Month: November 2023

by

FINDING LIFE

Nilanjan Guha Majumder (photo: Shyam G Menon)

It is not always that one finds a cycling story behind a simple recommendation on food.

I did and it was more than cycling that I found; it was the story of an interesting existence.

Early September 2023, a bid to contain one’s cost of living in Leh, saw freelance journalist search for Ladakhi food. I knew from past experience that it may prove futile for as has happened in many tourist-destinations, in Leh too, the culinary preference of outsiders overshadows what is locally consumed. One finds stylish cafes and restaurants catering to the taste buds of moneyed visitors who expect what they like everywhere they go and are willing to pay for it. It’s one of the call signs of new India; life resembles an airport – hunger is addressed not by eating affordable food but by demonstrating that one has the capacity to afford no matter what the cost.

Still, given my need had been whittled down to just the local bread or something similarly basic, I was hopeful of defiant culinary islands holding out against market forces. My search for Ladakhi food brought me to a kitchen at one end of Leh’s market and a conversation with the owners who highlighted the nutritional and economic sense in local food but admitted they too had succumbed to the new trend. “ It is affordable and it is nutritious,” the lady in the kitchen said before throwing her hands up to signal larger forces at play. There wasn’t a market big enough to support an eatery focused on Ladakhi food. On the bright side, the conversation was good. It’s the usual case, when two parties equally disappointed with contemporary drifts, meet. The kitchen had one customer. He sat there eating, quietly. At the end of my chat with the owner of the enterprise, the customer recommended that I try a kitchen elsewhere in town, which continued to offer local cuisine. That’s how I met Nilanjan. I was contemplating what to do, at the junction where Zangsti Road met Changspa Road and Sankar Road, when he emerged from the eatery. In season of Ladakh Marathon, his physicality hinted of cyclist. A short Q&A proved it right. A few days later, we conversed over lunch at a dhaba nearby.

An only child, Nilanjan Guha Majumder grew up in Uttarpara, Kolkata. His father worked with Customs & Central Excise; his mother was a housewife and entrepreneur. He did his schooling at Amarenda Vidyapith. He took to swimming when he was eight years old. Cycling was an early entrant to his life; it was his mode of transport in Uttarpara, famous for hosting Hindustan Motors, manufacturers of the Ambassador car, an icon of the India before economic liberalization. During his school days, Nilanjan loved playing cricket and featured in competitions up to the district level. College changed all that. Life became focused on academics (he still found time for volleyball and athletics). He graduated in computer studies from an institution in Bengaluru and then followed that up with a masters from Kolkata. Then, he joined Tech Mahindra in Pune. He also took a transfer back to Kolkata.

From Nilanjan’s rides in Ladakh / en route to Mahe, returning from Hanle (photo: Nilanjan Guha Majumder)

In 2007, he married his long-time girlfriend, who he knew from his schooldays. He shifted employment to Cognizant. Then, a while later, tragedy struck. Over five years spanning 2010 to 2015, both his parents and his grandmother, passed away. That was three people close to him, gone. “ I realized that nothing is permanent,’’ he said. In 2018-2019, Nilanjan and his wife decided to separate (the divorce came through in 2020). They remain good friends. In 2019, he shifted back to Bengaluru and acquired a new partner but the relationship broke up within a year.

Around the same time, he also resigned from Cognizant. It happened gradually, like something progressed towards. Prior to leaving the company, COVID-19 had struck humanity. The pandemic reauthored office operations and work styles worldwide. Just when office as surrogate home became fashionable, the virus dispatched everyone back home and made an office of it. For those not part of any herd, it must have been a time of engaging options around how to design one’s life. Nilanjan decided to travel and work remotely. He worked as a volunteer at a farm in Mysore. The farm house was beautiful and life there was calm and peaceful. The volunteering gave him time to think and make up his mind on what to do – among them, find the resolve to resign his job. The urge to quit had been building up over the preceding months. Volunteering helped him see things in perspective and find the courage to actually put in his papers. Now, educated, experienced and between jobs, he volunteered full time at the farm. He also taught children at the local village.

