Vignettes of the 2017 Indian Open Climbing Competition held over February 10-12 at Podar College in Mumbai:

The competition was organized by Girivihar, the city’s oldest mountaineering club, which in 2016, had anchored the Indian debut of the IFSC World Cup in Bouldering at Navi Mumbai. Podar College has a bouldering wall of modest dimension, managed by Girivihar. For the open climbing competition, Girivihar set up at the venue the wall it had imported for the 2016 World Cup. Compared to previous editions of Girivihar’s annual competition, turn out for the 2017 open was not high. However the current crop of leading sport climbers in the country was well represented. Adarsh Singh (Delhi) and Siddhi Manerikar (Mumbai) topped the results in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.

(Text and photos by Shyam G Menon, freelance journalist based in Mumbai.)

Illustration: Shyam G Menon

“ Swimming is my passion. I am happiest in the pool,’’ Pravin Gaikwad, 55, said.

The doctor though is best known as a runner; he is also a triathlete. His parents hail from Devgad in Maharashtra (the same Devgad that is famous for its strain of Alphonso mango). Pravin is the youngest of six children. He was born and brought up in Mumbai. His father worked at Ciba Geigy. His mother was a housewife. The family originally lived in Chembur; then shifted to Ghatkopar. Ghatkopar had a swimming pool and Pravin – then a sixth standard student – began frequenting it. The youngster went as part of group of dozen boys or so but in due course, most others dropped out. Pravin continued.

Those days, swimming pools used to have their own swimming team. When he was in the ninth standard, Pravin was taken into the pool’s team. Training became systematic. In competitions that followed with teams from other swimming pools, he won a prize in the 25 m-butterfly stroke. By the time he was pursuing studies at the tenth and twelfth standard levels, Pravin was winning medals regularly at swimming competitions. At medical college which followed, he became captain of the college swimming team. However when he completed his MBBS and enlisted to do his MD, swimming had to take a back seat for work load was high.

Pravin and Arati; from a SCMM gone by (Photo: courtesy the Gaikwads)

After completing his MD, in 1988, he joined Sterling Hospital in Vashi, Navi Mumbai and moved that side. By now Pravin was married to Arati, a fellow doctor who, incidentally, had also been his student. When the Gaikwads arrived in Vashi, it was the early phase of Navi Mumbai’s growth. Vashi and other suburbs in the region were hardly the well-developed residential areas they are today. For a pool to swim in, they had to go all the way to Belapur, where the local YMCA maintained one. For eight years, Pravin worked at two hospitals in Navi Mumbai. Then in 1996, the pediatrician started his own clinic in Nerul. The Gaikwads moved to Nerul, staying first at an apartment near the local railway station, eventually moving to a proper house in the center of the fast growing township. Meanwhile the commitment to swimming continued. One of the housing societies in Nerul, Sailesh Towers, has a swimming pool. The Gaikwads headed there first. For a brief while in between they shifted to the swimming pool at the D. Y. Patil sports complex nearby; then they returned to the pool at Sailesh Towers. In 2007, Pravin resumed participating in swimming competitions (short distance ones) earning podium finishes for nearly three years.

Sometime in 1998, the Nerul Gymkhana started to organize annual cycle races. The Gaikwads were regular podium finishers in their respective categories with one year being particularly notable for the podium finishers included not only Pravin and Arati but also their children and Arati’s father. “ It was indeed a proud moment for the family,’’ Pravin said. In 2010, Arati’s brother Atul, asked her to participate in an adventure sports race in Pune called Enduro. It was a mix of cycling and hiking. Pravin, Arati and Atul registered as a team in the forty plus age category; their team aptly named Fortified. They were podium finishers at the event in all the years of participation, in 2011, 2012 and 2013 as well.

On Parsik Hill; (from left) Asutosh Roy, Pravin, Vijay Kalpati and Arati (Photo: courtesy the Gaikwads)

Like Mumbai earlier, Navi Mumbai too is an area blessed with enough nature to make a sports enthusiast happy, yet steadily losing that bounty to the incessant march of townships, roads and traffic. Vashi, Nerul, Belapur – they are all accessed after a sea crossing from the Mumbai side. Once you cross so, you see looming in the neighborhood, like a long wall, the stretch of Parsik Hill running north-south from Mumbra towards Belapur and Kharghar. Simply put, Navi Mumbai has quick access to both the sea and the hills. Not many places are privileged so. On the edge of Belapur, overlooking Kharghar is a wonderfully located road. It snakes its way up from near the Mumbai-Pune highway to villages at the top of the seasonal Pandavkada waterfall. An early morning visit to this ascending road – some five kilometers long one way – would yield a collection of runners, walkers and cyclists. There are other such roads frequented by walkers and runners in Navi Mumbai but this is the prince of it all. Locally, it is called Kharghar Hill Road. In 2011, the Gaikwads were out walking on this road when they met two runners – Surya Buddhavarapu and his wife Sudha, both of them, members of the group: Navi Mumbai Runners (NMR) – who suggested that they get into running. Until then, the Gaikwads had done the occasional run. They hadn’t ` taken up’ running. We use the term ` take up’ deliberately for Pravin is by nature and grooming, a diligent pursuer of what he decides to do. He believes in systematic approach and committed preparation. “ At school, I wasn’t very intelligent or anything so. I was hard working. Studying medicine may have strengthened further the need to work hard and my faith in that approach. I have also read somewhere that if you keep on doing something, then you will be amazed by what you achieve,’’ Pravin said. He speaks with care; there is little impulsiveness and much that seems to hark of thinking through his responses.

