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Aparna Choudhary – Running The Ultras

  • In the first week of February 2026, ultrarunner Aparna Choudhary ran Vineyard Ultra’s longest distance, a 338-kilometer race. She wrapped up the distance in 64 hours, 16 minutes and 36 seconds, finishing third overall. But this is not the first time she was running this distance. In 2025, she ran the same distance at Vineyard Ultra winning the race in 68:02:51 hours. Though she could not defend her 2025 title, she improved her timing in the 2026 edition.
  • Two months earlier, in December 2025, Aparna set a new course record for women in the 100-mile run at Border Ultra finishing the distance in 18 hours, 52 minutes and five seconds. She broke her own course record of 19:47:31 hours, which she set during the 2024 edition of the race.
  • In October 2025, Aparna, representing India at the IAU 24 Hour World Championships at Albi, France, had finished second among Indian women and also surpassing the women’s national record at that time. At the end of the stipulated 24 hours, she had covered a distance of 210 kms.

Aparna Choudhary started running in 2004-2005 at a time when Mumbai Marathon had just arrived, spurring an amateur running culture in the country.

Those early days her distances were small – about 5 or 6 km. This was in Bengaluru, where she was doing her MBA at ICFAI.

Shortly, thereafter, she had started working in Bengaluru. Her daily runs continued until she was posted to the U.S. At Norristown in Pennsylvania, where she stayed, she continued her runs. While there, she ran the 5-miler Valley Forge Run. She also did an 18-mile run in New Jersey.

Running was not her first foray into sport. She used to play field hockey during her schooling and college days.

At the end of 2009, she was back in India and was posted in Pune. She signed up for her first ultra run a 100 km event at the iconic Bangalore Ultra. An ultra run or an ultramarathon is any foot race that is in excess of the marathon (42.2 km).

“I had no clue what an ultrarun entailed. In the early years I would just train during the week preceding the race day,” she said. Although, she registered for 100 km at Bangalore Ultra 2010, she quit the race at 75 km as she had to head back to Pune to get to work the next day.

Her first ultrarun was a DNF. In runners’ parlance DNF means “did not finish”. DNFs in ultramarathons are not uncommon. In such long foot races anything can go wrong, ultrarunners say.

More than ten years ago, Shyam G Menon, (who started this blog website and ran it till he passed away on August 31, 2025), had reached out to Aparna for an interview but to no avail. By then, Aparna was already a well-known name in the niche world of ultrarunning.

Years later when Shyam and me (Latha) got to know her through multiple interactions, we realized that Aparna was not stonewalling us. Her life’s pattern was quite set. Appear at the start line of ultrarunning events and at the end of these events disappear back into her personal life – her job, her training and her sketches (She is also an artist). At present she works at Cognizant.

Sketches by Aparna

At the end of an ultrarunning event, irrespective of the outcome, she seems quite equanimous. She is not the one to make any claims of her accomplishments at a time when social media platforms are exploding with posts boasting about the tiniest of achievements.

“It is an exhilarating feeling, when I complete an ultrarunning event. The feeling is indescribable. And more so, if my run has gone as per my plan. I don’t like to dissipate the excitement by chatting with others. I like to savour it and enjoy the day,” says Aparna.

Over the years, she has done a multitude of ultrarunning events – Border 100, Comrades Marathon, Goa Ultra, Malnad Ultra, 24 Hour Stadium Ultras, Run of Kutch, Vineyard Ultra 338 km to name a few. In October 2024, Aparna set the national record for women in Backyard Ultra at Pune, running for 27 hours with a mileage of 180.9 km. Aparna’s record has been subsequently rewritten by Ashwini Ganapathi, a Bengaluru-based ultrarunner, in May 2025.

The backyard ultra, also known as the last runner standing, is a format of ultra running in which runners are required to run a loop of 6.7 km within an hour. Every new hour runners who have completed the 6.7 km in the previous hour continue their running until the last surviving runner is declared the winner. This winner is also the sole finisher of the race.

The concept of backyard ultra was founded by Gary Cantrell of Tennessee (also known as Lazarus Lake). He is the founder and race director of Barkleys Marathon.

For a couple of years Aparna took time off to do her MBA from Oxford University.

Aparna has represented India in IAU ultrarunning events including the 24 Hour run as well as the 100 km, both at home and overseas.

At the IAU 24 Hour World Championships 2025 held in October in France, Aparna covered a distance of 210.537 km, surpassing the then national record of 204.314 km and improving her personal record by a huge margin from her previous best of 192 km. (The national record for women’s 24 hours stands with Sunita Subba at 217.327 km).

The Indian team at IAU 100 km World Championship at Albi, France

Aparna’s training for the World Championship was consistent but “nothing extraordinary”. In the run up to the Championships, Aparna took part in the 120 km Goa Ultra 2025 in early August. She won the women’s race with a finish timing of 14:51:19 hours. She saw it as a training run for the Championships.

“I do not let my mind be in the clouds about my training or my ability to perform on race day,’ she had told the blog in an earlier interaction.

There is a method to her approach. In her own mind, she draws up plans for each of the ultrarunning races she does. “If plan A falls through, I go for plan B, Plan C, D, etc). When all plans fall by the way side, I just keep running,” says Aparna.

Two months later, in December 2025, she set a new course record at the 100-mile run of Border Ultra 2025. She smashed her own course record that she had set in 2024.

Another two months later, she was at the start line of the 338 km Vineyard Ultra 2026 at Nashik, Maharashtra. Barely 16 km into the race, Aparna had a nasty fall and hurt her left foot but she continued running and completed the run.

“In these really long ultras I tend to get really dark and negative thoughts. But my mind also urges me to go on,” said Aparna.

Running ultras are not without their share of adventure on the route but sometimes, these can get out of hand.

During a 220 km ultra run at Saputara Summit 2023, in Gujarat, runners were required to first do a loop of 100 km and two loops of 60 km each to complete the distance. “Part of the route goes through a hilly forest area. I heard someone behind and I presumed it was one of the runners. The footsteps came closer and the person put his hand on my mouth. I tried to scream but couldn’t because he had gripped my mouth tightly. I then managed to bite into his finger. He loosened his grip and ran away,” said Aparna.

She won that race with a finish of 41:10 hours.

At Uttarkashi during an ultrarun, there were mild landslides along the route. “Once at Spiti during a ultrarun, there were falling rocks on one side and a river on the other side. During one of Uttarkashi 135 miler, it started pouring very heavily. I just went and laid down under one of the support vehicles, of course, reminding the driver that he needs to look below before he drives off,” she said.

If ever she feels the urge to sleep, Aparna just lays down on the side of the road or path to catch a few moments of sleep before she resumes her run.

On March 12, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led a Salt March from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi to protest against British regime’s salt monopoly. The 24-day march covered a distance of 387 km, prompting many Indians to join in the civil disobedience movement.

In 2012, Aparna along with Piyush Shah, Bhupendrasing Rajput and Vishwanathan Jayaraman did a self-supported multi-day run from Dandi to Sabarmati. “We ate local food, slept in temple premises, dharamshalas (rest houses for travellers) and at homes of some kind friends along the route,” she said.

Aparna along with co-runners of the Dandi to Sabarmati multi-day run

Ultraraces that are in excess of 200 km are among Aparna’s favourites. “Every ultrarunning event exacts its hardships. None of these ultra long events go easy,” she said. She is usually not daunted by the distances or the complicated routes of her ultraraces. “Sometimes, a 24-hour stadium run daunts me. Running around a 400-metre track for 24 hours can be quite intimidating,” she says.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist, based in Mumbai)

(All photos courtesy Aparna Choudhary)

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Cognizant New Delhi Marathon 2026 – Musings

Kartik Karkera and Nirmaben Thakor won the men’s and women’s marathon race at the Cognizant New Delhi Marathon 2026 held on February 22.