The owner of the farm was a dropout from the corporate world, who wished to start a school with a difference. Thanks to COVID, the situation was so bad that such plans had to be put on hold. Nilanjan had to move. He did so; to Guhagar on Maharashtra’s Konkan coast and another farm, where he volunteered. Amidst the new stint at volunteering, he also operated as a guide for tourists arrived to indulge in adventure sports. But a disagreement between the business partners concerned, saw the enterprise he worked at, shut down. Courtesy social media, he found another opportunity to volunteer in Himachal Pradesh. The location was near Banjar. According to Nilanjan, he was supposed to run a café in partnership with the owner of the facility; the larger enterprise was to be a travel company with focus on outings in the Tirthan Valley.  Around July 2022, he packed his bags and left Guhagar for Himachal Pradesh. Set to follow him, was a parcel.

From Nilanjan’s rides in Ladakh / camping in a meadow the day before crossing Wari La (photo: Nilanjan Guha Majumder)

Six years earlier, in 2016, Nilanjan had taken to cycling in a manner more committed than the commuting of his childhood. With a LA Sovereign MTB for steed, he had joined a cycling club in Kolkata. The Sovereign soon gave way to a Montra MTB. As his interest picked up and he met serious cyclists, he acquired a Java Velos 2 road bike. He took the Java with him, when he shifted to Bengaluru, a city known for its regular bicycle races and activities around cycling. During one of his rides in the city, he met Anand (Andy) and joined the latter’s cycling group. He also started going for trail runs at Avalahalli. After much use, the Java was sold to a person in Chennai. Nilanjan contacted Venkatesh Shivarama (Venky) of WheelSports in Bengaluru to buy a Polygon Bend R2, a gravel bike (it is capable of both tarmac and offroad and can be used for bikepacking trips). The new bicycle was delivered to Nilanjan in Pune. He rode it all the way to Guhagar. And when he shifted to Himachal Pradesh, the Polygon followed; it was parceled to him by Sunil Kumar Sahu, who Nilanjan trusts with transporting his bicycle. On the map, Nilanjan was now parked in Himachal Pradesh, south of Ladakh, a region loved by cyclists, climbers, hikers, runners – indeed anyone who likes freedom and exploration.

In some ways, the whole thing wasn’t accidental. Ladakh had been on Nilanjan’s mind from two to three years before his shift to Tirthan Valley. He had this vague idea of a plan – cycle from Himachal to Ladakh to Kashmir, Gujarat and South India before linking back to Kolkata. “ I had no idea what to expect. I am not a goal-oriented guy. I am a curious person, someone who keeps learning and possibly therefore, develops skills,’’ he said. Meanwhile, life in Tirthan wasn’t playing out as he would have wished it to. It seemed time to move again and explore. His former wife, who had stayed a good friend, pitched in to help. On July 28, 2022, Nilanjan set off for Ladakh on his Polygon. He proceeded to Manali and onward through the new Atal Tunnel to Sisu. There he met two friends from Kolkata and cycled with them to Sirchu. From thereon, he cycled alone. He rode via Tso Kar, Puga and Hanle to Leh, reaching there around August 20. After a brief halt, he cycled via Wari La to Nubra and returned to Leh via Khardung La. “ By now, I was in love with Ladakh,’’ he said.

