It was raining at the finish line when Priya Rai of Nepal grabbed the ribbon and finally got the chance to cool off after running for 71.4 kilometres. With the gun time clicking at 9 hours, 56 minutes and 58 seconds, Priya was the first woman to cross the finish line in the main category of the Asia Trail Master Season 10 Championship Final in Hong Kong on Saturday.

It was the second title for the 25-year-old Priya at the Asia Trail Master, an event which brings together national champions from across Asia. She had previously won the ATM-85km race in Malaysia in September 2024.

“I don’t know how to explain,” Priya said after crossing the finishing line 20 minutes ahead of second-placed Cheung Man Yee of Hong Kong. “I got lost many times, for at least a kilometre. Weather, trail, everything was brutal.”

With the win in Hong Kong, Priya is now the only female runner to achieve the feat of two ATM Championship Final titles in ten seasons of the tournament.

“I am happy, very very happy,” Priya said, still breathing heavily after a long run, as she tried calming herself at the last and eighth checkpoint of the race in Tai Po Tau.

While it was her hard work that paid off, Priya also had a bit of luck. If not, she would have been among over half-a-dozen Nepali runners who could not make it to the tournament despite qualifying for it.

There were eight runners, four each in male and female categories, from Nepal who should have participated in the 71.4km ATM Championship Final. However, only two could make it to the event.

Alongside Priya, Dilu Limbu, who is based in Hong Kong, took part in the race in the female category. Limbu could not move forward after running for 3 hours, 33 minutes and 56 seconds.

The ones who could not participate at all were Arjun Kulung Rai, Dina Bagale and Hom Lal Shrestha from the male category. From the female category, Rashila Tamang and Sandeva Budha missed it.

“We are proud of Priya,” Arjun told the Post. “Had we all participated, there would have been more podium finishes for Nepal in one of Asia’s biggest trail-running championships.”

Arjun had posted a video on his Facebook on Friday afternoon, stating that the negligence from the Nepal Adventure Running Federation (NARF) prevented him and his fellow runners from participating in the ATM Final.

“The federation said they would look after our visa processes. But when time started running out, they asked us to do it ourselves,” Rai says in the video. “We began the process, but the race would have been completed by the time our visa arrived.”

“Priya is lucky that her process started early and she could reach Hong Kong on time,” Rai told the Post over a phone call on Saturday. “But the dreams of many runners, who had been practising night and day, went in vain.”

Sharing Arjun’s video on her Facebook, Rashila wrote, “The reality of adventure sports.” Before that, she had informed her supporters, who had been extending best wishes for the ATM Final, that she was still in Kathmandu as she had neither received a visa nor any information from the related association.

“Not only me almost entire Team Nepal is in Nepal,” Rashila wrote. “I had been to final before but I was very excited to see young sisters from Jumla to run for the title. But this year’s all hard work and dedication fail.”

When the Post reached out to Rashila, she said that the federation could not complete the runners’ visa process due to its own internal problems. “And when the federation raised its hands, we did not have enough time left to move ahead ourselves,” Rashila said.

Rashila, the winner of the 2023 ATM Final in Indonesia, was deemed to be a major contender by the organisers. “The women’s field is equally fierce. Rashila Tamang (UTMB 609), Man Yee Cheung (ITRA 699/UTMB 678), and Miho Tsuboi (ITRA 675/UTMB 651) headline the charge, all proven over technical, hilly courses where pacing and toughness matter more than pure speed,” The 9 Dragons, the event organisers of ATM in Hong Kong, posted on its Facebook on February 24.

But the major contender missed the event. “There are harsh realities in trail running in Nepal. The runners try their best to win medals for the country, though they are not treated well,” Rashila said.

The fifth edition of Jumla Rara Ultra in April 2024 worked as the qualifying pathway for Nepali runners to ATM. And when Arjun missed the race after falling ill in the last minutes, he was devastated.

“But I wanted to participate in the ATM Final. So, I sought a loan, then participated in the Malaysia Ultra League Championship in August last year, and then qualified for the ATM,” Arjun told the Post. “And now, I have to go through this despite so much sacrifice.”

It is not the first time Arjun has felt betrayed by the federation. “I went through a similar bitter experience when I could not make it to the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain in September last year,” he shared.

When the Post interviewed Arjun in March last year, a couple of days after he had won the 100-miler at the Manjushree Trail Race, he had said that he was now shifting his focus to the World Championship in Spain.

“I then trained for six or so months. And when the time came for the visa and other processes, I was asked for Rs500,000 by the federation,” Arjun told the Post on Saturday. “As I did not have that much money, I had to let my dream die.”

He faced a similar scenario when he wanted to participate in the UK Run. “As the federation could not support me financially, I searched for sponsorship. And when I informed the federation that I had sponsors, and I needed to wear their logos while I run, the federation declined my offer,” Arjun said. “And I missed another good race.”

The Post could not reach out to incumbent officials of the Nepal Adventure Running Federation (NARF). The federation’s website had the contact number of Subash Thapa as the general secretary. But when the Post contacted Thapa, he said he had resigned around six months ago.

Meanwhile, Thapa, a former runner and a retired Colonel of the Nepali Army, argued that he was sorry to hear that promising Nepali runners could not make it to ATM.

“Last time, I took the lead and managed the team at the ATM Final. The ladies’ team was first. We had shown the world that Nepal was the best in trail running,” Thapa told the Post. “All the runners who were scheduled to participate this year had chances of podium finishes. I saw their posts and videos, and it hurts that they cannot realise their potential.”

Thapa’s claim was cemented by Man Kumar Roka Magar. Magar finished first in the 50/50 category of the ATM Championship Final on Saturday. It is a category where a runner first crosses 50 miles and after a resting period runs for 50 kilometres. Magar completed the 50-miler in 10 hours, 26 minutes and 7 seconds, 12 minutes ahead of second-placed Rhys Yvan Dane Pawid of the Philippines.

Thapa also accepted that the federation had been failing to keep the runners happy with necessary support.

But despite a lack of both moral and financial support, Nepali runners have been continuing to win medals for the country throughout the globe. “We cannot stop running as it is our source of livelihood,” Arjun said. “We run through difficult trails and geography. But it is not as hard as being denied even basic support by the federation as well as the state.”

Trail runners have won multiple medals at the Asian and World championships. But they are yet to be awarded as other athletes under the National Sports Development Guideline, 2022.

“Trail runners have won dozens of medals at the Asian and World levels. I have won four. But none of us has been recognised by the country for our achievements,” Arjun said. “Trail running is one of the sports where Nepal can dominate the world. We runners have been doing it however we can, but it seems the stakeholders do not want to support us.”

“No one takes responsibility when we suffer,” Rashila said. “But when we return after winning medals, there is no shortage of individuals to claim it was because of them.”