Jonas Buud and Jasmin Nunige won Ultravasan 2015 – Sweden's largest ultramarathon

The second Ultravasan – Sweden’s largest ultramarathon ever – attracted over 1,700 registered participants from 29 countries to Ultravasan 90 and Ultravasan 45. Many well-known international runners were on the scene. Also noteworthy were the 27 registered runners who earlier this year completed both Vasaloppet/Öppet Spår on skis and Cykelvasan/Cykelvasan Öppet Spår on mountain bike, thereby accomplishing a unique triple feat in forefathers’ tracks.

Today the Vasaloppet Arena was, in addition to Ultravasan 90 and Ultravasan 45 runners, also filled with thousands of Vasastafetten runners, who started in Sälen at 09:00.

When Ultravasan 90 started, lit by outdoor candles at dawn in Sälen (at 05:00), the temperature was 5 degrees celsius. Close to 900 starting runners then met the rising sun on the marshes. The fog cleared and the sun could continue to shine from a cloudless sky.

The leading group moved very fast right from the start. Nine runners passed Smågan faster than last year’s quickest time. In the lead was last year’s winner, our Swedish world star, Jonas Buud from Mora.

Ultravasan has many spurt prizes, which is unusual in ultramarathons. (Though to collect spurt prizes you must, just like in Vasaloppet, complete the whole race.) American Matthew Flaherty was first to Mångsbodarna, 23 kilometres from the start, and took home the spurt prize there.

By the next checkpoint, in Risberg, the leading group consisted of four runners: Jonas Buud and Max King, USA, who is reigning 100 km world champion from 2014, as well as Helder Ferreira, Portugal, and Arnaud Perrignon, France.

But two thirds of the race still remained… Max King took the hill prize in Evertsberg (halfway), 15 seconds ahead of Jonas Buud.  These two left the checkpoint together, more than a minute ahead of Ferreira and Perrignon.

35 year old Max King and 41 year old Jonas Buud were several minutes ahead of last year’s times, running towards a new track record. (Though the track was, before the race, considered somewhat faster this year, due to work done to improve the running surface.)

But just like in 2014 it was now Jonas Buud who settled Ultravasan: directly after Evertsberg, Buud sped up and by Lundbäcksbackarna he was suddenly more than five minutes ahead of second place runner Max King.

Worth taking into account is that King had, before the race, expressed uncertainty over his form, while Buud, on the other hand, has been in increasingly good shape over the past few months, overcoming the stress fracture in his hip that prevented him from running at all during January–April.

Jonas Buud took the spurt prize in Hökberg on the fly, 12 minutes ahead of Max King. The only question now was what the final time would be. Jonas’ winning time from 2014 was 6.02.03, which was then considered somewhat amazing.

This year Jonas Buud crossed the finish line with a time of 5.45.08! He thereby crushed his own record time by 17 minutes, getting an average time of 3 minutes and 50 seconds per kilometre! (By comparison, 23 Vasaloppet winners have, on skis, had a slower winning time than 5.45.08. For example, Janne Stefansson won Vasaloppet in 1966 with a time of 5.52.06.)

Second in Ultravasan 2015 was Max King, who finished 21 minutes after Jonas Buud. Third place went to number four from last year, Didrik Hermansen from Norway, who came in two minutes after King. Fourth and fifth were Frenchmen Emmanuel Gault and Arnaud Perrignon.

Winner Jonas Buud commented after finishing:

”I thought the beginning felt pretty calm and pleasant, though of course I also noticed right away that it went fast. It felt very good and rolled on really, really great the whole way. The last four kilometres were a bit rough, but apart from that it’s been absolutely fantastic.”

Regarding his decisive move after Evertsberg, which became a parallel to 2014 when he left  British Steven Way behind:
”Max King ran pretty hard up to Evertsberg, and then I thought the same as last year, that I’m not going to let him slow down and rest when he’s been running hard uphill. It rolled on quite well downhill and suddenly he was gone. So that was really nice. I could tell from my passing times that things were moving fast.”

Now he has two Ultravasan wins in a row:

”Both have been really nice,” said Jonas Buud. ”But I felt a bit more hard pressed last year. This year, the pressure wasn’t as great. It was more fun this year, somehow.”