The quest now was to figure out a means to hang on. Nilanjan likes photography. He approached a studio in Leh to see if the pictures he had taken, would sell. During the ensuing interaction with Rigzin and his uncle, Lobsang Visudha, Nilanjan came to know of the possibility of teaching computer applications to school children. He volunteered at Mahabodhi Residential School at Choglamsar in Leh. He taught computer studies for two and a half months. Over time, that volunteer work evolved into a proper job. From March 2023, he has been teaching there as a regular employee. Nilanjan is now a school teacher in Leh. According to him, his salary is considerably lower than what the IT industry used to pay him. But he has peace. In comparison, it was difficult to find peace in a corporate environment. During his days of volunteering at the school, he made friends with the local people. They helped him find an affordable place to stay in Leh.  “ This phase has given me a strong sense of purpose. I like guiding students,’’ he said adding that he now has a feeling of having found what he was looking for.

From Nilanjan’s rides in Ladakh / on the approach to Tso Kar (photo: Nilanjan Guha Majumder)

When I met him in September 2023, Nilanjan led an active lifestyle mixing regular workouts, running and cycling with his newfound role of school teacher. On weekends, he went for long bicycle rides (we met at the dhaba after he had finished a trip up and down, Khardung La). The Polygon has held up well, he said. He made one modification to the bicycle – he replaced the rear chainrings, originally of a 11-32 configuration, with a 11-34. It helped him get a better gear ratio for climbs. Else, the bike is pretty much unaltered. Being a gravel bike designed to do bikepacking trips as well, its gearing doesn’t have the wide range of the classic tourer’s. But Nilanjan says, he hasn’t had reason to complain despite life in Ladakh. On long trips, he rides with loaded panier bags. So far, the bicycle has tackled all the uphill, downhill and flat terrain thrown at it.

A couple of days after this chat, a friend and I had Ladakhi food at the kitchen Nilanjan recommended. It was good. But above all, finding Ladakhi food amidst the predictable trends of the market, was a pleasure.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai)    

by

DISAPPOINTED WITH LEVEL OF CORPORATE SUPPORT FOR INDIAN JUNIOR ATHLETICS: AFI PRESIDENT

Adille Sumariwalla (photo: Shyam G Menon)

The level of interest shown by India’s corporate sector in the country’s athlete nurturing program for track and field events at the junior level, has been disappointing, Adille Sumariwalla, president, Athletics Federation of India (AFI), said.

“ Everybody wants a Neeraj Chopra. Nobody wants to put money into the grassroot building of athletes,’’ he told this blog on November 4, eve of the 2023 IAU 50KM World Championships, held recently in Hyderabad. Chopra won gold in javelin throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in July-August, 2021) to become the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to earn an individual gold medal at the Olympics. Bindra had won gold in the men’s 10 metre air rifle, at the 2008 Olympics. While gold medal-winning elite athletes are sought after by companies wishing to feature them in their marketing campaigns, efforts to spot, nurture and grow talent at the grassroot junior level – basically, the foundation on which the story of elite achievements rests – has eluded the support of corporates.

Sumariwalla pointed out that so far, the junior programme for scouting and grooming potential in track and field events has been funded by the AFI itself. It is among the largest such programs in the world and many senior level performers owe their discovery and subsequent passage to limelight, to the program. Yet, companies have overlooked the sustained engagement that is required to support this program. They prefer instead, the ease of returns found in marketing campaigns featuring elite athletes. This is when, according to Sumariwalla, a mere spoonful of the total Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) outlay of the top 20 Indian corporates exceeds the government’s annual sports budget. “Companies want to use corporate social responsibility money for advertising. They want to know how many eyeballs they will fetch by sponsoring the athletes. Therefore, they have no interest in supporting grassroot level athlete development programs. They are not interested in sustained engagement,” he said.

AFI has been organising the National Inter District Junior Athletics Meet (NIDJAM) since 2003. “ The way it goes is that first, 600 districts organise the district championships in two age groups – under 14 and under 16 years. The smallest districts have about 300-350 participants. The bigger districts have anything between 3,500 and 4,500 participants. The district championships are first held. Then they select 13 athletes to come for the National Inter District Junior Athletics Meet (NIDJAM). Last time, 599 districts took part. We had 6,500 children who were selected from roughly 10 lakh children who take part,” Sumariwalla said, outlining the scale of the program.