Arati in contrast, is a spontaneous person. She likes fun. Born in Maharashtra’s Dhule’s district and living since the age of two in Mumbai, she readily concedes that her approach to life is very different from that of her husband. She prepares and trains but not as devotedly as Pravin. And she isn’t above taking her chances at races, prepared or not, settling often for the satisfaction of completing a race as opposed to chasing a personal best timing or being on some trajectory of improvement.  An element of fun is eminently acceptable. “ I have always been interested in nutrition and fitness,’’ she said. Shortly after the couple moved to Nerul, she bought a bicycle. “ The attitude was that you should be active, both of us were regular walkers’’ she said. At the time she bought the cycle, Nerul was a quiet place with only a bus stop where long distance buses halted, for link to Mumbai. “ We shifted to our current residence 10 years ago. The cycle travelled everywhere with us,’’ she said.

Pravin (lemon yellow T-shirt); from one of the editions of the Vasai Virar Mayor’s Marathon (Photo: courtesy the Gaikwads)

In April 2011, Pravin reported for a NMR organized-run on the Kharghar Hill Road. He ran up and down the hill comfortably; he didn’t pause anywhere to drink water. Arati joined in at the next such run, sometime in May. According to the Gaikwads, NMR helped nurture and bring out their potential. Swimmers, they also noticed the difference in running. “ Running provides social context,’’ Pravin said. That was remarkably different from the secluded cocoon of immediate world that is the predicament of swimmer in water. What running provided was relevant for the Gaikwads. Besides, as Pravin pointed out, by then Arati was also running well. At the first formal running event they participated in – it was at the Borivali National Park in August 2011 – both husband and wife ended up on the podium. Slowly a new ecosystem grew. The occasional podium finishes they got encouraged the doctor-couple to run, while in NMR, they had a motivated group of people to train with who were also quite egalitarian in their perspective. To this Pravin added his characteristic twist – always the devoted student, he read up on running and researched the sport on the Internet. This was blended with his tendency to push himself. I always wanted to challenge myself. The human body has considerable reserves – these were among sentences that cropped up regularly in our conversation with him. He credited that approach to his medical training. In the medical profession, one is always learning about what the body was designed to do, what the body has wrecked, how that happened, how the body repairs itself and what the body has in reserve. Pravin graduated from the early short runs to the half marathon and on to the full marathon. His transition was smooth. “ If you are a good swimmer, you don’t fight with water. You glide through it. You can do the same with running,’’ he said. All this was alongside busy days at the clinic. In 2012, the two doctors travelled to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala so that Arati could do a short course in problems concerning adolescents, at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Now she also works with Pravin at the clinic devoted to children’s health. “ We would as pediatricians love to influence the lives of the adolescents we work with by acting as role models directly or indirectly, by motivating them to inculcate healthy food habits and healthy lifestyle with physical activity playing some role in their lives,’’ Pravin said. In November 2016, the Gaikwads were part of a group of eight doctors who conducted sexual health workshops in Dahanu tribal schools. “ We hope to do many more workshops and empower our adolescents to take the right decisions for a healthy life and a better future,’’ Pravin said.

Arati at the Javadhu Ultra (Photo: courtesy the Gaikwads)

Life with a swimmer brought Arati seriously to swimming. She was no stranger to water and swimming. In her childhood her father had packed off his children to the pool at Shivaji Park, Dadar, so that they were acquainted with the basics of swimming. But with no proper coaching at that time, it was at her swimming sessions post-marriage that she genuinely learnt. After Pravin started going out for runs, he used to tell her that she should experience it at least once. “ He knew I would be interested. Upon trying, I found running doable. On my first run, I didn’t stop anywhere,’’ she said. She was able to complete a 21 km-half marathon in two hours, forty five minutes. Although she had the distinct feeling that she would be able to run well, she took a back seat. First of course, was her nature, which was partial to being less systematic; it was more organic and less deliberate or driven. “ I am not very focused,’’ she said. Arati for instance loves her sleep; Pravin being endurance junkie can do with much less. Pravin spends on equipment, researches what bicycles to buy. She doesn’t. Second, as she put it, “ in a family, both people being equally dedicated to running can be a problem!’’ They have two sons. She confessed to being secretly happy with the occasional injuries Pravin picked up through running, for it kept the endurance junkie at home with family. At times her happiness showed. “ He would quip: you seem to be happy with my injury,’’ she said laughing. For most of her races, Arati trained alone. Her first formal half marathon was at SCMM, the result of an event registration gifted by Pravin. After three years spent running half marathons, Arati moved up to the full marathon. “ There is a world of difference between half and full marathon. I want to try running 42 km without formal training, without the tension of going through a systematic programme. I am a different personality, he is a different personality. I cannot be like Pravin,’’ she said. Yet notwithstanding this core disparity in their individual nature and personality, the Gaikwads participated together in several events. In 2013, Mumbai Road Runners (MRR) chose them as the running couple of the year with Pravin and Arati being additionally declared second runner up in individual awards for the male and female categories.

Pravin; from a half marathon at Durshet (Photo: courtesy the Gaikwads)

It was his endurance cast through long association with water that provided the basic substratum for the runner in Pravin to stand on. His competence in swimming has grown to encompass both the confines of a pool and the openness of the sea. He has been a participant in sea swimming competitions with podium finishes at some. With running also added and cycling known, the triathlon beckoned. Both Pravin and Arati have participated in and completed triathlons in India. In April 2015, the couple participated in the Pune Triathlon with Arati winning in her category in the sprint distance and Pravin finishing second runner up in his category in the Olympic distance. In December that year, they also participated in the Maharashtra State Triathlon in Sindhudurg emerging winners in their respective categories. “ I can do the half Ironman, that shouldn’t be a problem,’’ Pravin reckons, “ a full Ironman will require devoted training; maybe in two to three years’ time.’’ Their passage through these disparate sports, all sharing the common thread of endurance hasn’t been without its moments of anxiety.

