Sunmaya Budha stays in the running

Nepal’s ultra-marathoner Sunmaya Budha has recently won two races in China: the 60km Ultra Trail Ninghai, on October 19, and the 105km Tsaigu Trail, on November 2. She set course records in both races.

A professional trail endurance runner from Jumla, the 26-year-old has been racking up stellar performances around the world. Budha comes from a farming family in Nepal’s remote Jumla district, and defied the wishes of her parents and the expectations of a patriarchal society, to pursue a running career.

Between August and her two wins in China, Budha had been competing regularly in Europe with mixed results. On August 29, she ran the prestigious HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc in the French Alps, but was not able to finish.

Then she finished as the first female, and second overall, at the SwissPeaks Trail Marathon in Switzerland on September 7. Then on September 14, Budha finished as the first female, fifth overall, and set a course record at the TORX 2024 30k in Courmayeur, Italy. 

After such a strong 2024, Budha has her sights locked in on the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, to be held in Canfranc-Pirineos, Spain, in September 2025.   To qualify for this event, runners have to accumulate ‘Running Stones’ by completing trail running races organized under the UTMB banner. The Ultra Trail Ninghai was one such event. The longer the race, the more Stones a runner earms.   A 100-miler yields four Stones, a 100k is three Stones, and a 50k is two Stones. Each Stone collected improves the odds for a runner in the lottery through which athletes are selected for the World Championships.

So Budha’s first race in China earned her two Stones. Budha is already planning to participate in the Chiang Mai Thailand by UTMB in December, where she will run 100k.

“Running in China is different to Europe,” Budha told us in Kathmandu. “There are a lot of small mountains, although the actual routes for the race were pretty flat. The elevation is close to sea level, and the climate is mildly hot.”  

Budha had to deal with an injury after her win in the Ninghai race. With only thirteen days before she raced 105km in the Tsaigu Trail, Budha was training for one and a half hours a day. With four days to go, her ankle hurt so bad that she couldn’t run at all.

The Tsaigu Trail 2024 is one of the biggest races in China. It sees mostly domestic runners, as it is promoted only through Chinese social media like WeChat and Weibo.

“My confidence for the next race took a hit, because pain in my ankle has been a recurring problem,” says Budha. “My coach thought it was because I pushed too hard immediately after a race.”

Budha stopped running and even walking, and used alternating hot and cold baths and massages to treat her injury. Then she went to a physiotherapist, who determined  that her ankle was completely fine, and that the source of her pain was muscle tightness in her lower leg.  

Although expectations were low because of her injury, Budha and her team went ahead with the race. The route for the Tsaigu race was designed such that runners were back at the finish line after their first 5 kilometres, and then they would run the last 100.

“We decided that I would run the first five and assess whether I could continue. I felt a little pain at the beginning, and some at the tail end, but I was quite comfortable for most of the race,” recalls Budha. 

Budha ended up not only winning, but her time of 9:32:47 set a course record, and was more than half an hour faster than second place female, Tang Jinyan from China. This works out to a pace of 5:28/km.  The facebook page of Tsaigu trail has uploaded a one minute video of Budha finishing the race. Budha strides strongly as onlookers cheer her on, and she beams as she crosses the finish line.

Budha was impressed by the level of organisation of the Tsaigu Trail, as well as the enthusiasm for running amongst the Chinese: “They treated runners really well. Checkpoints were well-stocked with snacks and fruits, and there was a buffet and massages at the finish line.”

Budha has earned the ability to train full-time through coveted sponsorships, first from North Face and now from Chinese outdoor brand Kailas FUGA. She does so under the guidance of elite endurance running coach, Andy DuBois from Australia.

Her accomplishments in China have gained Budha another sponsorship with Nitecore, a company that makes headlamps. Headlamps are a vital piece of equipment in ultra races that are so long that athletes must run through the night.

After Thailand next month, Budha is planning for another race in Hong Kong in January. She will complete other races too in 2025, but at the moment the only event for certain is the World Championships in September.

“Hopefully, Nepal will be able to send four or five runners — if the government helps out,” says Budha, “otherwise only sponsored athletes will be able to go.”

Budha is now training and living in Kathmandu, with her sister. The rest of her family is still in Jumla.  “I talk to them once in a while. I call my parents when I win,” she says.

Budha is managed internationally by the Asia Pacific Athlete Team, and locally by Nepal Trail Series. Director of this company, Preeti Khatri, points out that Sunmaya Budha is not the only highly promising prospect in Nepali Trail Running.

“We have Suman Kulung who has found sponsors in Austria and is now leading world ranks. Another guy from Rukum was invited to Switzerland for training and since then he is making headlines. A girl from Khotang is smashing Asian trail championships,” says Khatri.