Kartik won the race in two hours, 13 minutes and 10 seconds, a huge improvement from his win a month ago at Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026 where he finished the race in 2:19:55.

The men’s race was a tight finish. Finishing two seconds after Kartik was Gopi Thonakal, veteran marathon runner, and the second fastest Indian marathon runner. Man Singh, the defending champion, finished three seconds after Gopi at 2:13:15.

All the three top finishers have qualified for the Asian Games. The qualifying mark as per Athletic Federation of India (AFI) was 2.15.04. The continental games are slated to be held in Japan in September this year.

In the women’s race, Nirmaben Thakor won with a finish of 2:41:15, a stupendous improvement in her personal timing. Defending champion Bhagirathi Bisht came in second with a finish of 2:43:28. In third position was Ashwini Jadhav with a finish of 2:56:59.

Certified by AFI as the National Marathon, the New Delhi Marathon is a coveted marathon course as runners are able to improve their timings. The flat course of the New Delhi Marathon route and the cool February weather assist runners in improving their timings. Often times, the gains have been substantial.

Media reports pointed out that over 30,000 runners took to the streets of Delhi to run varying distances as part of the New Delhi Marathon.

The blog spoke to a few of the winners about their experience running the marathon.

Kartik Karkera, orthopaedic surgeon, may seem like he came out of nowhere to emerge as a winner in elite category in two leading marathons – Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026 and Cognizant New Delhi Marathon 2026.

But the truth is that he has been quietly working at improving his running over the last ten years. “I enrolled for MBBS in 2015 in Moscow. In 2016, I started running and swimming mainly as a hobby,” he told this blog. He went on to do his MS in Russia and then commenced working in Russian Olympic Committee as a surgeon.

“During the Covid-19 years, I took to running twice a day. I was putting in more effort and I was enjoying it too,” he said. While in Moscow, he experienced his first running event – a 1,500-metre race.

Kartik returned to India in November of 2023. He had to write the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, a mandatory test for those with overseas medical degrees. He joined Dr Vasantrao Pawar Medical College and Hospital in Nashik.

He has been focussing on 800 metres and mainly on 1,500 metres and has won gold medals for Maharashtra state in these events. Moving on to longer distances, Kartik went on to do 5 km, 10 km and half marathon races. At Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon, Kartik finished third among Indian elite.

The 2026 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon was his debut marathon. “It was an experience for me as it was my first marathon. I had cramps and did struggle a lot during the latter part of the race. Also, the late start was tough,” Kartik pointed out. He won the Indian elite race with a timing of 2:19:55.

A month later, Kartik won again with a huge improvement in his timing at the New Delhi Marathon. His finish of 2:13:10 has secured him a berth in the upcoming Asian Games, due in September 2026 in Japan.

As opposed to Mumbai, the NDM start time for elite runners was too early, at 4 am. “My aim was to win this race and qualify for Asian Games,” he said adding that he was able to finish strong. “Up until 35 to 36 km, we were on track for a national record,” he said.

With his TMM run, he has also completed the Procam Slam, which entails running the four events – TCS World 10 k, Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon, TSK 25 k Kolkata and TMM.

Kartik trains under Vijendra Singh, who is also the coach for Nirmaben and Sanjivani Jadhav, the elite runner who won the Indian women’s race at TMM 2026. “For strength training, nutrition and other aspects, I devise my own plan. I do my own research on sports medicine,” he said.

He is due to run the TCS World 10 K at Bengaluru in April. His main focus this year would be training for Asian Games.

In December 2025, Gopi Thonakal came quite close to the long-standing marathon national record when he crossed the finish line of Valencia Marathon with a timing of 2:12:23. The national record of 2:12 was set way back in 1978 by Shivnath Singh.

Gopi has been training in Bengaluru for many years but for the last six months he has moved his base to Ooty to train on a hilly terrain and higher altitude. Gopi believes the Ooty training has helped him to secure a substantial improvement in his timing at Valencia Marathon.

“My training for New Delhi Marathon went off quite well. I came into the race quite confidently,” said Gopi. But the 4 am start at Delhi was a dampener. “I did not sleep a wink. There was too much noise and I had to wake up at 2 am for 4 am start,” he said.

Though the weather was conducive for racing, the lack of sleep did bother. “I was able to do the first half of the race well but in the second half, I could feel the tiredness,” he said.

A slightly delayed start, at around 5 am, would have been more beneficial, Gopi pointed out. “When you wake up at 2 am for a 4 am start it is also difficult to eat or drink anything before the race,” he said.

Gopi, 37, will resume training in a few weeks and his focus is most likely on Asian Games.

At the start line of the elite marathon race at NDM 2026, defending champion Man Singh had the backing of very good training, which he executed with his compatriot Gopi.

“Our focus was to qualify for the Asian Games and therefore our training plan was designed keeping that in mind,” he said.

Man Singh (in black vest) with Gopi

The army man, otherwise based in Pune, moved to Ooty mainly to get the benefit of training in the hills.

The night before the race, Man Singh also had not slept at all. Man Singh and Gopi were sharing a room.

“The race timing was too early. In the early part of the race, some of the stretches along the route were quite dark. I could feel cramps coming on but they were manageable,” Man Singh said.

Although he was disappointed with his third finish, Man Singh did improve his personal record. He finished the marathon at NDM in 2:13:15, a 10-second improvement from his previous personal best which he achieved in 2025.

In January 2026, Nirmaben Thakor had finished second among Indian elite women at Tata Mumbai Marathon. She was the defending champion at TMM 2026 but lost out to Sanjivani Jadhav by a few seconds.

Nirmaben is unperturbed by these rankings. “It is extremely competitive out there. These things are bound to happen,” she told this blog.

At New Delhi Marathon 2026, she not only won the women’s race but also secured a personal record with a huge margin.

The elite runner from Patan, Gujarat, has been residing and training in Nashik under Coach Vijendra Singh. Her training in the run up to these two major marathons was quite good and that helped her performance at NDM 2026.

Nirmaben finished the marathon in a timing of 2:41:15, a stupendous improvement over her previous personal best of 2:47:11, which she secured in the 2024 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon.

Nirmaben survives on her earnings from podium finishes in races.

For the last few years Kalidas Hirave has been a podium finisher in leading marathon races.

He started as a middle-distance runner moving to longer distances over the years. In February 2022, Kalidas ran his debut marathon at the New Delhi Marathon, finishing with a personal best timing of 2:18:12.

At the 2023 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon, Kalidas finished in third position among the elite.

Kalidas, originally from Satara in Maharashtra, now resides and trains in Nashik. He works with Life Insurance of India. “My training for NDM 2026 was quite good. Kartik Karkera, the winner of the race, trained with me,” he said.

He completed the run in 2:20:09, securing a sixth position among marathon elites. “The first half of my race went very well. But in the second half I started to feel tightness in my legs due to cramps and had to slow down a tad,” he said.

He is also due to participate in TCS world 10k at Bengaluru in April.

Ashok Bind also mostly survives on his prize money from podium finishes. The runner, originally from Uttar Pradesh, has been securing podium finishes in many of the races recently.

At TMM 2026, he had finished second overall in the open category of the marathon race and first in his age group of 18 to 24 years.

Ashok has been running for about 10 years, initially doing steeple chase and middle-distance races.

“My training for NDM was quite good,” he said. He had previously told this blog that he trains under O.P. Jaisha, a veteran marathon runner, who continues to hold the women national record in marathon.

“My run at NDM went off quite well. The weather and the route, both were good,” he said. Ashok finished the race in 2:28:25, securing a second position in the open category of the marathon. It was also a new personal best timing compared with his previous best of 2:30:11 at the 2024 edition of the New Delhi Marathon in 2024, when he secured an overall third position and first in his age category of 35 to 45 years.

He is likely to run TCS World 10k, due on April 26, 2026.

In November 2025, running the 100 km race at the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships held at Thailand, Jayadrath Singh finished fifth among men with a timing of 7:51.

