“I think a lot of people are capable of doing more than they realize, and with running, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.”[1] 

TRAILME: Congratulations on your 12 Peaks performance, Jeff! How did you discover trail running?

I’ve been running for about seven years. I started running when I moved to Hong Kong from Canada. Some of the first people I met were runners. We have a very active trail running community here in Hong Kong and I fell in love with the sport. Since then I’ve progressively challenged myself to improve my training, run longer distances, stay competitive.

TRAILME: How often do you train?

My routine varies depending on what kind of event I’m competing in. I prefer to run every day. I usually run after work, at least six days a week. If I’m training for a competition, I’ll often do two runs every day. And one long run on the weekend. I try to break up my training into smaller chunks, and fit them in around work and family time. This year obviously with COVID-19 disrupting a lot of races, my training has been a little bit more casual. Just trying to enjoy myself getting out into the mountains, still running 5-6 days every week but with a little less structure.

TRAILME: What’s your next race?

I’m planning on running the Altra Virtual Fortune Half Marathon and 10K, which is similar to the 12 Peaks in that you have a time period to complete the virtual event. I’ll run the 10K, maybe aim for a fast 10K time. Although to be honest, I’ve had a few little injuries here and there, so I’ll have to see if my body is feeling up to it. I’ll have a go, have some fun, and if not, maybe just relax and wait for the next thing that comes along.  

TRAILME: How do you motivate yourself when you run?

For me, training for a competition is its own motivation. Competing at the level which I aspire to calls for a lot of discipline and intensity, and once I set a goal for myself then it’s quite easy for me to find the motivation to follow through. I sometimes listen to music during training, not all the time. For easy runs I’ll often listen to podcasts, but in competition I prefer to focus, paying attention to what’s going on in my body, and making sure I’m fully aware of myself and my surroundings.

TRAILME: What has been your most memorable trail running experience?

Tough choice. Probably, the 2018 Oxfam Trailwalker. The four of us competed against the Nepalese team who usually win, and we were able to secure a victory in the last few kilometers. That was my first attempt at the 100k distance, and I was very lucky to be successful on my first attempt. Being able to participate with a team of very close friends, and with a lot of our friends from Hong Kong watching, I think will have be one of my top trail running memories.

TRAILME: How do you keep yourself updated with upcoming race information?

I just rely on being part of the running community. Everyone’s always talking about what’s coming up and sometimes even if I don’t hear about it, inevitably I’ll have friends saying, “Are you running this?” When things are a little bit more normal, and we have a trail running season with races as scheduled and nothing cancelled, I usually sit down at the beginning of the season and outline my main goal races for the year, to make sure everything’s spaced out appropriately. And plot out what my season will look like ahead of time. But that’s impossible to do in the current situation.

TRAILME: Do you use any sports apps or wearables when you go trail running?

Yes, I do pay attention to my training data. For running I think, if you don’t measure it you can’t manage it. I track all my runs with my GPS watch, all of that gets synced to my Strava, which then connects to another app called TrainingPeaks that my coach has access to, so he can manage my training program accordingly. I’ve recorded every run for the last six years. I can go back and analyze race performances I’ve been proud of, as well as performances that have been less successful — to see what worked, what didn’t and make adjustments and experiment when training.

TRAILME: Any words of advice for other runners out on the trail?

Enjoy yourself. It’s a really amazing sport you can enjoy with friends, or enjoy on your own. I’ll say don’t be too shy about trying to push your limits if it’s something you’re interested in and comfortable with. I think a lot of people are capable of doing more than they realize, and with running, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. So I encourage runners to challenge themselves a little — you just might surprise yourself!

We wish Jeff the very best for his next run. Stay healthy, and keep running!

TRAILME: Why did you build the Peak Hunter Club?

Chung: In 2015, I join the UTMF trail running contest and got the 17th place despite that the weather was unpleasant that day. However, I observed that other Hong Kong participants were unfamiliar with taking part in trail running contests, leading to a poor completion rate at around 20-30% only. My initial aspiration of building this club was to share my own trail running experience with local runners and help them finish the event, especially the challenging overseas events which local runners were less familiar with. With the growing number of local trail runners, I found it hard to arrange sharing sessions for such a huge number of runners. That’s why I established the Peak Hunter in September 2016. The Peak Hunter Club adopts a voting system to ensure that decisions are made collectively in a democratic way because we want to stress that this running club is a platform for every member.

