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)