Among the state governments, Bihar government had offered limited funds. Recently, REC Ltd, a state-owned company, came aboard, offering funds for NIDJAM. But these are exceptions. “ In these 17 years, hardly any corporate evinced interest in funding or partially supporting NIDJAM. A couple of companies helped in a brief manner. AFI has supported the program internally for the last 17 years. Children get their train fare, free accommodation and free food. They come with their parents. We also feed the parents. At times we are feeding about 10,000 people each day,” Sumariwalla said. Last year, the Bihar government took up a portion of that expenditure, mainly food and accommodation. REC Ltd took up the train fare expenses partly.

AFI has sought corporate support for the program. Unfortunately, as the federation discovered, corporate interest in sports is more around marketing campaigns featuring successful elite athletes and less in sustained, long term engagement. “ We have been reaching out to corporates. The constant question from companies is: can we get Neeraj or for how many days can we get Neeraj? My answer has always been: no, you can’t get Neeraj,” he said, reiterating that sponsors need to support sports at the grassroot level. Without grassroot level programs, the pipeline feeding talent to senior athletics gets weakened.

There is also an emergent need to reimagine and support the junior program. At the last NIDJAM, 599 districts took part and 6,500 children were selected from among 10 lakh who took part in the district championships. AFI’s focus for these young athletes is to allow them to explore at least three different sports. “ We want them to have an overall development. We don’t want them to start specialisation at the age of 13, 14 and 15 and probably till the age of 17. We found that those who specialise early burn out fast. Those who took up completely different sports have done well,’’ he said.

What worries is that the conversion ratio from junior to senior athletics is very low at three to five percent. “ If we are going to lose all our athletes by the time, they are 18 years old, the program is of no use. Therefore, we do not want them to specialise in events too early on. We are even thinking of changing the national structure of the events to make sure that they participate in all kinds of odd events,” he said. The above illustrates the challenges the junior program faces and also the need to support it in a sustained fashion such that the rates of successful transition to senior athletics don’t hover at discouraging levels. AFI’s talent nurturing program at the junior level is among the best in the world. “ Supporting it is the most important thing for the development of athletics. Some of our top-notch athletes have come out of this program,” Sumariwalla said.

Notwithstanding his disappointment at corporates’ obsession with successful senior athletes, Sumariwalla believes that senior athletes’ performance has a salutary effect on the performance of junior athletes and the interest in them. For instance, the lustre around a Neeraj Chopra brushes off positively on a whole world of athletics in India. Brands such as Adidas, Puma and Asics have shown interest in AFI. “ We have been able to convince HSBC to look at the women’s program. We now have its support for the women’s program. Reliance has come in but not as large as it should be. If we do a valuation of AFI we are not even getting 10 percent of that by way of support,” he said.

With reference to the ultramarathon (Sumariwalla was in Hyderabad in connection with the 2023 IAU 50KM World Championships), he said that AFI will try to secure official recognition for the sport. Such recognition helps events and athletes to be supported by government (airfare, daily allowance etc may be possible). The classical route to recognition was the admission of a given sport to the Olympics. Ultrarunning is yet to be a part of the Olympic Games. However, at present, the Indian government also recognizes and supports sports that are not part of the Olympics. For example, squash wasn’t part of the Olympics for a long time but it was recognized by the government (recent news reports said, squash will be there in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games). The way to obtain such recognition is via better performance by athletes. Once athletes return great performances and the same grabs public attention, support and traction, the government will feel motivated to recognize and back ultrarunning. Podium finishes are thus critical. The 2023 IAU 50KM World Championships witnessed a silver medal for India in the men’s team category. Further in the past, India has won podium positions in the team category at the continental championships.

According to Sumariwalla, ultrarunning is an extension of athletics and the government needs to support it. “ I think it will happen. It’s just a matter of time,’’ he said.