“The race was quite tough because it started at 10 pm. I am not used to running in the nights,” said Jayadrath, a long-distance runner from the Indian Air Force, currently posted in Chennai. The warm weather in Chennai did help with the humidity in Thailand but he did suffer from nausea during the 100 km race. Ultrarunners are wont to suffer from gut issues during the race if hydration and nutrition are not ideal.

Jayadrath, originally from Rishikesh in Uttarakhand started running in 2019.

“This is the seventh year, I am running NDM. This time around I had a very good race,” he said. Jayadrath finished the run in 2:42:04, securing a sixth position in the open category of marathon and second position in his age category of 30 to 40 years. Also, this finish was his new personal record, an improvement from his previous best of 2:43:41, which he had set at the 2025 edition of NDM.

Jayadrath will be participating in Boston Marathon 2026, slated to be held on April 20, 2026. “I have taken a break from work mainly to train in the hilly terrain of Rishikesh for Boston Marathon,” he told this blog.

Three weeks ahead of Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026, ultrarunner Binay Sah ended up with an ankle injury. He went off training to help the recovery but the time available until TMM race day was not sufficient for a complete recovery. He finished the race in 3:01 hours.

But he was able to do well at the IDFC First Bank Indian Navy Half Marathon held in New Delhi on February 1, 2026. He finished the race in 1:20:20

“My ankle injury took a month’s time to recover,” he said.

Running the New Delhi Marathon 2026, Binay was able to achieve a new personal record. He finished in 2:43:05, securing a lead position in his age category of 40 to 50 years and ninth overall in the open category of the marathon race.

Having suffered a couple of setbacks, Binay was all set for the New Delhi Marathon. “This time, I also trained for the U turns on the NDM route,” he said.

The NDM route, though mostly flat, has many turns including several U turns.

Binay has represented India is many ultrarunning events held within the country as well as overseas. In November 2025, he was due to run the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships held in Thailand. But in early November, he contracted dengue and had to pull out of the race.

In 2022, Binay had a health scare. He was due to leave for Spartathlon, 246 km ultramarathon held in Greece in September every year. “I had to go to Fortis Hospital in Delhi for a fitness certificate before I left for the race. The cardiologist, a friend, casually did a 2D Echo and the whole story changed. He found a hole in my heart,” he said. Binay was asked to pull out of Spartathalon that year and was advised to go in for ASD Closure, a medical procedure to rectify the problem.

Next on cards for Binay is the 50 km at the Masters Meet in Delhi on March 15. This event runs concurrently with the IAU 50 km World Championships, initially slated to be held in December 2025 but postponed to March 2026 mainly due to the bad air quality in the capital city.

Elite runner Ashwini Jadhav comes from the same place the veteran marathon runner Jyoti Gawate hails from – Parbhani in Maharashtra.

Jyoti has been a podium finisher in many of the leading marathons including Mumbai Marathon and the New Delhi Marathon over the last few years. Jyoti holds the national record for 100 km with a timing of 8:20:07 hours set at the IAU 100 km World Championships at Berlin in 2022.

Ashwini, 21, trains with Jyoti under their coach Ravi Raskatla. She has been running for the last eight years and took to marathon running in the last three years.

“My training for NDM 2026 was not very good. I was not well. I have been running too many races and there has been no time for recovery,” she said. Ashwini, Jyoti and many other runners around the country mainly survive on the prize money from their podium wins. At TMM 2026, Jyoti had finished sixth among Indian elite women.

“At NDM this time my run was okay, far from my best. The route is good and the weather was excellent,” she said. Ashwini finished third among elite women with a timing of 2:56:59. At the 2025 edition of the New Delhi Marathon, Ashwini had secured a personal best with her finish of 2:50:48 and a third position among elite women.

Having finished her BSc degree, she has now secured admission for BPEd.

With age on her side, Ashwini believes she can improve her marathon timings further.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)

(All photos provided by athletes)

(With inputs from MySamay.in)

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TMM 2026 — Musings

Ethiopian runners Tadu Abate Deme and Yeshi Kalayu Chekole were the winners of the 2026 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon, held on January 18, 2026.

Tadu Deme won the race with a finish of two hours, nine minutes and 55 seconds.

In the women’s elite race, Yeshi secured the top position with a timing of 2:25:13.

Among Indian elite runners, Kartik Karkera won the race with a finish of 2:19:55. Among women Sanjivani Jadhav won with a timing of 2:49:02.

This year, the number of runners on the streets of Mumbai participating in Tata Mumbai Marathon was higher compared to previous editions of the race.

The blog spoke to a select few runners about their experience in achieving their podium finishes.

Ashok Bind

Ashok Bind, originally from Uttar Pradesh, commenced his journey in sports through steeple chase and middle-distance running. He has been running for about 10 years, often securing overall wins or age category podium finishes.

The 23-year-old runner, now living in Bengaluru, says he trains under O.P. Jaisha, India’s celebrated marathon runner. She continues to hold the national record in marathon for her 2:34:43 finish at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.

“My training for TMM went off as expected and I was able to do the race at Mumbai well,” he said.

At the 2025 edition of Wipro Bengaluru Marathon, Ashok finished eighth overall and first in his age category of 18 to 25 years with a timing of 1:14:41. At the PhonePe Bengaluru Midnight Marathon Run, Ashok finished second in the 20-miler race.

Ashok survives on his prize money earnings from his podium finishes and a private job that he does in Bengaluru.

At TMM 2026, Ashok finished the marathon in 2:30:14, his personal best, securing an overall second position in the open category and top position in his age category of 18 to 24 years.

He is due to participate in New Delhi Marathon to be held on February 22, 2026 in the national capital.

With age on his side, Ashok believes he can improve his timing substantially.

Manoj R S

Twenty-six-year-old Manoj R S has been running since 2018, distances ranging from 5 km, 10 km to half marathon.

“This is the first time I did the full marathon distance. I wanted to try something new,” he said. In the process of training for the marathon he did a weekly mileage of 80-120 km.

During the race, he maintained a pace of 3:28 to 3:34 minutes per km. “My pace suffered a bit in the last 7 km stretch of the marathon,” Manoj said. He finished his debut marathon in 2:30:28, securing overall third position in the open category and second position in his age category of 25 to 29 years.

Originally from Thiruvananthapuram, he is currently based in Ernakulam in Kerala. Manoj’s earnings come from a part-time job at an academy in Ernakulam and the prize money that he gets from many of his podium finishes in various races that he participates.

Prior to Tata Mumbai Marathon, he won the second position in the half marathon race at the Thalassery Heritage Run 2026 held on January 4, 2026 finishing in 1.06:28.

“My run at TMM was my first experience at running a marathon race. I think, I was short on mileage training,” he said adding that he has room for improvement.

He is due to run the Federal Bank Kochi Marathon on February 8, 2026.

Vinothkumar S

Originally from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Vinothkumar S now resides in Ooty. He has been running for several years now and often securing podium positions.

Vinothkumar is also among those athletes who survive on prize money that he earns from his podium finishes. In 2023, he secured top position in his age category of 30 to 39 years at Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation Marathon with a timing of 2:36:18. The following year, he again topped his age category with an improved timing of 2:32:17. His personal best in a marathon is 2:25:45, which he set at the Tamil Marathon 2023 held in Chennai.

At TMM 2026, his target was 2.26 but during the race he missed out on consuming gels. “The humidity in Mumbai does pose a challenge as I mostly stay and train in Ooty,” he said. Also, the crowd of runners, mostly half marathon runners, towards the last few kilometers of the route necessitates dodging to get ahead towards the finish line.

At TMM 2026, Vinothkumar finished the race in 2:35, securing a lead position in his age category of 40 to 44 years and eighth overall in the open category. He is also due to run the Federal Bank Kochi Marathon on February 8, 2026.

