At 808 ITRA points earned, Nimsang Limboo now tops among Indian ultrarunners in this regard

Devarao Choudhari finishes Comrades with the fastest timing yet by an Indian runner

On April 6, 2024, Nimsang Limboo, an ultrarunner from Sikkim, ran his first international trail race of 54 kilometres at the Manjushree Trail Race in Nepal.

He finished in second position with a timing of seven hours, 18 minutes and 11 seconds, less than a minute behind the winner of the race, Harilal Singh of Nepal (7:17:25). By the end of the race Nimsang had secured the highest ITRA (International Trail Running Association) score among Indian runners. He had accumulated 808 points.

On June 9, 2024, Devarao Choudhari ran the Comrades Marathon, an ultramarathon held annually in South Africa. He smashed existing Indian timings at the event to record a new high. He finished the 88 km race in 7:04:10.

Nimsang (22) has been running for the last three years. His journey in running commenced with a six km race for which he practiced six days. “ I finished the race in 46 minutes,’’ he said. Soon, he began to discover the world of running, especially trail running.

Nimsang comes from a village in West Sikkim known as Darap. The terrain is mostly hilly. “ The area where I stay is full of trails. I am quite used to running on trails,’’ he said. He also does the occasional road race. In 2023, he ran the Kolkata Full Marathon and secured fourth position overall and first in his age category with a timing of 2:47:56.

“ My focus is trail running, at the moment,’’ he said. He has also been doing the Jumping Gorilla events, which include trail races in the Sahyadri Ranges, the Buddha Trails in West Bengal and BRUTE (Basar Running Ultra Trail Experience) in Arunachal Pradesh.

Manjushree Trails, according to Nimsang, was quite challenging. “ The route was tough with some parts of it being technical. Support along the route was very good. There were aid stations every 6 km,’’ Nimsang said.

Devarao, who hails from Pusad in Maharashtra, started running in 2017. “ I used to see young boys preparing for enrolment in the police and armed forces. I took a cue from them and started running,’’ he said.

In 2017, he ran the half marathon at the Amravati Marathon and finished in 1:32:38. “ At the end of the race, I noticed that some of the runners who finished ahead of me were in a bad shape but I was absolutely fine. I realised that I could do better,’’ he said. At the 2019 Vasai Virar Mayor’s Marathon, he met Anil Korvi, often a podium finisher in marathons and half marathon races. “ I started to take guidance from him,’’ Devarao said.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, he took to trail running and started participating in trail races including the Jumping Gorilla, Mahabaleshwar Endurathon and SRT Ultra among others. Alongside he was also doing road races. As may be inferred from the events mentioned, Devarao and Limboo know each other; their paths have crossed.

Having finished his graduation, Devarao helps his father in farming. The family cultivates oilseeds, pulses, soyabean and other crops. “ I had heard about Comrades and was quite keen to do it,’’ he said. As he was a podium finisher in many of the local running races, he found support in certain quarters. “ Financial help to enrol for Comrades, travel to South Africa and participate in Comrades came from local institutions and people,’’ he said.

“ In South Africa, food was an issue. I am not used to eating food other than Indian cuisine,’’ he said. He normally has a tendency to start the race aggressively. But at Comrades, he took a conservative approach. “ Hydration was quite good along the route. I consumed five GU gels. I also had oranges, potatoes and Coke during the run. My run went quite well until the 67th kilometre when I saw some runners collapsing from exhaustion. I slowed down my pace but eventually I felt strong and went for it,’’ he said.

Devarao, 26, felt he could have done better. He was hoping for a sub-7-hour finish but lack of proper food to his liking in the run-up to the race may have impacted his plan. “ I had not followed any systematic training or diet plan for this run. Therefore, I am happy with my performance,’’ he said. Following the run, his recovery has been quite good.

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

Meenal covers over 680 kilometres in 6-day category, finishes second at event in US

Arun Bhardwaj (810 kilometres) finishes fourth in 10-day category

Delhi-based ultrarunner Meenal Kotak has set a new mark in ultrarunning for India. She covered a staggering 680.2249 kilometres over the stipulated six-day period (144 hours) at the Six Days in the Dome event held at the Pettit Centre, Milwaukee in Wisconsin, USA. The event was held from June 13 to 23, 2024.

She finished second among women in the six-day event behind Megan Ekbert of USA. Megan was also the overall winner covering a distance of 846.9994 km. In overall ranking, Meenal finished fourth in the six-day event. David Johnston of USA finished second with a distance of 740.5702 km and Tatsunori Suzuki finishing third with a distance of 713.5194 km covered.

India’s Arun Bhardwaj placed fourth position overall in the 10-day category at the same event covering a distance of 810.1927 km.

Meenal has been running since 2013. Starting with 10 km, she progressively upped her distance and finally got into ultrarunning.

“ I had earlier done the three-day event at Milwaukee. The next practical move was to do the six-day event,’’ she told this blog after the race.

Training for a multi-day event does not entail merely increasing mileage and working on strength training. It is a lot more. It requires managing a whole lot of things – training, mental conditioning, overall fitness, recovery, sleep, nutrition and hydration – in the run-up to the event.

“ I did a lot of endurance runs, hour-based runs, mileage-based runs. But more than all these, doing a multi-day event is understanding the challenge mentally and physically and hoping that one’s gut works properly,’’ she said. “ There are many aspects to consider – when to take a nap during the run, when to eat, taking measures to prevent chaffing injuries, blisters,’’ she said.

In April 2024, Meenal was one of the Indian ultrarunners representing the country in the IAU Asia & Oceania Championships held in Canberra, Australia.

“ I was not able to do well in Australia. But coming to Milwaukee I was in a much better place, both fitness wise and mentally,’’ she said.

For Milwaukee, she had worked out a plan. “ I went according to the plan perfectly for the first two days. But on the third day, I went into a low phase due to lack of sleep. I could not sleep and I could not run either. If I was giving 100 percent of mine in this event, my husband as my support was giving 200 percent. I finally managed to get some sleep and felt some sanity returning,’’ she said.

As a seasoned ultrarunner, she was aware that the second and third days of multi-day events would be excruciatingly difficult.

The Pettit Centre is an indoor ice-skating facility. The course was open for the entire 144 hours with temperatures maintained at 6 degrees Celsius throughout. Runners were required to run on a 443 metre-track.

“ It was quite cold for the runners and doubly so for the crew supporting the runners. Because of the enclosed space it was claustrophobic. We don’t get to see the sun or skylight and that can take a toll on our sanity,’’ she said.

Many runners, she said, were hallucinating and cracking under pressure.

“ I ensured that I took breaks, sometimes short ones and sometimes for a couple of hours to catch up on the sleep. I ate proper food. My husband arranged for Indian food at least once a day, other times I ate food available for the runners. Hydration and nutrition were well-taken care of,’’ she said. Physically, she faced some niggling issues but the worst aspect of the multi-day running was lack of sleep.

“ It was great running alongside Megan, the winner. She was so full of energy. On the first day she took a lead and then never looked back,’’ Meenal said.

Of the 144 hours, Meenal ran most of the time but resorted to walking in the last 5-6 hours of the event.

In her ultrarunning journey, Meenal lost three years to a back injury. “ It was tough getting back. I had to start with 5 km runs and progress to ultrarunning events. I owe a lot of gratitude to my husband, my family, friends and the running community,’’ she said.

Meenal’s physical recovery following this event has been quite good. “ I am good to go. I am now in New York and have been walking around the city quite a lot. But mentally, I continue to feel the circling motion, especially when I sleep. I guess, it will take some days to recover,’’ she said.

She plans to take a break of a couple of months before resuming running.

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