In Nerul, not far from the town’s Ayyappa Temple, is the small bicycle shop run by Inderjit Singh Khamba. He worked for many years in the training and development line; then quit his job to begin something on his own. He loves technical stuff. The first business he ventured into was assembling computers. Currently he is fully into selling, building, maintaining and repairing bicycles. Inderjit knew that the bikes he built were only as good as they performed. So he started going for rides on them, acquiring thus a background in cycling. One of the people who dropped by at his shop was Pravin. As their mutual familiarity grew Inderjit asked if Pravin and Arati would be interested in participating in a 180 km-Veloraid, which Inderjit had taken part in twice before. It was a team event. Pravin hadn’t cycled such a long distance before. So they went out for a test ride and with the outcome looking promising, the Gaikwads said yes.

From Veloraid (Photo: courtesy the Gaikwads)

According to Arati, they were a team of six cyclists. The Veloraid was from Yeoor Hills to Tansa Lake and back. During training sessions, they had been on a section of the route before. On the day of Veloraid however, it rained and there was mud on the road. Roughly six to seven kilometers before Tansa, on a downhill section of the route, Arati tried to avoid a pothole and went off the road. “ I was ahead and heard something like the sound of a tree cracking or crashing,’’ Pravin said. Inderjit was behind Arati; he saw the accident happening. According to him, Arati’s perch on her bicycle wasn’t perfect; the handle bar was too close to her body. This meant, the slightest jerk while steering the bike, translated into major variations at wheel level. “ Into the descent, there were a few S-shaped bends on the road. Two things happened. First, Arati gathered speed on the descent. Second, there was an arc-shaped portion on the road’s edge, where the tarmac had totally weathered off. The wheel of her bike entered this portion and didn’t climb back up. Instead, the pothole’s edge guided it off the road,’’ Inderjit said. Arati was hauled up from the hillside, some eight to nine feet below the road. “ I was in a daze. I didn’t know what was happening,’’ she said. While she escaped with minor injuries, her helmet was a statement of what could have been – it was split open down the middle. She had a cut just above the eye, a cut on the chin, bruised elbows and knees and overall body pain from having had to be pulled up. Post-Veloraid, it took her a long while to recover from both the strain to her torso as well as the overall shock, a side effect of which was weight loss. The Gaikwads’ return to cycling has since been careful. On his part, Inderjit, noticing the mismatched positioning of the handle bar on Arati’s cycle, has built Arati a new bicycle. “ I will resume running, cycling and swimming when my body feels ready for it,’’ she said. About 10 days after we met her, Arati was among those who successfully completed the half marathon at the 2017 SCMM. It wasn’t the best of timings but true to her nature, she appeared content and happy.

Pravin and Arati with Arati’s brother, Atul. From one of the Enduro races they  participated in as a team (Photo: courtesy the Gaikwads)

Pravin’s diligent training continues. Those who train with him say that he is very disciplined in his approach. He is strict in training schedules and adherence to proper diet (if he is running at a location away from home, he often brings along food suited to the diet he is observing). While training, if he is supposed to meet a certain target on a particular day, he will make sure he does, Mani Iyer, who has trained and run with Pravin, said. As combination of doctor, keen runner, triathlete and someone who reads to know more, his friends consider him well informed on the subject of running and endurance sport. An approachable person, he is known to offer tips to others on how to improve their performance. At the same time, even during his training hours, he remains available to patients. He is capable of running and discussing a medical case on the phone at once, friends who know him well, said. Pravin’s personal best in the full marathon so far, is 3:38, registered at the 2017 Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM). He has also done ultramarathons – he did the Javadhu Hills Ultra in Tamil Nadu in 2016 (Pravin was first runner up in his age category, while Arati who ran the shorter 25km-event was first runner up in her age group), the annual Mumbai Ultra and in 2012, a dawn to dusk run in Navi Mumbai organized by NMR. “ I don’t want to run many events. I would look at perhaps a full marathon, an ultra and a triathlon every year,’’ he said. In terms of events overseas, he has his eyes on the Boston Marathon and The Comrades in South Africa. No matter what the event, he would like to prepare diligently for it. On that, he is clear.

Personal Best (Pravin):

10km – November 2016, Navy Run – 43:50

21km – December 2016, VVMM – 1:38

42km – January 2017, SCMM – 3:38

Personal Best (Arati):

21km – February 2014, Thane Hiranandani – 2:02

42km – January 2015, SCMM – 4:48

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

Illustration: Shyam G Menon

Article on Kieren D’ Souza, the first Indian to complete Spartathlon.

It was the first Friday of the New Year; second day of the expo preceding the 2017 Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM).

At the corner reserved for talks, a runner kept the audience engaged with a presentation on how to recover from training runs and races and be ready for more. He was a young person. “ I have been running since 2010,’’ he said. The presentation was as light hearted and buoyant as his personality. It was also to the point. Confronted with a question he couldn’t answer, he didn’t beat around the bush or build castles in the air to preserve self-importance. He confessed his lack of experience in that subject and thereby, inability to answer. About running, he emphasized: have fun, that’s the most important thing to do.

Kieren D’ Souza is a young runner wishing to make a professional career from running. Born in Bilaspur, he hails from a family in the armed forces; his father serves with the Indian Air Force (IAF). The youngster lived in several cities, most notably Nagpur, Bengaluru and of late Faridabad near Delhi. “ I used to play a lot of basketball in school and college,’’ he said, tucking into breakfast, mid-2016, at Wonderland café on Leh’s Changspa Road. It was a couple of days before the 2016 edition of the cult ultramarathon, La Ultra-The High. On the adjacent chair, ultra-runner’s calling card rested – a hydration pack. Sometime earlier, requested to pose for a photograph, he had confessed that about the hardest thing for him to do is – stay still. Restlessness – rather abundant energy – hovered about him now too. It wasn’t that he was indifferent to food; he just seemed in a moment that felt in between. Breakfast had followed morning run. Other things to do appeared already beckoning. “ At times I think my running owes much to my natural restlessness. I have to keep moving my feet!’’ he said laughing.