Saurav Ranjan

Ultrarunner Saurav Ranjan, who represents India in key international running events, had no plans to run the 2026 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon.

Returning from two major ultrarunning events – the IAU 24 Hour World Championships at Albi, France in October 2025 and the IAU 100 kilometer Asia & Oceania Championships at Bangkok, Thailand in November 2025 – Saurav was on a break from training.

Training for these two events was extremely intense with a major focus on building endurance mileage. “I was off training after a rigorous schedule for a few months prior to the two events that I was part of,” Saurav said adding that he did just a couple of long runs as part of the preparation for TMM 2026.

“I had run the 2024 edition of TMM finishing in 2:48:33. Weather in Mumbai is humid but as ultrarunners we cannot complain about weather,” he said.

This time, the route was good and the overall organisation was good with adequate hydration points, he said. “I was able to sustain the pace of 3:44 to 3:51 minutes per km. I think I benefited from the extensive training that I put in for my ultrarunning events,” he said.

Saurav finished his TMM 2026 in 2:41:33, securing a third position in his age category of 30-34 years.

Early February, he is due to compete in the 60 km BSF Run – Road to Heaven in Dholavira in Gujarat.

Vijayaraghavan Venugopal

In November 2025, Vijayaraghavan Venugopal completed his six-star World Marathon Major circuit at the New York City Marathon. He completed it with a personal best timing of 2:47:57.

A sub-three marathon runner, Vijayaraghavan has not only been managing a time efficient finish to his marathons but also bettering it.

“I didn’t specifically train for Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026. I did one run of 30 km and did not participate in any race in the interim,” he said. 

At Mumbai Marathon, Vijayaraghavan found the holding area for marathon runners better organised compared with previous years despite the increased number of runners for this distance.

“The addition of coastal road to the marathon route made it more challenging as there was added elevation,” he said. Mumbai’s weather, often humid, was not so much of a bother as much as the air quality, which was quite bad, he said.

While hydration support for marathon runners was mostly well laid out, there could be some more aid stations on the coastal road and the Bandra sea link, some of the lonely stretches along the route, Vijayaraghavan said.

Co-Founder and CEO of Fast & Up, a sports nutrition brand, Vijayaraghavan trains under Canada’s Malindi Elmore, an Olympian middle-distance runner, triathlete and a marathon runner.

At TMM 20206, Vijayaraghavan finished the marathon in 2:50:14 securing the top position in his age category of 50 to 54 years.

After two major marathons – New York City Marathon and Tata Mumbai Marathon – Vijayaraghavan is due to run the 2026 Abbott World Marathon Major Age Group World Championship run at Cape Town in South Africa in May this year.

Reenu Sandhu

Track and field athlete Reenu Sandhu won the gold in the women’s open category of the half marathon at the 2026 edition of the Tata Mumbai Marathon.

Last year Reenu was part of the elite runners for the marathon race but had to pull out of the race at around 27th kilometre.

Reenu, originally from Haryana, is a sub-inspector with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and is posted in Bhopal. A track and field athlete she has been running 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, half marathon and the full marathon.

“This time I chose to run the half marathon. Mumbai’s weather is too tough for the marathon. Also, the half marathon race starts much earlier than the elite marathon race,” she said. The marathon for elite runners commences at 7 am.

Reenu finished the half marathon race in 1:17:59, winning the women’s open category gold.

Sarswati Rai

In 2025, Sarswati Rai, the runner from Kalimpong, was the winner among women in the open category Tata Mumbai Marathon. This time around, she had to settle for the third position in open category.

Though her training was good, a niggling knee issue was hampering her running. Encouraged by her husband, she started running about 11 years ago and has been securing podium finishes in most of the races she participates.

“This time the change in the route for full marathon did pose a challenge. There were too many elevations,” she said. This time around, the marathon route included stretches of the newly opened coastal road, which has a few added elevations.

For a runner from Kalimpong, Mumbai’s humidity is also an issue to contend with.

Sarswati finished her TMM run with a timing of 3:12:10, nearly two minutes more than her 2025 finish, which secured her a gold in open category.

She is now due to run the Bordermen Marathon to be held on February 22, 2026 from Golden Gate Amritsar to JCP Attari.

Sunmbul Rahman

Kolkata-based runner, Sunmbul Rahman, has over the past few years completed the seven World Marathon Majors, travelling to each of these seven cities – Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York City, Tokyo and finally Sydney.

Nevertheless, she was not comfortable doing the Mumbai Marathon. “I ran Mumbai Marathon in 2018 and 2019 and was not happy with my timings.”

“Having done three of the four Procam Slam races, I had no choice but to do Mumbai Marathon. And what a year I chose to run – when the organisers added the coastal road in the marathon route and with it the added elevations,” she said.

She completed the distance in 3:42:21, securing a second position in her age group of 50 to 54 years. With this she also completed her first Procam Slam.

Sunmbul is also now a trained nutritionist. Training under coach Ashok Nath for the last few years has helped her running immensely.

“Mumbai Marathon to me was a nemesis. I am happy to have faced my nemesis and ended up with a fairly good run,” she said.

On her World Marathon Majors circuit, she is now waiting for Cape Town to be added to the list.

Kranti Salvi

Mumbai’s Kranti Salvi is a regular at many running events either as an ambassador or a runner, who often returns with podium finishes.

She has been running the marathon at Mumbai Marathon for several years. She chose to run with a cause – that of saving Sanjay Gandhi National Park and raising voice against the unchecked development being allowed inside the national park.

“I wore the banner “Hands Off Our Forest” on my back. There were at least 600 runners who chose to run with this banner additionally apart from their timing bib,” Kranti said.

“With nearly 70,000 participants on the ground, the Mumbai Marathon is perhaps the most powerful platform in the city to create awareness,” she said.

The banner that many runners wore during the Mumbai Marathon

Her race went off well and she finished in 3:59:33, securing a second position in her age category of 55 to 59 years.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)

(Photo courtesy the runners)

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2026

WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

THANK YOU FOR VISITING THIS BLOG

PLEASE CONTINUE TO DO SO

For the last couple of years, Shyam G. Menon linked a music video in the New Year wishes post on this blog.

In his absence (Shyam passed away on August 31, 2025), his close friend R. Rajagopal has suggested the cover version of Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love by Uschi Hollauf and the Purkersdorf Allstars.

Uschi Hollauf is from Austria. She has her own band called Three Girl Harmony.

Illustration by Shyam G Menon

Purkersdorf Allstars is a collective of local musicians and singers from the Austrian town of Purkersdorf, who perform together in local events including the annual Open Air festival.

Robert Palmer was an English singer. Addicted to Love was one of his hit songs.

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At a Glance – December 2025

Three course records broken at Border Ultra

Three course records were broken at The Border Ultra at its 2025 edition held on December 6 – 7, 2025 at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

The new course records were set in the woman’s 100-mile run, woman’s 100 kilometre run and the men’s 50 km run, said Vishwas Sindhu, Race Director and Founder of The Hell Race, the organiser of the event.

Ultrarunner Aparna Choudhary set a new course record for women in the 100-mile run finishing the distance in 18 hours, 52 minutes and five seconds. She broke her own course record of 19:47:31 hours, which she set during the 2024 edition of the race.

Aparna Choudhary – Photo courtesy The Hell Race

Sweta Rao set the new course record in 100 km finishing the distance in 11:32:31. She broke Komal Singh’s record of 12:16:00, also set in 2024.

In the 50 km men’s race Sugourav Goswami set the new course timing of 3:55:12, bettering the previous course record of 4:07:14 set by Jitendra Singh in 2024.

Kashinath Katare was the winner of the 100-mile men’s run finishing in 16:50:17.

Ajay Khandelwal won the 100 km men’s race with a timing of 9:31:50.

In the women’s race of 50 km, the winner was Sonia Rana with a timing of 5:15:08.

