Trail World Championships: Hongkongers represent Cambodia, Ireland and Ukraine, as Leng finds sense of belonging
Mat Leng believed he did not belong growing up in France, but now feels at home after travelling to his father’s native Cambodia
By Mark Agnew
30 Apr 2019
Mat Leng was immediately embraced by his father’s native Cambodia when he visited on holiday and is now preparing to represent the Southeast Asian country at the Trail World Championships.

Hong Kong-based Leng grew up in France. His father had left Cambodia, and his other relatives were killed in the genocide. He had no links left to the country, but in Europe he was always made to feel different.

“France has a lot of problems with immigration,” he said. “People would call me Chinese, which is funny because I always considered myself French. It’s just kids calling you out as different. But it’s derogatory slang.”

Leng has been in Hong Kong for 10 years and says the cosmopolitan atmosphere is part of the reason he stays. He now runs for the local Uglow team, and is also sponsored by the Joint Dynamics gym.

But it is Cambodia he now considers his motherland. The first time he visited, he was in line for a tourist visa but the officers called him forward because he looked like a local and started chatting in Cambodian.

Leng’s Cambodian is poor, but he explained his dad was Cambodian and waiting outside. They asked Leng to call him. They spoke to his father and then gave Leng a permanent visa on the spot.

“And that is when I knew this was my country,” he said. “It is a side of me I don’t know, but it is a bigger part of me. I don’t have any family there, they were all killed in the genocide, even my grandparents, but now I have more and more friends there, I work for charities there and visit a lot.”

[The Cambodian team heading to the 2019 Trail World Championships. Photo: Handout]

Leng started putting “Cambodian” on his race entry forms, and was ranked under the Southeast Asian nation on the International Trail Running Association (ITRA). Eventually he was spotted by Laurie Phai, who was organising the team for the Trail World Championships in Portugal on June 8, and will represent Cambodia in the 2020 Olympic marathon.

“When she reached out it was an immediate ‘for sure’,” Leng said, adding all the other team members are French-Cambodian too, by coincidence.

“It all depends where you grew up in France. There are different cities which are more diverse,” Leng said, pointing out his area was predominantly white. “You grow up with an identity crisis – ‘Who am I really? Where do I come from?’ But now I get the chance to represent Cambodia.”
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