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

by

AT A GLANCE / NOVEMBER 2023

2023 New York City Marathon / Tola and Obiri win

This image was downloaded from the Facebook page of the event and is being used here for representation purpose. No copyright infringement intended.

Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola topped the men’s category of the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon with a new course record of two hours, four minutes and 58 seconds.

The women’s race was won by Kenya’s Hellen Obiri; she covered the distance in 2:27:23.

Tola, the 2022 world champion in the discipline, was followed to the finish line in New York by Kenya’s Albert Korir (2:06:57) and Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata (2:07:11). In the women’s category, Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey (2:27:29) and Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi (2:27:33) placed second and third respectively.

This image was downloaded from the Facebook page of the event and is being used here for representation purpose. No copyright infringement intended.

More than 50,000 people participated in the 53rd edition of the New York City Marathon. As per the report on the event published by Runners World, Tola, who was part of the lead pack from the start, began putting distance between himself and the rest of the pack at around 25 kilometres. For some time in this evolving separation he had the company of fellow countryman Yemal Yimer but at about eight miles left to go, Tola started to pull away from Yimer too. The new course record at run’s close was an improvement on the old by eight seconds.

The women’s race threw up no new course record. But it was more tightly contested than Tola’s passage to victory. Here, the top three finishers battled each other right into the last mile and it was over the last 600 metres or so that Obiri sprinted ahead to take the top spot. Gidey finished close behind. Obiri is the first athlete in 34 years to win both the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon in the same season, Runners World said in its report.   

According to Wikipedia, Hellen Obiri is the only woman to have won world titles in indoor and outdoor track and cross country. As of November 2023, Letesenbet Gidey held the world record for both the 10,000 metres and the half marathon.

Link to video posted on YouTube, showing the final phase of the women’s race at the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon.

(The author, Shyam G Menon is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai)

by

2023 IAU 50KM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS / CHAKIB LACHGAR AND CARLA MOLINO TRIUMPH

Chakib Lachgar Latriche of Spain at the 2023 50KM World Championships held in Hyderabad (photo: Shyam G Menon)

Spain sweeps podium positions in men’s category

Great Britain dominates in women’s section

Indian men’s team secures a historic silver

A Spanish armada of ultrarunners swept the podium in the men’s category while an American silver denied a similar sweep to the British in the women’s section at the 2023 IAU 50KM World Championships in Hyderabad on Sunday, November 5.

The men’s race was won by Chakib Lachgar Latrache of Spain. He took the lead quite early in the race and held on to it. He finished the race in two hours, 48 minutes and 20 seconds (it was roughly a minute short of the current European record for 50 kilometres). Second place went to Spain’s Alejandro Jiminez Vicente (2:49:30). He was followed to the finish by fellow countryman Jesus Angel Olmos Pascual (2:50:12) who placed third. This was the first podium sweep for Spain at the championships.

Great Britain’s Carla Molinaro was the winner among women. She covered the 50 kilometre-distance in 3:18:23. Second place went to Andrea Pomaranski of USA (3:19:07). Great Britain’s Sarah Webster (3:20:07) finished third. Unlike in the men’s race where the eventual winner marked out his lead early on; in the women’s race, it was a tighter pack of race leaders with the winner clearly decided in the last loop or so. Interestingly, for both Chakib Lachgar Latrache and Carla Molinaro, Sunday’s event was the first 50 kilometre-race they were participating in.

Carla Molino of Great Britain at the 2023 50KM World Championships held in Hyderabad (photo: Shyam G Menon)

With Spain sweeping the men’s podium, the Spanish armada also took top honours in the team category for men. Their top three runners had an aggregate timing of 8:28:02. Thanks to a bunch of hardy performances – Anish Thapa Magar (2:54:09), Akshay Saini (2:57:05) and Pralhad Dhanavat (2:57:36) – the Indian men’s team secured second place with aggregate timing of 8:48:50. Third place went to Great Britain with an aggregate of 8:51:58. In the women’s category, the top team was Great Britain (9:59:07) followed by USA (10:18:11) and Croatia (10:53:20).

