UCPH student up with the pros at Copenhagen marathon

Faculty of Social Sciences student, Rasmus Trap Wolf, has broken the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) marathon record. It is only in recent years that organisers have begun tallying participants with institutions, and the UCPH record means the fastest since 2011.

It is just a ‘hobby’ for him, Rasmus Trap Wolf re-assures the University Post, but the UCPH runner was the 15th fastest round the course – a spot usually reserved for the world’s fastest athletes. He shaved 10 minutes off the previous UCPH record holder’s time, Theis Læssøe who had clocked 02:45:01 in 2014’s marathon.

Hot on Wolf’s heels was another UCPH runner, David Westermann (30th), four minutes behind the UCPH leader. The runners were the only students in the top 30, outstripping runners Morten Kjær from AAU (69th place) and CBS’s Thomas Wriedt (137th).

It was all a bet

In the women’s field, UCPH slipped behind Aarhus University’s Fie Sønderby Christensen at 3:09:34 and CBS’s Anna-Bertha Heeris Christensen at 3:19:14. UCPH runner Signe Bundgaard Lassen finished 63rd with a time of 3:21:52.

Running wasn’t at the top of his agenda until a friend dared him to try a marathon, according to Rasmus.

“I ran my first marathon when I was 19. It was all down to a bet! After that I didn’t run at all for about three years until someone challenged me to run another marathon under three hours. Well I lost that bet big time – I had to walk for 15k”, he admitted. But these setbacks only pushed him on, “it got me highly motivated and I’ve been running ever since then.”

Related: Hundreds of students to run Copenhagen marathon

Training regime

“In this year’s race, there was quite a big group running together around the 30 km mark – that’s when the race really begun. A group of four of us managed to pull away from the rest but I ran out of energy around the 37 km mark and had to let the other three go. From there I was just trying to minimise the difference between them and me. It was tough at points but really great!” he said.

Rasmus ran in the 2014 marathon. but “had lots of problems with injuries before the CPH marathon last year. So this year I’ve learnt to run flat footed instead of landing on my heel.” he said.

Behind Rasmus’ stunning race was a vigorous training regime. “A fellow public health student and excellent runner put together a training programme which I followed for the last three months before the marathon”, said Rasmus. “I slowly built up the amount of km I was getting done each week, starting out with 10 km per week and ending up at 80 km each week.”

A total of 208 UCPH students made it across the finish line. Results of the 2015 Copenhagen marathon are here.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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