Second place Max King, who was named the world’s best ultrarunner 2014, said he did not have his best day. He was not happy with his second place, even if he was glad to have kept ahead of the others and gotten in second:
”No one could beat Jonas today, he ran an amazing race. The first half went fast, which made the second half tough for all of us, except Jonas of course,” said Max King.

Max King won the hill prize in Evertsberg, but he thinks this contributed to him growing tired with about 40 kilometres left.

”The spurt prizes were fun though, because they broke the field up a bit.”

Max King hopes to come back to Ultravasan some time:
”The track was great, totally amazing, so it was fun to run out there. The organizers have done an amazing job and Ultravasan has potential to grow and become even more competitive. A really fun and well-organized race with a nice atmosphere.”

But today Jonas Buud was the king. The next goal for the world’s fastest Swede is the 100 km World Championships held in Winschoten, the Netherlands, on September 12.

Ultravasan 90, ladies

As early as Smågan, Jasmin Nunige (photo above) from Switzerland led the ladies’ class by two minutes. After that she pulled even further ahead of the other ladies and arrived in Evertsberg with a time of 3.27.30, which pointed towards a final time of less than seven hours.

Jasmin Nunige from Davos has won the Swiss Alpine Marathon seven times and has, just like Jonas Buud, turned 41 this year. But today she slowed towards the end and won Ultravasan’s ladies’ class with a time of 7.02.35. Nunige was followed by eight Swedish ladies in the top ten results list.

Former national team runner Ida Nilsson, Högby IF, who made a comeback after several years of absence due to injury, was in second place during the whole race. At most she was ten minutes after Jasmin Nunige, but when the Swiss got tired she caught up, and crossed the finish line only only 3 minutes and 21 seconds after Jasmin. Ida won Axa Fjällmaraton two weeks ago and was now very happy to get second place in Ultravasan ahead of Petra Kindlund, Runacademy IF. Sara Göthe, Aktivitus Sportsclub, was fourth, and Jaana Nehez, Göta Friidrott, fifth.

A tired Jasmin Nunige, who had also fallen and gotten bruised, said:
”I’m so glad I managed to win the race. It went well the first 70 kilometres, but towards the end I got problems, though I managed to keep my pace.”

Only 16 men crossed the finish line before Jasmin Nunige. (Last year the British winner Holly Rush came in 14th, in total.) The winner is awarded 60,000 SEK in both the gents’ and ladies’ class of Ultravasan 90.

Ultravasan 45

Fritjof Fagerlund, Rånäs 4H, is, like Jonas Buud, one of those selected to compete in the 100 km World Championships in three weeks. Today he won Ultravasan 45 with a new record time, 2.45.30, ahead of last year’s winner Roman Ryapolov from Mora OK and Pontus Svensson in third place.

French Caroline Dubois, who is also running in the 100 km World Championships, won the ladies’ 45 km with a new record time of 3.13.22. Only nine gents crossed the finish line before  Caroline Dubois. Second place went to Swedish World Championship runner Sophia Sundberg, Väsby IK, barely four minutes behind Dubois. Third was Josefine Antonsson, Team ASICS Go Run It.

Registration for Ultravasan 2016 opens on September 20, 2015, at vasaloppet.se

RESULTS

Ultravasan 90 Men

1  Buud, Jonas (SWE) M40 IFK Mora FIK 05:45:08
2  King, Max (USA) M35 06:06:11
3  Hermansen, Didrik (NOR) M35 Romerike Ultralöparklubb 06:08:10
4  Gault, Emmanuel (FRA) M35 Team Asics Trail 06:15:14
5  Perrignon, Arnaud (FRA) M40 Team Asics Trail 06:15:14
6  Risa, Jarle (NOR) M35 Undheim IL 06:18:57
7  Flaherty, Matt (USA) M21 06:21:05
8  Erala, Ranno (EST) M40 06:21:58
9  Ferreira, Helder (POR) M40 União FCI Tomar 06:22:27
10  Halvorsen, Tom Erik (NOR) M35 GTI-Friidrett 06:29:32

