Ultra Marathon Winners

The SUM took place today. Short for Sörmlands Ultra Marathon Race. A 50 km race that starts at Björkhagen and finishes at Lake Rudan in Handen. Must be one of the most beautiful places to run a marathon. The athletes run through nature reserves and also the Tyresta national park. The winners this year were familiar faces for me. Daniel Nilsson and Kajsa Berg. Amazing athletes both of them. Kajsa has won two European Championships before. Earlier this year she gave birth to twins! I decided to spend some time at the finishing area and you can see a few more photos from this years race at flickr.

The European Champion

This is the winner of the women's Sörmland Ultra Marathon. Kajsa Berg from Huddinge. She is an experienced runner and very modest about her success. When she is not out running she works as a school teacher. She started out as a Marathon runner and has three starts in Stockholm Marathon. Her best result there is a Bronze medal. She switched to running ultra long races about one year ago. Earlier this year Kajsa ran in the Swiss Alpine Marathon. More impressive is the result in the World Championships where she finished in second place! That race was also the European Championships, and she was the gold medal winner in that race. She averages around 500 kilometres per week, and doesn't ever get really tired!

A Personal Victory

When I arrived to the finishing area at Lake Rudan for the Sörmland Ultra Marathon race yesterday afternoon, the top seven athletes had already crossed the finishing line. This is one of them Victor Kabo. He was stretching after the tough 50K race and had time for a chat. He was very happy with the result and was waiting for his girlfriend to arrive with a change of clothes. Victor lives in Stockholm. He is originally from Växjö in Småland. He runs his own business producing and selling bike equipment. Victor has previously competed in a few orienteering events and also another Ultra race.