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The home based favorite Jonas Buud representing IFK Mora won, very convincingly, the first ever UltraVasan 90 from Sälen to Mora with the time of 6:02.03. In the ladies’ class the name of the historic first winner is Holly Rush from Great Britain, 7:09.04.

We are noting 23rd of August. This means that the historic first UltraVasan was run, to date, 493 years after that the 25 year old Gustav Eriksson (Vasa) was recognized by Götaland’s provinces as Sweden’s centurion and regent, during the Liberation War against Denmark.

The race started at dawn, 5:00 am in Sälen, 760 runners began their 90 km journey towards Mora. A distinction from other ultra-races is that UltraVasan offers spurt prizes. However, you have to complete the race to be able to claim your spurt prize.

Elov Olsson from Ockelbo, Sweden managed to outrun the front field and be the first runner in Mångsbodarna, 23 km from the start, winning the spurt prize. Arriving two and half minutes later were the trio consisting of the Polish runner Krzysztof Bartkiewicz, home based runner Jonas Buud and Britain’s Steven Way. Norway’s John Henry Strupstad and France’s Thomas Lorblanchet were not far behind.

It wasn’t long until the chasing trio caught up with Elov Olsson. The winner of the Hill Prize in Evertsberg (half way) was Steven Way, who came in 13 seconds before Jonas Buud. But from here on Jonas Buud could majestically run alone down towards the finish. He substantially beat his own predictions and ran at a four minute tempo. He scooped up the spurt prize in Hökberg with a seven minute margin to Steven Way.

While running down the homestretch toward the portal and the finish, the 40 year old Jonas Buud gave high fives to a cheering home audience. Jonas won with the amazing time of 6.02.03. His remarkable performance scored him the winning check of 60 000 SEK. Steven Way placed second, close to twelve minutes behind Jonas Buud. Third place went to Norway’s Jarle Risa, he passed John Henry Strupstad who finally finished in fifth place.

Jonas Buud said after the race:
– I felt incredibly energized the whole way and I don’t think I can race better than this. Everything went much better than planned. It went a lot faster than expected, almost 45 minutes faster.

– Nothing can be better than this victory, it was my biggest goal this year. To accomplish this is absolutely wonderful.

Jonas Buud reports about the race:
– It was a fast start, but it just got faster and faster. I was a little bit worried in the beginning because the race went faster than expected, so I had to slow down before Evertsberg to be able to get a good recovery. While Steven Way increased his speed up to Evertsberg, I tried to keep rolling at a fast pace after Evertsberg and that seemed to work really well.

The average time of four minutes per kilometer is really good, Jonas Buud admits.
– Yes, it is actually a fantastic time for this course. One of my best accomplishments ever, claims the Swedish world runner.

Steven Way of Great Britain, is the same age as Jonas Buud, 40 years old. He scored, the other week, a 10th place in the marathon race at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In his opinion he had recovered very well, but not well enough to beat Jonas Buud today:
– Jonas was incredibly good today and I definitely lost to a better racer. But I am really satisfied with my second place in my first ultra-race here, Steven Way says.

– It was a really great feeling to start in the sunrise in Sälen this morning, the Brit continues.

Ladies’ class UltraVasan 90

The first runner to reach Mångsbodarna was Mimmi Kotka from Svinarp FK, she was roughly two minutes ahead of Francesca Canepa, Italy, and almost four minutes ahead of the brittish pre-race favorite Holly Rush. Mimmi Kotka scored the ladies’ Hill Prize in Evertsberg. Francesca Canepa lost her second place to Holly Rush, who passed Evertsberg three minutes after Mimmi Kotka. Lena Gavelin, Sweden, came in third, five minutes behind the leading Kotka.

Mimmi Kotka, third in AXA Fjällmaraton two weeks ago, kept her lead on Holly Rush at the control passing in Oxberg. After this, Mimmi lost speed and Holly managed to pass her. She had a one minute lead on Kotka in Hökberg, 19 km from finish. Holly lost her shoe two times throughout the race but still managed to win the race with an impressive thirteen minutes and finish the race with the time 7:09.04. The ladies’ class winner’s prize is 60 000 SEK as well.

Holly Rush, the 36 year old marathon runner who did her first ultra-race 2013, was only out run by thirteen UltraVasan male runners.

Holly Rush about the race:
– 90 kilometers is a very long distance so I ran very carefully and I kept my speed. I felt strong the other half of the race. With 20 kilometers left I felt really strong, but the last 10 kilometers were tough. So it was up and down.

– I didn’t realize I had a Swedish runner ahead of me, I thought she was a relay racer and I had to work really hard to catch up with her. After that I felt really strong so I think I had the right strategy.

Holly answered the question how running the ultra-race UltraVasan (90km) compared to the asphalt race Comrades (89km) in South Africa:
– I think it was better. I don’t feel as broken as I did after Comrades. I feel much better, but I might have to wait to answer that until tomorrow…

Mimmi Kotka managed to stay ahead of Lena Gavelin. Both Swede’s managed to place second and third.

Sophia Sundberg and Frida Södermark, which last Friday received a spot on the Swedish national team for the 100 km World Championship in Doha in November, placed fourth and sixth.

