Márta Vass (Hungarian pronunciation: �ma:rtə ˈvɑːʃ born July 6, 1962, in Marcali and raised in

Nemesdéd Nemesdéd is a village in Somogy county, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northea ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

) is a Hungarian

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

runner, former

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

100km European champion and multiple IAU 100 km World Championship medallist.

Athletic career

Vass is Hungary's first internationally recognized female ultra-runner. During her career she set several national records in the 100 km event. Her outstanding accomplishments include the European 100 kilometer Championship title in 1993. At the same championship she led the Hungarian women’s team (including Ágnes Bozán and Tímea Bontovics) to the second place of the podium. Her top rivals included Great Britain's Hilary Walker and Eleanor Adams-Robinson. Vass also has four IAU 100 km World Championship medals under her belt: two silver ( Santander 1988, Palamos 1992) and two bronze (Duluth 1990, Faenza 1991) ones. Marta Vass IAU 100km Cup Winner 1990

She took third place with a strong performance of 6 hours 51 minutes and 4 seconds behind world champions Valentina Lyakhova (Валентина Васильевна Ляхова ) and Valentina Shatyaeva (Шатяева, Валентина Николаевна) in the grueling up-run of the Comrades Marathon in 1994. Vass was the five-time female winner of the renowned Night of Flanders 100 km race De Nacht van Vlaanderen organized in

Torhout Torhout (; french: Thourout; vls, Toeroet) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Torhout proper, the villages of Wijnendale and Sint-Henricus, and the hamlet of De Dri ...

, Belgium during midsummer. Due to her four consecutive victories between 1990 and 1993, Vass became an iconic figure of the prestigious

Vienna–Bratislava–Budapest Supermarathon The Vienna–Bratislava–Budapest Supermarathon (''Vienna–Budapest Supermarathon until 2005'') is a 320 kilometer five-day ultramarathon connecting the capitals of Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. It is the largest and most significant ultramaratho ...

, a five-day stage race covering over 350 km. Being one of the handful Hungarian ultra-runners to have finished on the podium at IAU championships, Vass was inducted in the Hungarian Ultrarunners' Hall of Fame in January 2016.

Professional life

Vass is a teacher of mathematics and chemistry, living with her husband György Pék (former handball player and referee) and daughter Eszter in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Awards

* Life Achievement Award for Ultrarunning 2010 * Hungarian Ultrarunners' Hall of Fame 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vass, Marta Living people 1962 births Hungarian female long-distance runners Athletes from Budapest Hungarian schoolteachers Hungarian Athletics Championships winners