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Extreme fitness
OutdoorTrail Running

Oxfam Trailwalker winners overcome cracked ribs, treadmill training in quarantine and a switch to a virtual race in build up to 100km victory

  • Gone Running-Joint Dynamics win Oxfam Trailwalker for the third time, despite one member cracking ribs and training in quarantine in the build up to the race
  • The team won in 2018, and the unofficial race in 2019, making this their third consecutive victory

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(From Left) Jeff Campbell, John Ellis, Masa Shirotake and Ryan Whelan on their way to winning the Oxfam Trailwalker 2021, the virtual race. Photo: Handout
Mark Agnew

Jeff Campbell did not let three cracked ribs sustained in a fall stop him, as he and his Gone Running-Joint Dynamics (GRJD) teammates won this year’s men’s division of the Oxfam Trailwalker.

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Acknowledging there had been “some discomfort”, Campbell pointed out that a 100km run always involved a measure of pain.

Alongside John Ellis, Ryan Whelan and Masa Shirotake, Campbell finished in 11 hours and 45 minutes, as GRJD defended the title they won at the most recent official OTW in 2018, and again unofficially the following year.

The race was cancelled in 2019 because of the anti-government protests sweeping the city, but a number of teams ran anyway. The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 led to it being cancelled that year, making this GRJD’s third consecutive win.

The race starts in Sai Kung and ends near Tai Tong, going over some of Hong Kong’s steepest mountains.

(From front) John Ellis, Jeff Campbell, Masa Shirotake and Ryan Whelan stick to Ellis’ pacing plan. Photo: Handout
(From front) John Ellis, Jeff Campbell, Masa Shirotake and Ryan Whelan stick to Ellis’ pacing plan. Photo: Handout

“I had to ease back into it, using some doctor prescribed pain killers. It was really touch and go as to whether they’d be healed enough in time to race properly on race day,” Campbell said.

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