The total number of runners at The Border 2025 was 982, Vishwas said. About 100 runners missed the race because of the several flight cancellations ahead of the race days, he said.

IAU 50 km World Championships 2025 rescheduled to Mar 14, 2026

The IAU 50 km World Championships 2025 has been rescheduled to be held on March 14, 2026, a statement from IAU said.

The Championships were slated to be held on December 7, 2025 in New Delhi but postponed due to air quality issues and Indian government mandating suspension of sport activities in November and December.

IAU had previously announced that the Championships will be held on a 5 km loop course that will include the stadium loop of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

The Championships will now be held on March 14, 2026. The opening ceremony will be held on March 13, 2026. 

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)

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Gopi 23 secs short of national record; sets new PB at Valencia Marathon

A mere 23 seconds separated Indian elite marathon runner Gopi Thonakal from one of the longest standing national records at the Valencia Marathon 2025, held on December 7, 2025.

Thirty-seven-year-old Gopi finished the 42.2 kilometre marathon race in 2:12:23, just 23 seconds over the national record of 2:12 set by Shivnath Singh way back in 1978.

At Valencia, Gopi set a new personal record, a stupendous improvement from his previous best of 2:13:39, which he had achieved at Seoul Marathon 2019.

“My run at this year’s Valencia Marathon is my best performance in my marathon running career. I was able to achieve a PB (personal best),” he told this blog.

Gopi is among India’s leading marathon runners and the fastest in recent years. At the 2016 Mumbai Marathon, Gopi was assigned the role of a pacer for his colleagues from the Army. He ended up completing the marathon and securing a podium finish that year.

That run helped him to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, where he finished in 25th position with a timing of 2:15:25.

In November 2017, Gopi became the first Indian to secure gold at the Asian Marathon Championships with a 2:15:48 finish. Gopi has secured many gold and other podium positions as an elite runner in many marathons in the country.

For the last six years, Gopi has been training in Bengaluru. This time around, he moved to Ooty for four months to train for Valencia Marathon. “I think the high altitude at Ooty helped my performance,” he said. Also, this time his training was tweaked  with a greater focus on endurance. Therefore, his training mileage was higher.

“At Valencia, the competition was good. Also, the course and the weather were quite good. That’s why I was able to do well and improve my performance,” Gopi said. Support from Indian Army and Reliance Group also contributed to his improved performance, he said.

During the race, at around 36 km mark, he developed cramps in his calves and had to pause twice. “If not for cramps, I could have got an even better timing,” he said.

Valencia Marathon is a popular marathon race mainly because the route is flat with very little turns, therefore a fast course. Also, the weather in December in Valencia is ideal for long-distance running.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai.)

(With inputs from Valencia Marathon website, Anand Venkatraman)

(Photo courtesy: Gopi Thonakal)

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Amar Devanda wins gold, rewrites national record at IAU 100 km Asia Oceania Championships

Indian men’s, women’s team both win gold

Tenjin Dolma gets silver; Saurav Ranjan, Aarti Zanwar both win bronze

India’s Amar Singh Devanda broke the national record in 100 kilometre run at the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championship held on November 22-23, 2025 at Bangkok, Thailand.

He also won the individual gold medal. He is the first Indian ultrarunner to finish a 100 km race in sub-seven hours.

Amar’s picture from another event

Amar finished the 100 km distance in a timing of six hours, 59 minutes and 37 seconds, smashing the existing national record of 7:04:52 set by Vipul Kumar at the IAU 100 km World Championships held at Bernau, Berlin in 2022.

Amar now holds three national records – 100 km, 12-hour run as well as 24-hour run. He had set the 24-hour national record of 272.537 km in April 2024.

Finishing in third position in the men’s individual race was Saurav Ranjan, who secured a bronze medal with a timing of 7:23:02. Geeno Antony finished in fourth position with a timing of 7:34:57.

India’s men as well as the women’s team won the team gold medal also.

At the IAU events, the team position is decided by the finishing performance of the first three runners of each country.

The combined timing of the first three Indian runners was 21:57:37 hours, the fastest finish in team performance. Australia won silver and Thailand won the bronze medal.

“Great performance, we did quite amazingly well. We went to Thailand with some worries about the weather. Therefore, our runners started conservatively,” said Santhosh Padmanabhan, Coach and Team Manager for the Indian team.

Four of the runners at the Championships had represented the country in the IAU 24 Hour World Championships held in Albi, France in October 2025. “For these athletes, I had reduced the mileage in training and focussed more on speed. They had not fully recovered and among them Geeno Antony particularly. So Geeno was not to push too much here in Thailand,” Santhosh said. At Albi, Geeno topped the mens’ team among Indian athletes and finished in top 10 overall.

“For the first couple of laps, we wanted to gauge how the runners were responding to the weather. Amar was able to push well and by the time he finished 60 km, he felt he could target a sub-seven-hour finish. He covered the last few kilometers in sub-4 pace,” said Santhosh.

In the women’s race, Mel Aitken of New Zealand won the gold with a timing of 9:04:14.

India’s Tenzin Dolma secured the silver with a timing of 9:18:49 and Aarti Zanwar the bronze with a timing of 10:15:27.

The current national record for women’s 100 km is held by Jyoti Gawate at 8:20:07. Jyoti, an elite marathon runner, had set this record at the 2022 IAU 100 km World Championships held in Berlin.

Amar said he did not have much time for a focussed training for the 100 km championships. He recently participated in the 24-hour World Championship held at Albi, France in October 2025.

“We had an extensive training for the 24-hour championship. That training helped me for this 100 km run,” he said. The weather was quite humid but Amar was able to brave it, he said.

Weather was a major challenge for Tenzin Dolma. “Overall, the run went well but the humidity was quite high,” she said. Her training for this race did not go as well as she would have liked it. She lost many training days due to incessant rains and subsequent flooding in Himachal Pradesh, where she resides. “My house was completely damaged in the floods. I had to struggle a lot to get my house back to some semblance of normalcy,” she said.

Tenzin Dolma

Nevertheless, her finish of 9:18:49 is a huge improvement of her previous personal record of 9:40.

The Indian women’s team won the team gold with a combined timing of 29:54:38 hours. Rajni Singh was the third Indian finisher with a timing of 10:20:20 hours.

No Financial Support

Financial support for ultrarunners has not been easy. This time around, the athletes representing India had to support themselves for travel as well as stay in Bangkok. A couple of runners had to seek financial loans to fund their travel, enquiries revealed.

A couple of runners had to drop out of the competition due to lack of funds.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)

(With inputs from IAU)

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IAU 24-Hour World Championships – Indian Women Lead the Charge, Smash National Record

At the recent IAU 24-Hour World Championships held in Albi, France, Indian women ultrarunners delivered a landmark performance, shattering the national record in the 24-hour ultrarunning format.

Also, for the first time in India’s ultrarunning history, three women crossed the 200-kilometre mark, with two of them surpassing the previous national record of 204 km.

Sunita Subba and Aparna Choudhary both broke the national record to finish first and second respectively among Indian women. Sunita now holds the new national mark of 217.327 km, eclipsing the earlier record of 204.314 km set by Anju Saini at the 2022 IAU 24-Hour Asia & Oceania Championships in Bengaluru.

Aparna Choudhary followed with 210.537 km, while Bindu Juneja secured third place with 202.164 km, completing a remarkable showing by the Indian women’s team.

In the men’s category, Geeno Antony led the Indian contingent, finishing among the top 10 male runners overall with a distance of 265.198 km. The 24-hour race began on October 18 at 10 a.m. and tested endurance and mental fortitude under shifting weather conditions.

In the same event, Sarah Webster of Great Britain and Northern Ireland set a new world record with a distance of 278.622 km, surpassing the previous record of 270.363 km held by Japan’s Miho Nakata.

The Indian team, coached and managed by Santhosh Padmanabhan, underwent an intense training program in the run-up to the event. Despite hopes for a team medal, a few setbacks affected the final mileage tally.