Kieren running UTMB-CCC (Photo: Flash Sport / courtesy: Kieren D’ Souza)

His first formal running event was a 12 km run in Bengaluru, for which he was signed on by a friend. That participation told him that he could not only run but “ I find it easier to run still longer distances.’’ The Bengaluru run was followed by participation at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM), which officially enhanced his capability to 21 km. In 2012, while living in Bengaluru, he decided to attempt the 100 km-category of the Bengaluru Ultra. He attributed the jump to 100 km to his assumption that since moving from 10 km to 21 km had been relatively easy, 42 km would be as easily doable. Except for a year or so with the city’s well known coach, K.C. Kothandapani and his group – Pace Makers, Kieren trained largely on his own. Although he completed the 100 km ultramarathon, Kieren recalls being very tired at the 60 km-mark and struggling thereafter. His father who had come to encourage him was instrumental in goading him on to finish the run. The effort notwithstanding, Kieren had by now begun looking for more ultramarathons to run. He continued to run the shorter distances but treated them as training runs for eventual progression to being a dedicated ultra-runner. In 2013, he enrolled for and ran the Nilgiris Ultra. He now turned his attention to La Ultra-The High in Ladakh, which he had come across earlier while surfing the Internet.

Kieren has done his Basic Mountaineering Course from the mountaineering institute in Manali (then known as Directorate of Mountaineering & Allied Sports [DMAS], it is now called Atal Behari Vajpayee Mountaineering Institute). He was no stranger to altitude and physical strain. With a couple of ultra runs and the mountaineering course under his belt, he felt 111 km in Ladakh would be feasible. He enrolled for the race’s 2014 edition. The 111 km-category of La Ultra-The High is the shortest category of the race, spanning overall 333 km. In that short category, of the three high passes woven into the full race, you need to tackle only one – Khardung La. This pass, the road to which is visible on the mountain slopes above Leh, is guarded by two check points – North Pullu and South Pullu, with the former on the slopes leading to Nubra Valley and the latter on the side facing Leh. The race starts from the Nubra side. Likely underestimating the mix of high altitude and hard running and racked by stomach problems, Kieren’s maiden La Ultra-The High ended at North Pullu. Unable to continue, he was taken off the race. “ I was really sad. That was the first time I had not finished something I started. There is a photo of me sitting down and crying after I was forced to quit the race. I think I was under-trained – that was the biggest factor. I must have started taking things for granted. That race put me in my place. It was good that I DNF-ed. I learnt a lot,’’ he said.

Kieren after the DNF (Did Not Finish) at the 2014 La Ultra The High (Photo: courtesy La Ultra The High)

The first time we heard of Kieren was from Dr Rajat Chauhan, whose brainchild La Ultra-The High is. A Race Director’s job is never easy, especially when it comes to taking runners off a race. Like any Race Director, Dr Chauhan has had his share of being misunderstood by participants. At some point in an old conversation on the subject, he mentioned Kieren as an exception and somebody to look out for in the Indian ultramarathon scene, despite the reverse he had suffered at his first La Ultra-The High. What shaped that perception was this – while he may have been heartbroken after being taken off the race, Kieren later spoke to Dr Chauhan (he is an accomplished ultra-runner himself) on ways to train for the high altitude event and improve his performance. Not just that, he worked systematically at it. There is a difference between sulking and walking off a race and recognizing one’s shortcomings and seeking to improve – that impressed Dr Chauhan. Amid this an interesting thing happened. At the time of participating in his first La Ultra-The High, Kieren was working at a company called The Active Holiday Company. He held a regular job. Following the Did Not Finish (DNF) at La Ultra-The High, he chucked up his job and decided to pursue running full time. “ It is basically about being in outdoor sports. I have done a course in skiing too. I am still exploring,’’ he said.

In the meantime, La Ultra-The High went past a major landmark in its evolution. Ever since its inception, Indians had failed to register a win or a notable finish at La Ultra-The High. In 2015, that changed when Parwez Malik of Dehradun won the 111 km-category, running the distance in 17 hours, 57 minutes. Reportedly laid low by injury, Parwez didn’t turn up for the 2016 edition. Pre-race buzz of strong runners for the 111 km-category was dominated by Kieren, who in the time between that photo of him sobbing and our breakfast at Wonderland café, had successfully completed ultramarathons in India and a major one in Europe – the 101 km CCC category of Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB).  Completing the Nilgiris Ultra had helped him qualify for UTMB. Free of regular job, Kieren shifted to Manali, which is at an elevation of 6700 ft at the northern end of the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. He trained there for a couple of months. For more insight on UTMB, he also linked up with Ashok Daniel of Chennai who had attempted the race before. The effort paid off. In Europe, he finished UTMB’s CCC category in around 18 hours, 30 minutes. He looks forward to running sometime, the full version of UTMB. Applying for UTMB and preparing for it gave him what he badly needed – a firm focus on ultra-running. It was a remarkable turnaround from that setback at La Ultra-The High.

