Nepal’s ultra-marathoner Sunmaya Budha started running at a very early age. Growing up in Pere, a village in northeast Jumla in Karnali, she first ran in school events. After winning and participating in various international events, Budha now wants to prove herself in the World Championship. “Now my target is the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, which is happening in 2025,” says Budha.
“I hope to get support from the government, too,” she adds.
Champion in China
Budha recently won two races in China: the 60km Ultra Trail Ninghai on October 19 and the 105km Tsaigu Trail on November 2. In the 60km Ultra Trail Ninghai, she set a course record. It is not the first time that she has won a championship of such a large scale. In August 2022, she finished second place in the 101-kilometre-long CCC UTMB Mont Blanc race.
Regarding her recent victory in China, she says that everything was well organised there. The geographical structure of the trail and the climate were not challenging.
“Prior to the race, there was a forecast for rain, but luckily it stayed dry on competition day, which made things easier,” she recalls.
With these two races, Budha has altogether won three races in China in 2024. The other race was the Wnling Golden Coast Trail Race. For Budha the roads in China are flat and the mountains are small, which eased her to win the competitions. And for the competition in China, she trained accordingly to give her best.
However, she feels that she has not yet been able to perform her best in Europe. She attributes this to a lack of proper training and health issues.
Overcoming challenges
When Sunmaya Budha was 13, she got the chance to run in the President Running Shield in 2016, a grassroots event for runners that takes place at all local units across Nepal. Then onwards, she started to catch the eye of people around. One of them was Hari Bahadur Rokaya, former Olympian, long-distance runner and three-time Everest Marathon winner, who was also a coach at the National Sports Council. He wanted Budha to join the running club.
Coming from a rural area in Nepal, Budha faced significant challenges in becoming an athlete. Initially, Budha’s parents did not support her passion for running. Even in her early teens, they were willing to marry her off, especially if she continued running. However, determined Budha was able to avoid marriage and pursue her passion for running.
She told her parents that she was going to the city to enrol in high school. Instead, she joined a running club and started training to get better as a runner. And, since then, she has never stopped. At first, it was difficult for her to convince the family about what she was doing. The family began to appreciate it when she started winning while participating in the competition. “My mother is proud of me,” she says.
Even today, it is difficult for women in these regions to earn independently or pursue careers of their choice. However, Budha stands out as a testament to what’s possible. She has proven that, with the right opportunities, women can achieve name and fame regardless of their background.
Her achievements extend beyond simply participating in and winning various competitions; she has become an inspiration for many women in rural Nepal. Her journey has motivated younger women from her village to start running, with some now dreaming of following in her footsteps. Budha is happy to see all such things and wants to motivate other women. “To further motivate other women I need to do more good races,” she says.
Perks of having a sponsor
Despite participating in and winning international championships, rather than in Nepal she is popular outside the country. She says, “The ultramarathon is still new in Nepal and exposure for this sport in Nepal is limited. With that, the absence of this sport in the Olympics has also made the sport less popular in Nepal.”
Despite this sport being less known in her homeland, she has a sponsor for the sport. Sunmaya Budha is one of the few Nepali athletes who has a sponsor. Kailash Fuga, a China-based sports gear company has sponsored her.
“Having a sponsor has been extremely helpful for me,” says Budha, “Without sponsorship, I wouldn’t have been able to participate in international competitions. Thanks to the sponsor, I don’t have to worry about expenses for travel and gear—I can focus on my performance.”
