Sunmaya Budha - Jumla- Professional Athlete The NorthFace Adventure Team, APA Group
Sunmaya Budha after winning Thailand by UTMB Inthanon 5 110km 2021
First Nepali athlete to be supported as a full time professional athlete with the North Face Asia Pacific Adventure Team. Picture credits Team Director- Ryan S. Blair
Sunmaya Budha started racing in local school races in the seventh grade and kept winning in the subsequent school races for four years. She was the fifth girl child amongst eight siblings in the family given birth in expectation of another boy. At 16, her brother coaxed her to get married as they didn’t have enough money to finance her education. She walked out of house to Jumla bazaar, with little savings she had and asked Coach Hari to train her for the races. Coach Hari took her in and coached her for the track and trail races and since 2015, she was seen winning in national and local races. Since 2017, she started racing internationally with the help of foreign supporters and made an impressive start on the international scene, taking 2nd place in the 2016 Hong Kong MSIG Lantau 50km, 7th place in the 2017 Marathon du Mont Blanc 80km, and 1st place in the 2018 Gaoligong by UTMB 57km.
In 2021, The North Face Adventure Team signed up Sunmaya as a full time professional athlete. She raced her first 110km in Thailand by UTMB 2021 and won with a handsome time, beating the second woman by 2 hours and just 4 seconds behind the overall 2nd Man.