TRAILME: What is the most challenging part of running the Club?

Chung: I think it’s important to go step-by-step and bear in mind why you started. We may want to touch on other sports so that more local people can benefit from the Peak Hunter Club and our activities. For instance, we are glad to see that our club members enjoy using the high-quality products we promote to them. We want our members to truly benefit from our club and we cared for our people. 

TRAILME: How do you see the future of the club? What do you want it to achieve?

Chung: The logo of our club speaks for itself. We designed it with reference to the training chart of trail running with the ups and downs in runners’ running experience. We would like to engage more youths in our future events. Currently our club built a solid foundation in terms of our coach team which consists of 11 coaches. We also have a youth team for trail runners who are 10 to 18 years old as well. Our club aspires to establish a complete system of trail running which includes the all ages of life in this sport.

TRAILME: With the COVID-19 situation in the city, how do you feel about the cancellation of races? Does it affect the trail running community a lot?

Chung: Yes. The COVID-19 creates a huge impact on trail running. Our club stopped all classes as it is a responsibility for us to do so. We suggest our club members continue to do sports indoor.  This pandemic affected our sport a lot because runners can no longer do intense sports outdoor. Indeed, the entire ecosystem of trail running is disturbed because we need races as goals for people to continue their training and purchase on merchandise. Despite that, I believe that all of us should endure this situation patiently until the pandemic is under control. I would advise runners to regard this period of time as their off season.

TRAILME: How do you motivate your club members to train under this pandemic?

Chung: We organized a donation campaign for our Youth team. Runners from other than the Youth team also run for this campaign in order to contribute to the miles which is set as a goal. If we can achieve the goal before 31st October, the Youth team will get the $380,000 donation from the campaign which can be really useful for their development.

TRAILME: As an experienced runner who have participated in many trail running races and the founder of the Peak Hunter Club, you have deep understanding of this sport. What kind of governmental support is needed to facilitate trail running races?

Chung: I think the race organizers have already done a good job because the situation of this pandemic is too sudden too fast. Considering that they have never faced this situation before, they have already put their best effort in coordinating the cancellation and postponement of races. On the other hand, as I have some personal contacts with the race organizers, I clearly understand that the complicated the race, the harder it is for them to manage.

TRAILME: What kind of governmental support is needed to facilitate trail running races?

Chung: I believe that there is a lack of support from the government to trail running. Trail running does not receive enough recognition from the government. There is no official association registered under the government. It should be officially established as a solo sport and more facilities and training grounds are needed. We can only cultivate more talented youths with adequate support from the government. With the current pandemic in the city, trail running coaches cannot get the funding from the government as trail running has not been officially registered as a solo sport in Hong Kong. The pandemic also did a massive impact on running clubs as we do not have any profit after cancelling the classes. The government has to consider granting funding to trail running sports team. Or else, if the coaches cannot live on their thin salaries and running clubs cannot operate on their low profit, they may quit the sport. This requires a long recovery time for trail running once the talents are gone.

TRAILME: What other support is lack in the trail running community?

Chung: Overall speaking, I think the relationship and bonding among the trail running community is good. Trail runners are kind and warm. There are many mobile apps which help guarantee the safety of runners. As I recall, when I got the 6th place in the UCMB 2019, Hong Kong people were indifferent towards trail running. I really hope that Hong Kong people can learn that the relationship between people and the nature through the elements in trail running. I wish to promote the idea of having a healthy life and achieving personal growth that I learnt from trail running to fellow Hong Kong people.

TRAILME: As one of the most outstanding trail runners in the world, what are your future goals? What more do you want to achieve?

Chung: I got the 6th place in UCMB 2019 when I was 32 years old. Indeed, the average age of the elite is 30.5 years old in the UCMB. Lamentably, UCMB is cancelled this year owing to the pandemic. As I will be a 34-year-old runner when I enter the UCMB in 2021, I really hope to break my personal best and get a better ranking next year.