This time around, the training plan, devised by Santhosh, was one of the toughest and extensive that the current team of ultrarunners were asked to execute.

“We wanted to push the bar because we had put in a lot of hard work – the athletes, the support staff and all of us. Therefore, expectations were quite high for both the men’s as well as the women’s team,” Santhosh said.

In training, many runners were able to execute and achieve the goals. Some of them shifted their base temporarily to Bengaluru to be able to motivate each other during training and work as a team.

In terms of actual performance at Albi, the Indian team, especially the women’s broke out of their shackles with three of them crossing the 200 km mark, he said. The performance of both men’s and women’s was much better than previous championships but did not meet the goals set for this specific championship, Santhosh said.

“In the men’s team, though some key runners fell back, Geeno did very well not only at the championships but also in training. I could see him maturing as an ultrarunner, he was more knowledgeable about his own abilities and he was getting all his milestones. It shows that we were on track with our training,” Santhosh said.

One of the main challenges faced by the Indian team at Albi was the extreme temperature change. During the day, although temperatures were at 22 degrees Celsius the night time temperature decline by 12 to 15 degrees affected hydration and nutrition of the runners, he said.

“These drastic weather changes affect appetite. Also, fatigue hits really hard. The learning for us from this experience is that we need to know how to handle fatigue and also train in different geographical locations with varying weather conditions,” Santhosh said.

Sunita Subba

Sunita Subba ran her first race, a half marathon in Darjeeling, in 2016. She did not follow it up with any further running immediately. In 2019, she again ran a half marathon. Soon after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown brought all outdoor activities to a grinding halt. “At that time, I felt the need to do something. When the lockdown was eased, I signed up for a 10-day virtual run challenge. I could do it only for eight days but I covered a distance of about 330-350 km,” she said. Soon she found herself signing up for ultra races – 12-hour stadium run and the first edition of Ladakh Marathon’s Silk Route Ultra, in which she won the women’s race, 90 km at Kalimpong Ultra, Pune Ultra and a few stadium ultra runs.

In July 2024, Sunita won the women’s race in the 24-hour stadium run held in Bengaluru, covering a distance of 188 km, helping her to qualify for the world championships.

After she was chosen to represent the country at the IAU 24-Hour World Championships in Albi, France, Sunita set about doing her training in Darjeeling, where she resides. “I used to train alone, sometimes running for six hours, sometimes eight hours. I would keep my water and other supplements near the gate of Bhanu Bhawan on Mall Road,” she said. Sunita works in a low paying job and often she is forced to juggle her finances in order to participate in running events. She was worried about arranging finances for the Albi but after she was enlisted as an Enerjiva athlete, much of those tensions were taken off her plate. Enerjiva, a sports nutrition brand, sponsored many of the athletes for the Albi championships.

Sunita Subba

Sunita was then asked to shift to Bengaluru by the team coach and manager Santhosh Padmanabhan. Her training went off quite well under his guidance. “When much of my long runs were done in Bengaluru, I sought leave to go back home to Darjeeling towards end of September and continue my training there. I also wanted to be home for the Dusshera festival. But weather was playing havoc back there, with heavy rains and landslides. I ended up with fever,” she said.

By the time she was to leave for Albi, she had recovered but was exhausted and tired from the ailment. “I managed well for the first few hours. But my water consumption was quite low. I was having energy drink and some bit of rice and dal. I did get some muscle tightness on my left leg but overall, I was injury free,” she said. By the end of the 24-hour period, she had surpassed the national record by a huge margin, setting the new record at 217.327 km compared to the previous record of 204.314 km set by Anju Saini during the IAU 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships held in Bengaluru in 2022.

Her son Swayam Tamang and her sister Sabita are very supportive of her running activities.

Aparna Choudhary has been associated with ultrarunning for a long time, commencing her journey in this niche sport way back in 2010. Running itself is fairly a nascent sport in India and ultrarunning even more so.

But Aparna is not new to sport. She was a national level hockey player and then took to recreational running during her graduation and post-graduation days. A stint in the US exposed her to lot more running events.

In 2010, she signed up for her first ultramarathon, a 100 km race at Bangalore Ultra. Over the years, she has participated in a number of ultrarunning events of varying distances and quite often ended up on the podium.

Aparna Choudhary

Her training for the IAU Championships could have been better, she said. In between her training she took a break to go to Peru for a holiday. She was back on July 17 but she barely had a fortnight for the Goa Ultra in which Aparna had signed up for the 120 km. “I took it as a training run,” she said. Aparna finished first among women finishers in this race. But after the race she had to wait for a couple of weeks to resume her training for the championships as she fell ill.

“I was consistent with my training but did nothing extraordinary. I did a few long runs, one of them 75-km long. All my training runs were done in the evenings or nights,” she said. “I also did not let my mind be in the clouds about my training or my ability to perform on race day,’ she said.

On race day, the initial few hours went along well despite the sun being up. But after about 6-7 hours, she had an upset stomach. “By the 15th hour or so, I was throwing up and that was affecting my hydration,” she said. But she was able to keep at it without taking long breaks.

Runners were required to run a loop of 1.5 km which included road as well as track during the entire 24 hours.

“All my plans were out of reach for me. Nevertheless, I just decided to keep running. During the last hour, I stepped up my pace and I could feel it in my raised heart rate. I wanted to get past 210 km and also be able to get up and walk at the end of the race,” she said.

Aparna Choudhary

Aparna finished the race with a distance of 210.537 km, improving her personal record by a huge margin from her previous best of 192 km. But she was a tad disappointed about missing out on the automatic qualification mark of 212.5 km at Sparthathlon, a 246 km ultra distance foot race held in Greece every year.

Nevertheless, Albi was a satisfying race as many factors played out well, she said.

This time around Bindu Juneja had to do a completely different training program in the run-up to the world championships.

“There were a lot of very long runs. Normally, I would do about 40-50 km long runs. When I saw the workout charted by Santhosh, I was very worried about recovery. I work as a teacher in a school and I cannot miss work. This time around there were runs planned for 10 hours, 100 km runs and once I had to run for about 10 hours,” she said.

These long runs were interspersed with interval training and strength workouts. “I had told Santhosh that if I could do 80 percent of the workout, I could consider myself an ultrarunner,” she said.

Bindu Juneja

She was able to do 98 percent of the workout planned. “My weekly mileage touched 148 km, 158 km, the highest being 171 km. These ultra long training runs, initially daunting, started to get easier,” Bindu said.

Bindu started running in 2015 and in 2018 signed up for her first ultra running event, a 50 km race at the Bangalore Ultra, in which she was the winner among women. Subsequently, she has done many ultra races, including several hour-based stadium runs and Comrades Marathon in South Africa.

“As some of us were sponsored athletes of Enerjiva for the Albi Championships, we had access to free strengthening sessions. Even though I was not able to attend all of these, I was able to follow these workouts through videos sent to me,” Bindu said.

During the race, the first 10 hours went by quite smoothly. “But after that my gut gave up and I had to take washroom breaks. I stop consuming gels as well as solid food. For a few hours I ran without consuming any food,” she said.

Weather during the 24-hour period fluctuated between being warm in the day time and very cold in the evenings and night. “This time I was determined to cross the 200 km mark. The second half of the race could have been better if nutrition had worked. I think I consumed too many gels early in the race. I should have interspersed gels with some natural food. Also, I had my periods,” she said.

Bindu Juneja and Sunita Subba

Bindu often has a problem of her toe nails coming off. But this time she was able to continue running with the pain. “It was quite a well-organized event. There was a lot of support with many people cheering on the sidelines throughout,” she said.

She covered a distance of 202.164 km, improving her personal record by a huge margin of 17.2 km.

Bindu now plans to take a break for two months from serious running but will continue her daily routine runs and focus on strength training.