UltraVasan 45

The Russian Mora runner Roman Ryapolov won a substantial victory. Unthreatened he even had enough time to kiss the kranskulla on the homestretch and do a joyful victory jump over the finish line with the winning time of 2.49.47. Ryapolov finished nearly 12 minutes ahead of number two, Benoit Nave, France. Third place went to Henrik Bengtsson.

In the ladies’ 45 km class, the pre-race favorites Hanna Helsing, Gloria Vinstedt and Kjersti Lerkeröd ran side by side through Eldris. But on the homestretch, the Swedish runners Gloria and Hanna had a spurt battle, Gloria won with barely a meter. Gloria Vinstedts’ victory time of 3.28.13 meant aside from a victory in the ladies’ class, an overall 14th place.

RESULTS from the first edition of UltraVasan

UltraVasan 90 Men
1  Buud, Jonas (SWE) H40 IFK Mora Friidrottsklubb 06:02:03
2  Way, Steven (GBR) H40 Bournemouth AC 06:12:28
3  Risa, Jarle (NOR) H35 Undheim IL 06:23:38
4  Hermansen, Didrik (NOR) H21 SK Vidar 06:24:03
5  Strupstad, John Henry (NOR) H21 FIK Ren-Eng 06:28:04
6  Lantz, Johan (SWE) H21 Ockelbo SK 06:36:07
7  Nilsson, Daniel (SWE) H40 FK Studenterna 06:44:26
8  Olsson, Elov (SWE) H21 Ockelbo SK 06:46:16
9  Lorblanchet, Thomas (FRA) H21 TRAIL ASICS  06:50:47
10  Myrland, Anders (NOR) H21 Skogn IL 06:53:01

UltraVasan 90 Ladies
1  Rush, Holly (GBR) D35 Team Bath AC 07:09:04
2  Kotka, Mimmi (SWE) D21 Svinarp FK 07:22:35
3  Gavelin, Lena (SWE) D40 run4heart 07:26:02
4  Sundberg, Sophia (SWE) D21 Väsby IK  07:34:26
5  Løgavlen, Margrethe (NOR) D45 Tonsberg FIK 07:43:03
6  Södermark, Frida (SWE) D35 GoIF Tjalve 07:45:18
7  Dahl, Dorte (DEN) D45 Löberen/Blovströd 08:16:10
8  Guin,Mari (NOR) D21 Frol IL 08:19:17
9  Vinje, Kerstin (SWE) D21 Upsala IF 08:47:16
10  Josefsson, Jenny (SWE) D40 Täby IS SK 08:56:29

UltraVasan 45 Men
1  Ryapolov, Roman (RUS) H21 IFK Mora OK 02:49:47
2  Nave, Benoit (FRA) H45 Team ASICS Trail 03:01:19
3  Bengtsson, Henrik (SWE) H35 Falkenberg Allstars 03:07:40
4  Norman, Pål (SWE) H45  03:09:45
5  Gustafsson, Johan (SWE) H45 IFK Mora Friidrott 03:10:40
6  Bazzanella, Francesco (ITA) H21  03:13:43
7  Hägg, Jonas (SWE) H21 Hofors LK 03:18:27
8  Bergman, Kalle (SWE) H21 Brudpiga RK 03:23:33
9  Putrus, Imad (SWE) H40 Ik Akeele 03:24:29
10  Johansson, Daniel (SWE) H35 Falkenbergs OK 03:26:00

UltraVasan 45 Ladies
1  Vinstedt, Gloria (SWE) D21  03:28:13
2  Helsing, Hanna (SWE) D21 Mälarö SOK 03:28:13
3  Lerkerød, Kjersti (NOR) D21 BUL 03:28:50
4  Izindre, Anne-Louise (SWE) D40  03:33:25
5  Östlund, Caroline (SWE) D35 Hemlingby Lk 03:42:21
6  Axell, Alexandra (SWE) D21  03:47:01
7  Nilsson, Maria (SWE) D35 Gävle SK 03:52:11
8  Dahl, Julia (SWE) D21 IFK Mora Skidklubb 03:54:56
9  Gotte, Helena (SWE) D21  03:54:59
10  Ekelberg, Janicke (NOR) D40 SkiLoperne 03:57:12

Coming arrangements in Vasalopps Arena:

Vasaloppets winter week 2015 (cross country skiing):
Fri 27 Feb: KortVasan. 30 km. Start Oxberg.
Sat 28 Feb: TjejVasan. 30 km. Start Oxberg.
Sun 1 Mar: UngdomsVasan. 3, 5, 7 or 9 km. Start Mora Ski Stadium.
Sun 1 Mar: Öppet Spår Sunday. 90 km. Start Sälen. (10,000 entries. FULL 21/05/2014)
Mon 2 Mar: Öppet Spår Monday. 90 km. Start Sälen.
Tue 3 Mar: HalvVasan. 45 km. Start Oxberg.
Fri 6 Mar: StafettVasan. 24, 24, 14, 9 and 19 km. Start Sälen. (8,000 entries. FULL 16/03/2014)
Sun 8 Mar: Vasaloppet. 90 km. Start Sälen. (15,800 entries. FULL 16/03/2014)