asia, where terrains can be very varied, indeed. It’s clear that Jeff Campbell will not relinquish his ATM Championship title easily this coming October at Mu Cang Chai Ultra Trail !

In second and third on podium we saw Phissanuwat Inon from Thailand and Nizar Surydratama from Bali, Indonesia. A great and unexpected result for both. A nice introduction to Inon, especially. Both runners finished in just under and just above ten hours. 2018 ATM Champion Alessandro Sherpa went off course in the mountain area and lost significant time to end up in fourth place. Thailand’s two-time Finalist Amorn Kimnguan was fifth, followed by Antoine Deligne from Belgium. Portugal’s Francisco Faria in the end dropped down the leaderboard to finish 8th in 13h19.

First female was Italy’s Anna Turrini, who led basically from start to finish but had Tara Savage closing in on her earlier on the day. For Turrini, who hails from Florence in Tuscany, it’s the first ATM race win. She crossed the line in 13h09, underlining again how tough V Trail really is.

Tara Savage finished half an hour later to grab second place on the podium. Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Huong is third, just ahead of local runner Toukta Inthavong, who was third in Luang Prabang last October as well and is practically certain of being the first Lao qualifier for the ATM Championship Final on 4 October.

The next ATM points race event in Laos will be Luang Prabang Ultra Trail in late October, one of the very first events of Season 11.