Geeno Antony is not new to sports. Both his parents, speech and hearing impaired, were into sports. Geeno was introduced to sports early on. (To read more on this follow this link https://shyamgopan.com/2022/10/15/the-satisfaction-is-beyond-measure/)

Geeno has been running for quite a while now and his transition to ultrarunning was instinctive. He has been part of the team of ultrarunners representing India in many international ultrarunning events.

Amar Singh Devanda and Geeno Antony

“I have never done a training as intense and grueling as the one we did in preparation for the Albi championships,” Geeno said. He also shifted to Bengaluru for the 12-week training schedule including tapering with many day and night running sessions. “We had to do one 12-hour and 14-hour each, two 8-hour, three or four 6-hour and finally Bengaluru Marathon,” he said.

At Albi, Geeno started the race as per plan and in the first 12 hours he covered a distance of 142 km. During the second half of the race many runners started to fall back in their pace due to myriad reasons. “I was mentally down after Amar (Amar Singh Devanda) and Saurav (Saurav Ranjan) started falling back. For the first 12 hours we ran together. Running together was quite motivating. In the second half my pace suffered, therefore. But in the last hour I managed to cover 11 km,” said Geeno. He finished the race with a mileage of 265.198 km, also ending among top 10 men.

“At the end of the race, I was quite fine. I had no cramps or excessive tiredness. I was able to walk and even run,” he said. Geeno believes the training designed by Santhosh helped him to finish strong. In hindsight, he feels he could have pushed more.

Geeno Antony

He has already commenced running and will resume training for the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships to be held in Thailand on November 23. “I am now in Trivandrum and will do some training here as Thailand will be very humid,” he said.

Sugourav Goswami, a Canara Bank employee, posted at Haldwani, was able to secure leave for 80 days to move to Bengaluru for training.

“It was one of the hardest, grueling, tiring and elaborate training plan that I have ever done so far,” he said.

Sugourav got into running as recent as 2020 right during the COVID-19 lockdown on the terrace of his residential building in Champawat, Uttarakhand. “I had a health scare. My key health parameters were alarmingly out of range and I had to resort to some cardio activity. I started running on the rooftop of my house. It was a small area. I would run for about two to three hours daily,” he said.

Sugourav Goswami with Santhosh Padmanabhan

Once the lockdown eased, he took to running more seriously and started signing up for running events. Soon he was also running ultra races.

“My first 24-hour run was the Bengaluru Stadium Run in March 2025, where I clocked a distance of 226 km,” he said.

At Albi, he was told by the team manager that he was to pace some of the key runners and also track their movements. “I enjoyed the race thoroughly. Ultras are tough. You can only get through them if you enjoy the race,” he said.

He ran moderately well for 21 hours. The last three hours were very tough. He finished second among Indian men covering a distance of 245.158 km.

His recovery following the race has been very good.

In hindsight, most runners this blog spoke to after the championships said they could have pushed for more mileage. Nevertheless, every ultrarunning event offers a new experience and many new challenges. The learning curve is never ending, they say.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)

Photos provided by runners

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Sunita Subba rewrites women’s national record for 24-hour run

Aparna Choudhary also crosses existing national record

Sarah Webster of Great Britain sets new 24-hr world record for women

Geeno Antony tops among Indian men

India’s ultrarunner Sunita Subba shattered the current national record at the 2025 IAU 24 Hour World Championships held in Albi, France on October 18-19.

Sunita covered a distance of 217.327 kilometers during the stipulated 24 hours, surpassing the national record by a huge margin. The existing national record was held by Anju Saini who had covered 204.314 km during the IAU 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships held in Bengaluru in 2022.

Aparna Choudhary also surpassed the existing national record notching up a distance of 210.537 km finishing second behind Sunita among Indian women. She improved her personal record by a huge margin. Her previous best was 192 km.

Photo by Ashok Daniel

Sarah Webster of Great Britain and Northern Ireland won the gold in the women’s race of the Championships with a new world record distance of 278.622 km, surpassing the existing record of 270.363 km set by Miho Nakata of Japan.

Sarah Webster – Photo downloaded from IAU’s Facebook page

Holly Ranson of Australia won the silver with a distance of 273.058 km and Miho Nakata ended with the bronze (271.557 km). All three women ran further than current World Record. 

Among Indian women, finishing in third position was Bindu Juneja with a distance of 202.164 km. She improved her personal record by a huge margin of 17.2 km at this race.

“I was initially training alone in Darjeeling, where I stay. Then I was asked to shift to Bengaluru temporarily so that Santhosh Sir could monitor my training (Santhosh Padmanabhan is the manager of the Indian ultrarunning team). Many others lent support of various kinds to help me do this event,” she said. Sunita had recently secured the overall third position in the women’s race of Wipro Bengaluru Marathon 2025 and first in her age category of 18 to 35 years.

Sunita Subba

Indian men’s team was led by Geeno Antony, who covered a distance of 265.198 km, improving his own personal record by a staggering 26.5 km. In second position was Sugourav Goswami with a distance of 245.158 km and in third position was Ullas Narayana (229.779 km).

Amar Singh Devanda, the national record holder for 24-hours, fell back to fourth position with a distance of 225.048 km. He said he ran well for about 15 to 16 hours but could not keep up after that. However, his national record of 272.537 km set in April 2024 remains unbroken.

“My race went off very well. The effort that went into the training helped me immensely during the run,” Geeno said.

“My presence at the championship is not because of me alone. It’s the result of many sleepless nights, endless effort, and the silent teamwork behind me. Every step I took in the 24 Hours World Championship was powered by their support,” Geeno said.

Geeno Antony

At 245.158 km, Sugourav also bettered his personal record by a substantial margin. His previous best was 226 km set in March 2025 at the 24-hour Bengaluru Stadium Run. Nevertheless, he was not happy with his performance. “I could have done better but fatigue pulled down my performance. My conservative target was 150 km. I struggled a lot in the last three hours of the race,” he said.

A team of people including Nagaraj Adiga of Energiva and NEB Sports, Santhosh Padmanabhan, coach and team manager, Vivek Gopi (strength and conditioning), Samanivita (nutritionist), Abhishek Jagan (Sports Scientist), Hemant (race crew support for Geeno) among many others were responsible for the entire Indian team and made it possible for the runners to be there in Albi to represent the country, Geeno said.

In the men’s overall race, Andrii Tkachuk of Ukraine won the gold with a distance of 294.346 km. Silver was secured by Jo Inge Norum of Norway (285.513 km) and bronze by Matti Jonkka of Finland (283.699).

Indian team – Photo by Ashok Daniel

Team Standings

Among the women’s team, Great Britain and Northern Ireland won the gold (768.641 km), followed by Australia (744.601 km) and Japan (726.983).

The men’s team event was won by Finland (797.030 km. France secured silver (791.195) and Poland finished in bronze position (780.651 km).

Runners are required to run in a loop of 1,500 meters for a period of 24 hours starting October 18, 2025.

The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai.

(With inputs from IAU)

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Silk Route Ultra – Crossing the finish line

Corina Van Dam, or Cocky, as she is popularly known in Mumbai, is a football coach and an endurance athlete involved in ultra and long-distance running, long distance swimming and triathlons. In September 2025, Cocky crossed the finish line of the 122 kilometre-long Silk Route Ultra in Ladakh, securing a third position among women finishers. This was her second attempt. In 2024, she had to DNF (did not finish). In a first-person account, Cocky writes about her experience at the event.

This was my second time at the Ladakh Marathon’s Silk Route Ultra and this time I finished…..!

In 2024, I DNF’ed (DNF = did not finish) when my body started leaning to the right during my descent to Leh. After South Pullu (19 kilometers before the finish) I decided to drop out after I realized that I was not able to observe my body was tilting. You can read more about that experience in the article that I wrote for Outrigger last year. With the experience and knowledge that I gained from many runners and coaches, I tried to prepare myself better this time around.

