Indian men place second in team category

India’s Vipul Kumar finishes fourth in men’s 100km race

Japanese runners swept the podium in both individual and team events at the 2023 IAU 100km Asia and Oceania Championship held in Bengaluru on Sunday, July 30.

In the men’s race, Toru Somiya of Japan won by a good margin covering the distance in six hours, 39 minutes and 38 second, ahead of fellow compatriots Haruki Okayama (second place at 6:50:42) and Hideaki Yamauchi (third at 6:55:51). The outcome in the women’s race was similar with Japan’s Miho Nakata (7:27:44) placing first followed by her teammates, Mai Fujisawa (7:45:49) and Mikiko Ota (7:54:33) in second and third respectively. In the team championship, the men’s category was easily won by Japan; its best three runners had an aggregate time of 20:26:11. India placed second with an aggregate of 22:21:13 and Chinese Taipei, third, with 29:25:54. In the women’s category, the team championship went to Japan with a total of 23:04:06. The second and third positions went to Australia (27:48;03) and Chinese Taipei (32:25:07) respectively.

Going into the race, expectations were high for the former world record holder Nao Kazami (he had a personal best of 6:09:14 for 100km) and Okayama (PB of 6:12:10). On race day, Kazami completed the first 11 laps of the five kilometre-course in 3:25:28 compared to 3:29:05 for Somiya. They completed 13 laps in 4:05:05 and 4:08:27 respectively. However, somewhere past the middle of the race, Kazami who was running strongly began to struggle and fade. Somiya completed his 18th lap in 5:53:52. Kazami took 6:02:37 to finish 17 laps. Somiya steadily consolidated his position and emerged winner by a wide margin (Kazami eventually finished in 7:22:10).

According to his team manager, this was Somiya’s first appearance in the national running team. His work schedule is such that he works during the night and trains during the day. On the other hand, the winner among women, Miho Nakata, has been a member of Japan’s national team before. All in all, the Japanese team drove home the message that its participation raises performance levels at running competitions, comprehensively (India’s previous taste of an IAU championship – the 2022 IAU 24 Hour Asia and Oceania Championship, also held in Bengaluru – hadn’t featured participation by the Japanese). Japan is among countries where running enjoys a great following.

Having said that, on Sunday, finishing fourth in the men’s category (behind the top placed Japanese trio) was India’s Vipul Kumar. His gritty run took 7:06:10 to complete. He fell short of improving his national best (7:04:00) by a narrow margin. “Although the weather was an issue, I am very happy with my performance,” he told this blog. The second and third fastest Indian runners were Amar Singh Devanda (7:27:48) and Saurav Kumar Ranjan (7:47:06). These three runs taken together, earned the Indian men’s team a second place in their gender category.

In the women’s section, the Indian team suffered an unexpected setback when its top runner Jyoti Gawate (she holds the national record for women in 100 km – 8:20:00) was forced to pull out due to severe cramps. Between her 14th and 15th laps, there was a long gap in her appearance on the course, those watching the race from the side-lines noticed. It was the outcome of a break she had to take to address her situation. Jyoti completed 16 laps before deciding to discontinue. Coming into the race, Jyoti had the sixth best personal timing in 100km among the gathered women athletes. On Sunday, the fastest Indian woman to 100km was Shashi Mehta (8:52:38). She was followed by Gunjan Khurana (10:24:50). The race was held on a five kilometre-loop with a successful completion entailing 20 laps of the circuit. Unfortunately, the Indian women couldn’t deliver three successful completions from their ranks, to be considered for the team championship.

In the 100km open category, Velu Perumal was the winner; he covered the distance in 7:55:50. The second runner to finish was Gorkha Ram Beniwal with a timing of 8:15:22 and in third position was Anmol Chandan who finished in 10:02:39. There were no women runners in the open category. There were eleven male runners; all from India. Both Velu and Gorkha Ram pointed out that their diligent training helped them to stay strong on the course. Velu had been part of the Indian team which took part in the 2022 IAU 24 Hour Asia and Oceania Championship, held in Bengaluru.

The 2023 IAU 100km Asia and Oceania Championship was organized by NEB Sports.

On Sunday, many runners spoke of the weather as a suddenly emergent challenge. In the days preceding the race, Bengaluru had seen rain and experienced a generally cool weather. The day before the race, at the time of the event’s opening ceremony, there was rain. It kindled hopes that the cool weather would continue. Race day commenced with cool weather. But a few hours later, the sun came out and the coolness gave way to heat and humidity. Add to it portions of the course described by some of the runners as less shaded or hosting an incline. From the hours merging morning to noon onward, the struggle was evident across the assembled runners. Thus, although they won the race by a fantastic margin when compared to the rest of the field, the timings of even the Japanese runners were not close to their personal best. A team manager explained the situation as being as much physical as it was psychological. According to him, there was so much confidence in the weather being good that when it turned otherwise, the carefully placed calculations and motivation levels of some of the athletes may have got upset. There were exceptions. India’s Amar Singh Devanda, Saurav Kumar Ranjan, Binay Sah (7:55:21) and Shashi Mehta managed new personal best.

Amidst all the competition, there was a lovely example of cooperation and sharing. In ultrarunning, each team’s support crew plays a crucial role; they make sure they know their runners well, cater to each athlete’s needs on race-day and support them with nutrition and hydration. Mongolian ultrarunner, Lkhagva-Erdene Namkhaidorj, out on her first international event and only the second 100km-race of her life, had reached Bengaluru without anyone to support her during the run. Alan, who was supporting Shannon-Leigh Litt of New Zealand, decided to support the Mongolian runner too. The two teams shared one tent offering the required support facilities. As Lkhagva-Erdene Namkhaidorj completed her race, it was Alan who showed up to greet her at the finish line, Mongolian flag in hand for her to wrap herself in.      

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai.)

Some photos from the event:

(All photos taken by Shyam G Menon)