Ultravasan 90 Ladies
1  Nunige, Jasmin (SUI) W40 07:02:35
2  Nilsson, Ida (SWE) W21 Högby IF 07:05:56
3  Kindlund, Petra (SWE) W21 Runacademy IF 07:34:02
4  Göthe, Sara (SWE) W35 Aktivitus Sportsclub 08:09:00
5  Nehez, Jaana (SWE) W40 IS Göta Friidrott 08:23:53
6  Gyllenberg, Mia (SWE) W45 I2 IF Triahlon 08:29:00
7 Strandman, Patrizia (SWE) W40 Västerås LK 08:44:41
8  Söderström, Anna-Carin (SWE) W40 Malungs IF 08:46:33
9  Lundgren, Maria (SWE) W40 IFK Växjö 08:49:04
10  Johansen, Hilde (NOR) W40 Romerike Ultraløperklubb 8:50:43

Ultravasan 45 Men

1  Fagerlund, Fritjof (SWE) M40 Rånäs 4H 02:45:30
2  Ryapolov, Roman (RUS) M21 IFK Mora OK 02:46:46
3  Svensson, Pontus (SWE) M21 02:49:31
4  Panchenko, Artem (UKR) M21 IFK Mora OK 02:50:18
5  Auf Der Heide, Moritz (GER) M21 ASICS Frontrunner 02:57:41
6  Lantz, Joacim (SWE) M21 Ockelbo SK 02:58:36
7  von Rosen, Philip (SWE) M21 Hässelby SK 03:02:56
8  Gustafsson, Johan (SWE) M45 IFK Mora FIK 03:06:32
9  Taranger, Björn Tore Kronen (NOR) M35 03:06:36
10  Jakobsson, André (SWE) M21 Trångsvikens IF 03:14:55

Ultravasan 45 Ladies

1  Dubois, Caroline (FRA) W21 03:13:22
2  Sundberg, Sophia (SWE) W21 Väsby IK 03:17:09
3  Antonsson, Josefine (SWE) W21 Team ASICS Go Run It 03:23:09
4  Sørensen, Pia Joan (DEN) W45 Sparta 03:25:11
5  Byhlinder, Sofia (SWE) W21 Runnersway 03:28:48
6   Izindre, Anne-Louise (SWE) W40 Filipstad IF FIK 03:28:53
7  Michold, Frida (SWE) D19-20 Team ASICS Go Run It 03:36:31
8  Manon, Mougin (FRA) W21 03:47:03
9  Cospolich, Helen (USA) W35 Coeur 03:52:07
10  Notfjäll, Jenny (SWE) W40 IFK Lidingö 03:56:55

Footnote: an ultramarathon is a race longer than the marathon distance of 42,195 metres.

NOTE! See statistics, passing times and all results HERE.

Vasaloppet Summer Week 2015

Fri 14 Aug: Cykelvasan 30. 32 km. Start Oxberg.
Fri 14 Aug: Ungdomscykelvasan. 32 km. Start Oxberg.
Fri 14 Aug: Cykelvasan 45. 45 km. Start Oxberg.
Fri 14 Aug: Cykelvasan Öppet Spår. 94 km. Start Sälen.
Sat 15 Aug: Cykelvasan 90. 94 km. Start Sälen.
Sat 22 Aug: Ultravasan 45. 45 km. Start Oxberg.
Sat 22 Aug: Ultravasan 90. 90 km. Start Sälen.
Sat 22 Aug: Vasastafetten. 4.5–15 km. Running relay race for ten-person teams. Start Sälen.

Vasaloppet Winter Week 2016

Fri 26 Feb: Kortvasan. 30 km. Start Oxberg.
Sat 27 Feb: Tjejvasan. 30 km. Start Oxberg.
Sun 28 Feb: Ungdomsvasan. 3, 5, 7 or 9 km. Start Mora Ski Stadium.
Sun 28 Feb: Öppet Spår Sunday. 90 km. Start Sälen.
Mon 29 Feb: Öppet Spår Monday. 90 km. Start Sälen.
Tue 1 Mar: Halvvasan. 45 km. Start Oxberg.
Fri 4 Mar: Stafettvasan. 9–24 km. Relay race for five-person teams. Start Sälen. (9,000 entries. FULL 22/3/2015.)
Sun 6 Mar: Vasaloppet. 90 km. Start Sälen. (15,800 entries. FULL 22/3/2015.)