Initially, I was not even planning to participate in the 2025 edition of the Silk Route Ultra (SRU). I had qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Marbella, Spain in November 2025 and I wanted to focus on that. But I just love ultra running and felt butterflies when the registration for SRU opened. So, after enjoying the Hell Race White Sand Ultra 100 km, I immediately signed up for SRU especially since I met the criteria for qualification. With Mr Motup (the organizer of the event) ‘threatening’ us every year that he will make qualification more difficult, I thought I should take my chance this year. It also helped that I was about to turn 60 and thought that soon I would be too slow to run a 100km within 14 hours.

From June onwards, I started to increase my running mileage, with a six-hour night run, a 50 km monsoon run and the 12-hour Mumbai Ultra as main training events while I also continued swimming and a bit of cycling. My plan was to spend a few days more on acclimatizing than in 2024 and therefore planned to take a bus to Manali and from there to Leh. However, the weeks before, rains lashed across Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. Villages disappeared under mud; people lost their lives. Traveling by road became an uncertain and risky endeavor. Especially with the hard rule that participants have to be physically present during the bib collection in Leh to ensure the acclimatization before an ultra-run at high altitude. I made the decision early enough to secure a place on a plane and reached Ladakh in time. Others were not that lucky as flights got canceled. Runners got stuck and many missed the opportunity to participate despite the one-day relief granted by the organization for those with verified reasons for delay.

I had just arrived in Ladakh when I got the message that Shyam G. Menon had died. I had met him only a few times, but he has always been very interested in my stories. With Outrigger, he has given me a platform to share my first Ironman Goa experience, my race in the Ironman 70.3 world championships in 2023 and last year’s DNF in the Silk Route Ultra in my own words. I consider Latha a friend and could only imagine the pain that she felt. I’m writing this with gratitude to Shyam and hope that it will be what he expected it to be. May he rest in peace.

The days in Leh are always pleasant with a select group of ultra runners in the first week who do their morning runs, work a couple of hours and meet in the afternoon for coffee and banter. In the second week, there was an influx of running groups with many traveling for the first time to the Land of High Passes. I enjoyed the morning runs with friends and Ladakhi chai and flat bread with butter afterwards, and my afternoon walks, apricot pie, thukpa…! Two trips to Khardung La helped me to prepare for the race. The weather was not great on my first few days in Leh. It rained and it was cold. It snowed at K-top. I was mentally not prepared for ascending more than 50 kilometers in bad weather. My first assignment was to visualize walking a night in the snow and think about how I would face it. Being born and having grown up in the Netherlands its unpredictable weather probably helped me in the process and perhaps I’m better equipped than many other participants to deal with the cold. When I walked up the pass twice, I felt lightheaded and a sense of carelessness. This made me realize that when I cared about my tilting last year, this was actually a sign that I was psychologically aware. I was also confident that I would recognize this ‘state of carelessness’ during the race.

Finally, the day came and we traveled to Kyagar, the start line of the race. You would sign up for the race, just for this….! Mr Motup gives instructions, warns us and flags the busses off. Running friends came to see us for the journey and the race, akin to a school trip. I almost felt like crying. The journey was – of course – breathtaking – even when you have traveled it a few times. Some of the bends and inclines I remembered from previous years. Now I could see the mountains, the valley, the river. We settled into our hotel – comfortable rooms with a peaceful garden. Sufiya and I shared a room, again. We know each other’s habits and follow our own routines. That helped because increasingly we were becoming nervous! The cultural evening deflected our thoughts and kept us busy in between snacks and meals.

There was only one moment that I thought:’ I’m never going to do this again’ and that was when we were waiting for the mandatory blood pressure check. In 2024, it was a traumatic experience as I had to get tested three times, drink glasses of lukewarm water and eat raw garlic. This time I succeeded after two times and taking some wonder medicine on doctor’s advice that I refused last year.

The first part of the race goes through rolling hills and follows the river. It was pleasant, my legs were fresh, villagers cheered us on as if we were already close to finishing. Children gave us high fives and ran with us. There was some pressure to complete the first 27 kilometer in four hours but with last year’s experience, I knew I could do it. From Khalsar, the run becomes a walk. And to be honest, I love this part. I enjoyed walking alone in the night, the route lit by the moon and under a sky full of stars. I recognized the road, the route and knew that when I saw the lights of Khardung Village it would take a long time to get there….! Although I was walking mostly alone, I met ‘everyone’ at the SRU breakfast where we could fuel and get our warm jackets for the ascent to Khardung La. I left the village before the participants of Khardung La Challenge started their race. It was enjoyable to see the lights behind me meandering through the mountains. North Pullu (at17 kilometers) looked further this time but K-top (another 15 km) seemed closer. On my way to the top, I noticed another runner and I thought ‘he walks like a robot’. That was my sign to look closer at myself. I was still straight up.

I never spend much time at the top and didn’t even see the garlic soup stall…! I had tried to eat and drink at every 7km aid station and also use my own gels, Enerzal and snacks in between. But at some point, I was no longer thirsty and hungry. And how many dates and bananas can you eat? I was able to run a bit towards South Pullu where I was enthusiastically welcomed and told I was strong running in third position. Shortly after that I noticed that I now really started tilting again. Based on last year’s experience, I knew that this was because of low oxygen level, and probably dehydration due to which there are changes in the spinal cord fluid which cause the ‘leaning’. I don’t know if the leanings happen on the stronger or the weaker side of the body. I knew I had enough time in hand to complete the race walking. I didn’t care about finishing third or last. I thought: ‘This time I’m going to collect that finisher’s medal and jacket’. Confident, with optimism and songs in my head, I took off. Soon I could see Shanti Stupa, knowing that it was still far away but that it would come closer with every step I took. I made repeated calculations as the kilometer signs on the road were not in synch with the details that Garmin was giving me. The sun was relentless and where was this Mendak Mor, our last cut off point, a question in my mind. On the road behind me I saw many other runners. I was not the last. I reached Mendak Mor with an hour in hand.

Once you reach Leh, there is this extra loop through the city. I knew I was tilting, a lot. People told me to take it easy. I thought (and probably told them) ‘this is a race, isn’t it?’ and moved on. Someone gave me Coca Cola. I didn’t know him, I opened my mouth and he just poured it in. The garden walls along the road were very helpful to rest a bit. The hotel staff was sitting in front of Reeyork House, my home in Leh. They cheered me on and I tried to lean to the other side pretending that nothing was ‘wrong’ (when I reached the hotel later, they gave me coffee, made me noodles, so it was clear that my theatre act had failed…). When I reached Leh Market, I thought one moment: ‘I don’t want to finish like this’. I knew what it looked like. I told myself to ‘(wo)man up’ and finish ‘the bloody thing’. I don’t think I will be ever cheered on like this again. People shouted my name, applauded, smiled. I saw friends, a placard with my name, I high fived with those who had been standing there for hours. They were so happy and proud.

After the finish, I went straight to a stretcher for a powernap. Apparently, I had finished third. I couldn’t care less. Friends were peeping through the window of the recovery tent. I just waved at them, closed my eyes and only stood up for the award ceremony. The gifts were amazing: finishers shawl, medal and token and then a winners’ shawl, bronze medal and a trophy and prize money….! My main concern was, how to get this to the hotel with those four race bags. The Stride With Girish Bindra group – the loudest in Leh – helped me.

People ask me if I’m ‘okay’, even now, weeks later. I realize that some of them were happy, others proud, worried, inspired, intimidated, felt sorry for me, thought that it must have been painful (it was not). After a few hours of sleep my spine was straight again. The next morning at 7.00 am, I led the warming up for the Athlos shake out run and directly after, I went to the airport to catch my flight back to Mumbai.

A week later I swam Dusk to Dawn, Mumbai Sea Swimmers’ endurance swimming event, in which I completed 23,1 kilometer in its 12-hour race.

(Photographs courtesy – Corina Van Dam)