The start of the 160 km race at Bhatti Lakes Ultra (Photo: courtesy Kieren D’ Souza)

By the time we met in Leh for the 2016 La Ultra-The High, Kieren could say, “ from last summer onward, I have been really focused on ultra-running. I am trying to make a living out of it.’’ Running had become his full time work. When elsewhere in India, someone took a bus, a train or a taxi to go to an office in some glass tower in some concrete jungle of a city; he set out for his office – a run in the outdoors. When others of his age prided themselves in sleep deprivation and competed at the art of working late in company offices, he put in 9-10 hours of sleep for as he said at the SCMM expo, sleep is the most important ingredient in recovery. For a runner, good sleep is part of work. And on the days of his ultra-long races, at times spanning day and night, while the world slept, Kieren logged in the miles. Not long ago in Bengaluru, he had earned his degree studying chemistry, botany and zoology. “ I have always known I can’t do a desk job,’’ he said, polishing off a slice of apple pie. While it may have been apple pie he was wolfing down at Wonderland, on running’s table right then, it was a different menu Kieren was tackling. His performance at the 2015 Bhatti Lakes Ultra (both Nilgiris Ultra and Bhatti Lakes are organized by Globeracers) had been good enough to merit entry to the September 2016 edition of the iconic ultramarathon in Greece – Spartathlon. That was the big one on the cards. In the emergent scheme of things, he was treating La Ultra’s 111 km-category as a training run, a stepping stone to Spartathlon. “ You can’t find a harder race in India to use as training,’’ he said. It seemed an interesting way to treat a run that had broken him two years earlier – look beyond looming challenge and ghosts of a run gone by, to what lay past it. If there is one thing that impressed about Kieren in Leh ahead of the 2016 La Ultra-The High, it would be – confidence; a pleasant confidence laced by the humility of setbacks known.

August 11 evening, the ultramarathon commenced from near Diskit in Nubra valley. Participants for all categories – 111 km, 222 km and 333 km – begin the race together as the finish point for each segment is marked on the same route. Kieren slipped into the lead quite early, maintaining it comfortably. He was followed by Jovica Spajic and Grant Maughan from the 333 km-category. Observing the race from the pitch black slopes of Khardung La by night, Kieren’s progress stood out for its pace. His headlamp, bobbing up and down in the steady cadence of his run, could be seen systematically creeping up in the darkness, en route to the high pass. According to Kieren, while the world may deem ultra-runners slow, in reality they aren’t all that slow. However he didn’t consider himself particularly fast; he may be fast compared to some of the Indian ultra-runners – that’s all. “ Compared to foreign ultramarathon runners, I am slow. When I practise, I am actually trying to get faster,’’ he said. As it turned out, Kieren made it smoothly to the 17, 582 ft-high Khardung La. He was a bit tired on the descent toward Leh. By around noon, August 12, he had won the 111 km-category of La Ultra-The High by a wide margin; he completed the distance in 15 hours, 30 minutes. Late noon found him back at Leh’s Goba Guest House where the race organizers were based; immediate celebration was muted and he sat quietly by the roadside to cheer the remaining runners as they passed by. He had La Ultra-The High’s shortest category in the bag; there were two greater levels of challenge in the same race to attempt, not to mention – Spartathlon is not only 246 km of running but it has a pretty stiff cut-off time too.

Completing the 111 km race of the 2016 edition of La Ultra The High (Photo: UpSlope Productions / courtesy Kieren D’ Souza)

Kieren’s introduction to Spartathlon was through Scott Jurek’s book, ` Eat & Run.’ That’s where he found mention of the race. It kindled his imagination. To make things engaging, while on his way to UTMB, at Chamonix in France, he actually met Scott Jurek. The American runner has won Spartathlon thrice – in 2006, 2007 and 2008 – with his 2008 timing being the fifth fastest ever. “ Once I decide on a race, I speak to people who have done it. I tell them what I am doing and find out what I am missing,’’ Kieren said. It was October 2017. We were at Indian Coffee House on Bengaluru’s Church Street; coffee for us, bread-omelet and dosa for him. Looking back, La Ultra-The High had perhaps been perfect training ground for Kieren. Mark Woolley, who successfully completed the 333 km-category, had run Spartathlon before while Grant, who emerged joint winner with Jovica in the 333km-category, was headed for Spartathlon. “ Chatting with these guys is always helpful,’’ Kieren said. Also of assistance was Tobias, who got in touch once Kieren started browsing the Internet for more on Spartathlon and how to prepare for it. For Kieren, Spartathlon felt intimidating. The only 100 miler he had run before was Bhatti Lakes. At 246 km, Spartathlon was both longer than Bhatti Lakes and entailed more time on one’s feet. Kieren explained the attraction. “ I definitely want to do Badwater. But Spartathlon appealed because first, it is less known and second, at 36 hours overall cut-off time for a 246 km-race, its pace is faster. That said you can never compare races to conclude which is harder. It is personal choice and further, what each person is on given day,’’ he said.  According to Wikipedia, Spartathlon has 75 checkpoints with each checkpoint having its own cut-off time. Any leeway in enforcing these cut-offs fades as the sun goes down and in the last one third of the race, not only are cut offs strictly enforced but fatigued runners may be pulled off the race.

The book by Scott Jurek

We requested Mark Woolley to put the race in perspective; provide an idea of what Spartathlon means to ultra-runners worldwide. He wrote in, “ Spartathlon is simply the greatest race on Earth and for the vast majority of ultra-runners it represents the holy grail in ultra-running. The origins of Spartathlon are set in antiquity in ancient Greece during the Persian wars in approximately 500 BC. Miltaides, the general in charge of the Athenian army at Marathon faced defeat by the Persian forces; so sent a messenger, Pheidippides to Sparta to ask for help. According to Herodotus he set out with the first light and arrived at Sparta just as dusk was setting the following day. Until the 1980s many people regarded this story as just another part of ancient Greek mythology as it was widely considered to be an impossible task. That is until John Foden and his team decided to prove to the world that a runner could indeed cover 246 km in 36 hours which included crossing two mountain ranges. The Spartathlon was born. The runners imagine themselves as Pheidippides, running for the very survival of our civilization. He represents the impossible which is actually possible …. just. So if you have finished the Spartathlon it is a huge badge of honor among ultra-runners all over the world; most probably the most important and widely recognized badge. It is an incredible athletic feat but one that is just within reach of the most well trained athletes. There are longer races out there, hotter, higher and every other superlative out there but Spartathlon is the Greatest. Perhaps you need to experience it to see what I mean.’’