In the open category, the winner was Iran Ali (3:26:24) followed by Sean D’Mello (4:08:11) and K.V.B. Reddy (4:12:10).

The race was held on a five kilometre-loop on the premises of the University of Hyderabad. Ten laps of the circuit aggregated to 50 kilometres. Most runners – including the two individual winners – described the race as tough. The main culprit was the Hyderabad weather; it was generally cool in the run up to the race but decided to turn warm on Sunday. The second half of the race was particularly difficult for some of the participants. Another element of difficulty highlighted by some runners was the course on which the event was held. It was rolling in nature, featuring minor ups and downs.

“ The five-kilometre-loop starts on a mild downhill but in the outback, it moves gently up and down. We were losing our pace on the uphill portions but were able to make up during the downhill segments, ‘’ Adam Vadeboncoeur of the US team, said. Among those finding their performance affected by the heat was Norway’s Abdulaziz Mohammedsalih Ebrahim, who had the fastest personal best coming into the race. Following the event, he told this blog that he had found the heat difficult to bear, coming as he was from a much cooler Norway. Some of the runners appeared to take Hyderabad’s temperature in their stride. “ In ultrarunning, these kinds of difficulties are likely to be there,’’ Carla Molinaro said.

The top three men’s teams – Spain, India and Great Britain (photo: Shyam G Menon)

Anish Thapa Magar, the topper among Indians, placed sixth in individual rankings. He was participating in his first 50 kilometre-race. Aside from his timing and that of Akshay Saini and Pralhad Dhanavat (which have been mentioned earlier in this report), the timings of the rest of the Indian runners are as follows: Arjun Pradhan – 3:06:42; Mohit Rathor – 3:06:45, Bangriya Vikram Bharatsinh – 2:58:51, Jyoti Gawate – 3:53:05, Kavitha Reddy – 4:14:01 and Prachi Godbole – 4:33:15 (provisional). The race played out quite well for Jyoti Gawate, who was the first among Indian women to complete the race. “ I had no difficulty during the race at all. The heat did become a bother during my last three loops,’’ she said. Her compatriot Ashvini Jadhav dropped out midway through the race as she experienced chest pain. Incidentally, all the six runners representing India in the men’s category were from the Indian Army.

Asked what he felt about the Indian men’s team meriting second place on the podium at the event, Adille Sumariwalla, president, Athletics Federation of India (AFI), said, “ Its historic. Its never happened before. We are reaching there.’’ According to Santhosh Padmanabhan, manager of the Indian team, it was an amazing performance given many of the team members hadn’t participated in a 50 kilometre-race before. “ Neither did we expect, nor did the world expect,’’ he said of the men’s team’s podium finish. Nadeem Khan, president, IAU also told this blog that the Indian team’s progression in the past few years had been remarkable.

The top three women’s teams – Great Britain, USA and Croatia (photo: Shyam G Menon)

Long term observers of IAU championships however pointed out that while the outcome at Hyderabad was certainly a great result for India, the more sobering aspects shouldn’t be overlooked for the sake of realistic growth. At 20 teams present and competing, the participation level in Hyderabad was modest. At the two IAU continental championships held earlier in Bengaluru, Indian teams had earned places on the podium. Those were great performances on home ground, in conditions Indians are used to. Finally, the progression pattern of new teams at IAU championships typically features an initial phase when performances may appear stunning. Then it settles down to improvements at a less amazing pace. And while the above should be borne in mind to put the podium position at Hyderabad in perspective, for the moment, it’s a fantastic silver for the Indian men’s team to celebrate.    

