Priya Rai wins ATM glory in Hong Kong, but six qualified runners were left in Kathmandu due to visa failures — and the federation responsible is unreachable
A Champion Crosses the Line, While Her Teammates Watch From Home
When Priya Rai of Nepal crossed the finish line of the Asia Trail Master Season 10 Championship Final in Hong Kong on Saturday, she made history. Running the 71.4km main race in 9 hours, 56 minutes and 58 seconds, she became the first female runner to win two ATM Championship Final titles in the tournament’s ten-season history. It was a stunning achievement, earned across brutal terrain and worsening weather. “I got lost many times, for at least a kilometre. Weather, trail, everything was brutal,” Priya said, still breathing hard as she cooled down at the final checkpoint in Tai Po Tau. But the celebration was incomplete, shadowed by a story of institutional failure that robbed Nepal of what could have been one of its finest showings yet at a major international trail running championship.
Six Runners Qualified, Six Runners Left Behind
Nepal had qualified eight runners for the ATM Championship Final — four men and four women. Only two made it to Hong Kong. Alongside Priya, Dilu Limbu, based in Hong Kong, was the only other Nepali woman to compete. The other six — Arjun Kulung Rai, Dina Bagale, Hom Lal Shrestha, Rashila Tamang, and Sandeva Budha — remained in Kathmandu, their visas unprocessed. The reason, according to multiple runners, was a fundamental failure by the Nepal Adventure Running Federation (NARF). Arjun Kulung Rai posted a video on Facebook the day before the race explaining the situation. “The federation said they would look after our visa processes. But when time started running out, they asked us to do it ourselves,” Arjun said. By the time the runners tried to process their visas independently, it was too late. The race would have ended before their documents arrived.
An Athlete Who Borrowed Money to Be There, Left Behind Anyway
The story of Arjun Kulung Rai is particularly difficult to read. To qualify for the ATM Final after missing the Jumla Rara Ultra due to illness, Arjun sought a loan and participated in the Malaysia Ultra League Championship in August 2025. He qualified. He trained relentlessly. And then the federation failed him. “I wanted to participate in the ATM Final,” Arjun told the Kathmandu Post. “So, I sought a loan, then participated in the Malaysia Ultra League Championship in August last year, and then qualified for the ATM. And now, I have to go through this despite so much sacrifice.” It was not his first such experience. When Nepal’s runners sought to compete at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain last September, a similar visa and logistical failure prevented Arjun from attending. He was also reportedly asked to pay Rs500,000 from his own pocket to the federation for that trip — money he did not have.
Rashila Tamang: A Title Defender Who Never Got to Defend
The stakes were highest for Rashila Tamang, the 2023 ATM Final champion in Indonesia, whom the event’s Hong Kong organisers had specifically listed as one of the top women’s contenders. Her experience and international rankings made her a medal favourite. Instead, she sat in Kathmandu, posting updates to confused supporters. “Not only me — almost entire Team Nepal is in Nepal,” Rashila wrote on social media. “I had been to the final before but I was very excited to see young sisters from Jumla run for the title. But this year’s all hard work and dedication fail.” She told the Kathmandu Post that the federation’s internal problems had prevented it from completing the visa processing.
A Federation With No One at the Helm
When the Kathmandu Post attempted to contact officials of the Nepal Adventure Running Federation, the federation’s website listed a phone number for Subash Thapa as general secretary. Thapa, a former runner and retired Army Colonel, confirmed he had resigned approximately six months earlier. The current leadership of the federation appears to be, in effect, unreachable. The international athletics community has long recognised that national sports federations play a gatekeeping role that can either enable or crush athlete careers. In Nepal, the NARF has repeatedly used that gatekeeping power not to support runners but to obstruct them.
Heroes Without Recognition, Runners Without Support
The broader injustice extends beyond this single event. Nepal’s trail runners have collected multiple medals at Asian and World Championship level, yet they remain unrecognised under the National Sports Development Guideline 2022. They are not eligible for the financial rewards and recognition extended to athletes in other disciplines. “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 told the Kathmandu Post. Meanwhile, Man Kumar Roka Magar did manage to compete and won the gruelling 50/50 category — completing 50 miles in 10 hours, 26 minutes, 12 minutes ahead of second place. Nepal’s trail runners are among the best in Asia. The question is whether their country will ever choose to treat them that way. The Asia Trail Master continues to offer a stage. Nepal’s federation keeps refusing to let its athletes walk onto it.