Kieren with officials from the Indian embassy in Athens just before the start of the 2016 Spartathlon (Photo: courtesy: Kieren D’ Souza)

The top four fastest timings at Spartathlon are held by Yiannis Kouros, the well-known Greek ultra-runner, who in 1984 completed the 246 km-distance in 20 hours, 25 minutes. A couple of abstracts from Scott Jurek’s book are invaluable for insight into Kouros and what ultra-running is in Kouros’s universe. Jurek writes: Kouros is a philosopher-athlete in the ancient Greek tradition. His results seem to stem from an overflowing energy of spirit. He paints, writes poetry, records songs, played the role of Pheidippides in the movie A Hero’s Journey and delivers motivational talks “ to get people inspired and alert, so they can discover and utilize the unconditional abilities of human beings, in order to bring (beyond personal improvement) unity, friendship and harmony to the world.’’ A paragraph later, Jurek notes: Ultimately, Kouros teaches us that the ultra is an exercise in transcendence. He explicitly defines it as a test of “ metaphysical characteristics,’’ as opposed to inborn athletic gifts or level of conditioning. Only a continuous run of 24-plus hours will do, “ as a runner has to face the whole spectrum of the daytime and nighttime and be able to continue. Doing so, he / she will prove that he / she can run beyond the effectiveness of genetic gifts and fitness level, as these elements will have gone from the duration of time and the muscular exhaustion.’’ While respecting the athleticism of such events, he disqualifies 50-milers and stage runs from the category of ultra, as they will favor athletes who are well trained and gifted. The true ultra-runner must endure sleep deprivation and complete muscular fatigue. Only then, can he or she “ find energy after the fuel is gone.’’

Kieren reaching the finish line of Spartathlon; giving him company is his mother (Photo: Sparta Photography Club / courtesy Kieren D’ Souza)

Spartathlon begins in Athens and ends in Sparta. Kieren’s mother accompanied him to Greece. As luck would have it, Grant Maughan was also staying in the same hotel as they did. It was good to meet him and chat, weeks after La Ultra-The High. As the race drew close, some officials of the Indian embassy visited Kieren to wish him luck. He had met the Indian ambassador to Greece a few days earlier. Although sustained training for Spartathlon and running La Ultra had addressed some of his nervousness, a fresh fear surfaced in Kieren at the start line in Athens. There was both a sense of intimidation by all the superlatives – from distance to tough cut-off times – attached to Spartathlon and a sense of excitement, for this would be the moment when whatever he had read about the race would start to actually unravel in his life, in his time. “ The first 40-50 km of the race, I was just enjoying the experience,’’ Kieren said. At the 93rd kilometer mark in Corinth, he met his mother who was waiting for him and spent about five minutes with her to chat and have some food.  He resumed well and comfortably settled in “ the zone.’’ Midway, at the 123rd kilometer mark, he was supposed to meet his mother again but she was delayed reaching there. It worried him. At the relatively big aid station here, Kieren hung around a little longer having food and sorting his gear as night had descended. Then, just as he was leaving, his mother arrived. It lifted his spirits. At that point he met Tobias as well. For the next 70 odd kilometers, they ran together. Except for walking up mountain passes, they ran the rest.

The formal finish of Spartathlon at the foot of the statue of King Leonidas (Photo: Sparta Photography Club / courtesy: Kieren D’ Souza)

At 4 AM, around the 175 kilometer mark set in a valley, Kieren paused to nap for 15-20 minutes. Tobias moved on. “ It was really cold,’’ Kieren said. He continued alone up the next mountain pass and beyond, sticking however to the same strategy of walking the ascents and running the rest. Past the 205th kilometer mark, he sensed a pain in his left ankle. In due course, the mild pain grew to solid pain. He tried running but couldn’t; the ankle was too painful. He had to trade running for walking. “ The last 40 or so kilometers, I must have walked,’’ Kieren said. This was strategically alright for having crossed the earlier check points well within time he had built up a buffer. Near Sparta, people had lined up the road to cheer the runners. Kieren recalled a couple of incidents. Two little girls on bicycles approached and rode alongside him as he limped into town. Upon being told by Kierien that he regretted ending up walking, they told him that he was doing well and was their “ hero.’’ A lady asked him to wait as he passed her café; she went inside and fetched an olive branch to gift him. It was heart-warming. His mother was at the finish line. The last 50 meters of the race Kieren somehow ran. The race officially ended at the feet of the statue of King Leonidas in Sparta. Kieren had crossed every one of the race’s 75 check points within their assigned cut off time. Against an overall cut off time of 36 hours, he had completed the 246 km-race in 33 hours and one minute. As finisher, he was given water from the river which runs through town and an olive wreath was placed on his head. Then he was whisked off to the medical tent to have his feet washed and checked for blisters. Given the ankle injury, Kieren was also taken to the local hospital where the doctors who had been watching the live telecast of the race on TV, told him that they had just seen him at the finish line. Injury checked and addressed, he returned to the finish line to watch others complete the race. Among those he saw finishing so, was Grant Maughan. “ I met Kieren and his mother at Spartathlon. He ran well for someone who hadn’t done that distance before. He seems very disciplined with his training and racing. That’s all he talks about; so I know he is very interested to keep going with it and try new challenges. It must be a great honor to be the first Indian to finish that race. I think he has a solid future in ultra-running,’’ Grant Maughan wrote in.