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

Photos from the event (all photos by Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon):

by

IAU 50KM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS / HYDERABAD’S ULTRA SUNDAY

Adille Sumariwalla, president, AFI at the opening ceremony of the 2023 IAU 50km world championships in Hyderabad (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

The 2023 IAU 50KM World Championships was declared open by Adille Sumariwalla, president, Athletics Federation of India (AFI), in Hyderabad on Saturday, November 4. The race to decide the individual winners and winning teams will be held on Sunday.

This is the first time India is hosting an ultrarunning world championships. Over 150 athletes from 22 countries have arrived for the championships, a related official press release said. According to it, there are three categories of events – elite athletes representing the sports federation of each country, masters from World Masters Athletics and the open category, where participants register as individuals. This is the fourth edition of the 50 km world championships. The first and second editions were held in Doha (2015 and 2016) and the third in Romania in 2019.

The countries participating at the event in Hyderabad include USA, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Croatia, Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, Ireland, Estonia, Mongolia, Norway, Lithuania, Jordan, Canada and India.

Nadeem Khan, president, IAU at the opening ceremony of the 2023 IAU 50km world championships in Hyderabad (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

“ Its amazing to see how the sport is growing in India,’’ Nadeem Khan, president, International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU), said, referring to the two IAU continental championships (24 hours and 100 km) and now an IAU world championship (50 km) being held in the country. Besides India playing host for the earlier mentioned continental championships, Indians teams had also secured a place on the podium. This is in addition to the podium positions Indians earned at the 2019 edition of the 100 km continental championships in Jordan.

The 50 km discipline is the shortest of ultramarathon’s races. The discipline is being positioned as a candidate for potential inclusion in the Olympic Games (with advantage currently seen in its trail version thanks to the scenic beauty of trail locations as compared to the setting of a road race). Participants for the 50 km race are usually drawn from the ranks of marathoners just outside the lot constituting the truly elite category of marathon runners.

The Indian team for the 2023 IAU 50km world championships (photo of poster kept at the opening ceremony venue). Please note: the PB of Prachi Raju Godbole is for 50km

The really fast marathon runners, who are focused on that discipline, may not wish to try the 50 km race as they wouldn’t want to upset the speed and pacing, they are already used to and improving upon. However, for those who are a notch below, the 50 km race represents an interesting proposition.      

The Indian team for the 50 km world championships include Bangriya Vikram Bharatsinh (2:18:00 – personal best in the marathon), Anish Thapa Magar (2:17:00), Mohit Rathor (2:18:00), Prahlad Dhanavat (2:20:00), Akshay Saini (2:24:02), Arjun Pradhan (2:20:00), Jyoti Gawate (2:53:00), Ashvini Madan Jadhav (2:53:00), Kavitha Reddy (3:05:00) and Prachi Raju Godbole (3:50:09 – personal best in 50 km).

Elite athletes at a media interaction (photo: Shyam G Menon)

At a media interaction prior to the opening ceremony, some of the foreign athletes said that notwithstanding their training and preparations for the championships, those hailing from countries with colder weather than Hyderabad’s may find the conditions in the city challenging. On the whole, the mood seemed upbeat with athletes looking forward to the race. As stated at the media interaction, the fastest male runner coming into the competition was Abdulaziz Mahammedsalih Ebrahim representing Norway while the fastest among women was Andrea Pomaranski of the US. As per details available on his profile at World Athletics, Ebrahim has a personal best of 2:15:03 in the marathon.

From the opening ceremony (photo: Shyam G Menon)

Speaking to this blog, Andrea said that for a runner participating in the 50 km race, the last eight kilometres marking the difference between a marathon (42 km) and the 50 km ultramarathon, are felt as intensely as the final stages of a marathon. She runs the 50 km race pretty much like a marathon and “ tries to hang in there’’ as the race enters its final stage. She said that typically for a 50 km race, she manages her splits at a pace that is slightly slower than for the marathon and then tries to sustain it. Andrea has a personal best of around three hours and seven minutes for the 50 km race and 2:31:06 for the marathon.   

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