Kieren D’ Souza (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

When we met Kieren in Bengaluru, he had a small clutch of sponsors backing him. But he was looking for long term sponsorship. “ I am looking at running as a long term engagement. So ideally, sponsorships should be similar,’’ he said. Kieren now spends much time in Manali, his preferred spot to train. The mountainous terrain with its mix of altitude, roads and trails suits him. “ The Himalaya is the best training ground I can have. Someone in US and Europe can’t imagine the altitudes we can touch in training here. That’s why I don’t want to shift out from here,’’ he said. January 2017; Kieren’s talk at the SCMM expo in Mumbai appeared well received. He though wasn’t satisfied. “ I missed out a few points,’’ he said as he came off the dais, adding, “ now tell me to my face, how was it?’’ In that need for feedback to perfect a package probably lay the real challenge of what he has embarked on.  When running becomes the stuff of livelihood, won’t it be hard to keep it fun? It is an old dilemma, all too familiar to freelance journalist. One of Kieren’s observations, from that earlier meet-up in Bengaluru, came to mind: The one thing I am sure about is that I wish to run. Rest is still the stuff of exploration.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai. This article is based on a set of conversations had over a period of time. Please note: the height of Khardung La is as mentioned in Wikipedia. For a detailed report on the 2016 edition of La Ultra The High please click on this link: https://shyamgopan.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/the-captain-the-teacher-the-warrior-and-the-businessman/)

Illustration: Shyam G Menon

Featured runners: Sabhajeet Yadav, Thomas Bobby Philip, Pervin Batliwala, Team Ladakh, Kamlya Bhagat, Idris Mohamed, Ravi Kalsi, Shyam Sunder, Amar Chauhan, Savio D’ Souza, Vaijayanti Ingawale and Dnyaneshwar Tidke. Scroll down to read what each one had to say.

The annual Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM) typically sees participation by over 40,000 people, around half of them regular runners enrolling for the half and full marathon. While the event has certainly had its share of weathering over the years, what makes it still an experience is how Mumbai responds to it – despite being a huge city with busy life centered around money and consequent capacity for insularity and indifference, the city turns out in large numbers to cheer the runners in their midst. Besides the aid stations put up by the organizers, informal stations and groups of people offering everything from oranges to lemonade, biscuits, water and packed oral rehydration solutions crop up. Not to mention, the groups of dancers, drummers and rock bands along the way. SCMM is as much a race as it is a city’s festival of running. Among the resident community of runners, preparations are visible from weeks before SCMM with most suburbs featuring runners, out training by dawn. Inevitably, at the end of this annual passage, a few among the thousands who ran find themselves on the podium. We spoke to some of them. Excerpts:

Sabhajeet Yadav; back at Mumbai’s Kurla Terminus to board his train to Uttar Pradesh following the 2017 SCMM (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

A Sixth Win at SCMM

Sabhajeet Yadav: At the 2017 edition of the race, the farmer from Uttar Pradesh notched up his sixth consecutive victory in the full marathon, this time in the 60 to less than 65 years age category. “ I am always happy to run in Mumbai, this is the best event,’’ he said, when asked if the sultry, warm conditions of race day, which had been a dampener for many, had affected him. “ I didn’t find the weather oppressive. It was warm, yes. Two days earlier, when I arrived it was pleasantly cold, fine conditions for running. But the big difference this time was in me – I reached Mumbai after much preparation. I was averaging 200-250 km a week in my preparations back home. When you are well prepared, you are not upset by other difficulties like the weather on race day. I enjoyed my run, I even managed to have a pretty fast last kilometer-spurt,’’ he said. Sabhajeet thinks differently from other runners. As a farmer, his income from farming fluctuates. Farming in India depends a lot on the monsoon; a year of weak monsoon is bad for crops. 2015 for instance, had been a tough year in farming for him. Further earnings from farming usually get reinvested in farming. Running has been an alternative source of income. Prize money earned through running, helps cushion him and family amid the unreliable fortunes of farming. Imagining back from income, Sabhajeet has been evolving a matrix in his mind that seeks to match earnings to effort. According to him, the effort that goes into a competitive full marathon is much more than what goes into running a half marathon. Yet in races across India (he participates in quite a few), he finds that the disparity in effort is not adequately reflected in the disparity in prize money assigned for the full and the half. This being so, he wonders – isn’t the half marathon more value for effort? Consequently, he finds himself progressively partial to the half marathon. “ I am thinking of restricting my full marathons to Mumbai and Bengaluru,’’ he said. It is of course a different matter if in a given instance, the full is monetarily attractive. A quiet, unassuming person Sabhajeet is known to sleep at railway stations and race venues the night before a race, get up early next morning and win a competition. This time around in Mumbai, he stayed with his longstanding benefactor, Bhasker Desai. A veteran of many marathons, Bhasker has of late been favoring the half marathon and had therefore registered for that discipline at SCMM. These days the full and the half begin at opposing ends of the giant loop that is the marathon’s route in Mumbai. On the morning of the race, Bhasker said, Sabhajeet in characteristic style disturbed none, quietly took the train and proceeded to the full marathon’s start line. Hours later, a sixth win was in the bag with a timing of 3:24:35.

Thomas Bobby Philip (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Breaking into Sub-Three Realm

Thomas Bobby Philip: This man did something truly remarkable at the 2017 SCMM. Running in the 50 to less than 55 years age category, he broke into sub-three hour realm in the full marathon finishing the 42 km long distance in two hours 58 minutes and 46 seconds. It was the first such instance for Bobby and while this blog is not informed enough to be sure about it – among rare instances, if any – of a sub-three reported by an amateur Indian runner of that age at a major marathon in India. Well known in India’s running circles, Bobby is a committed runner, born in Mumbai, living in Bengaluru. “ I had been training for it for the past one year,’’ he said, “ at the 2016 SCMM, I had completed the full marathon in 3:06:34. I knew that sub-three is possible as long as I ensure that I put in longer training and improve.’’ That effort has paid off. Bobby was coached by K.C. Kothandapani. “ A good coach is important,’’ Bobby said, pointing to the plan Kothandapani had given him. “ That’s one half, the rest is your commitment and mental strength,’’ he said. According to him, the first challenge was to maintain the timing he had returned at the 2016 edition of the race. After all, every improvement is on the back of an earlier performance maintained. Then, you have to come up with ideas on how to improve. In Bobby’s case, the emphasis was on strengthening, flexibility, intensive training for faster pace and endurance training. Plus, over the November-December period, ahead of SCMM in January, he ensured that he was logging higher weekly mileage. Interestingly, Bobby said that he was not planning a random sub-three, anywhere. He was clear – he didn’t want it during any of the races of 2016 following the 2016 SCMM; he wanted it at the 2017 SCMM. So the goal was to peak by then. Preparations hit a major obstacle in October 2016, when he fell from his bicycle and fractured his arm. A runner may be running on his legs but as any runner would tell you, the movement of one’s arms is an integral part of running. The incident meant, three weeks of training lost. To Bobby’s credit, he maintained his focus and positivity. “ I let nothing shake my positivity. I maintained it through my preparations, including the time lost to fracture. I always told myself I am going to do a sub-three,’’ he said. 2017 SCMM as target – that goal never wavered. At a full marathon in Coorg essayed before the Mumbai run, he completed the course in a relaxed 3:20. On race day at SCMM, conditions were less than ideal with a pleasant Mumbai transforming on the eve of the 2017 SCMM into a sultry, warm ambiance. Minutes into the race, it took a toll on many runners. Bobby didn’t let the weather affect him. “ It was challenging but I had only one goal in mind,’’ he said. As he put it, there is one’s goal and there is one’s focus. The latter dwells on the self. Trained well, gaze glued to intended outcome, the runner’s focus smashed through the three hour-barrier to leave the benchmark high for participants in SCMM’s 50-55 year age category. What next? – We asked Bobby. The pattern going ahead is no different from post-2016 SCMM. Maintain, improve. “ Maintaining 2:58 will be challenging enough,’’ Bobby said. And did sub-three, mean greater exhaustion and longer recovery? “ No, I always give my best at SCMM. There is soreness afterwards and a period of time taken to recover. This time too, it is no different, it’s just the same as before,’’ he said.

Pervin Batliwala (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

All Set for Boston

Pervin Batliwala: A veteran of many SCMMs and a podium finisher several times at the event, Pervin topped her age category (60 to 64 years) in the full marathon at the 2017 SCMM. However, she isn’t quite happy with the outcome. “ I was disappointed with my performance. I finished in 4:28:46. The weather was bad but I can’t blame the weather. I could not keep pace and also cramped a bit on the Peddar Road hill. I was expected to keep my pace at 5:55 but I could not manage that. My timing was not up to my expectation and did not match up to my training. Nevertheless, I did end as a winner in my age category,’’ she said. Her top priority now is the 2017 Boston Marathon. “I am set for Boston Marathon. I just need to keep up the momentum of training. I have been told that Boston is a tough route, especially the second half of the route. I will be participating in the Thane Hiranandani Half Marathon in February but I plan to take it easy. I won’t go all out there,’’ she said.

Some of the members of the team from Ladakh. Jigmet Dolma [first from left], Tsetan Dolkar [third from left], Disket Dolma [second from right] (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

A Model to Emulate

Team Ladakh: Since 2013, Leh based-Rimo Expeditions has been sending a team of young Ladakhi runners to SCMM. Four years later and with the help of training availed from Mumbai based-coach, Savio D’ Souza, the team has produced results. For 2017 SCMM, based on their earlier performance at the event, two Ladakhi runners – Jigmet Dolma and Tsetan Dolkar – were included in the elite segment of the women’s full marathon. In the final result Jigmet ended third in the Indian elite category for women with a timing of 3:14:38. Tsetan was close behind, finishing the run in 3:14:42. “ We were together right from the start,’’ Tsetan said. The weather having unexpectedly turned warm, they stayed cool pouring water on their head. At around 25 km, they had some snacks before continuing together again. The gap between the two apparently opened up in the last 300-400m of the race, which Jigmet said, she sprinted. Close finishes – one following the other – seem habitual for these two Ladakhi runners as you see the pattern repeated at some of the other races they participate in too. In addition to the fine performance by Jigmet and Tsetan, Disket Dolma finished third in the open category of the women’s half marathon with a timing of 1:41:43. In all 11 runners came for the 2017 SCMM as part of the Rimo-sponsored team. Their current outing is as yet, the longest since the project of grooming a clutch of distance runners from Ladakh started with that visit to Mumbai in 2013. To put things in perspective: after the 2016 SCMM, the team left for Leh in February that year. Although cold, they said that they could manage short runs in Ladakh, in March. Training for the Ladakh Marathon (organized by Rimo) commenced in April 2016. Savio’s training schedule for the team, Jigmet and Tsetan said, underwent some change with emphasis on mileage. The previous schedule had focused on getting them into the scheme of training. Rimo uses the Leh Marathon results to decide each year’s team for the trip to Mumbai for SCMM. The top three Ladakhi runners in each category get selected. The Ladakh Marathon happens in September. The journey to the 2017 SCMM commenced in October 2016 with four runners leaving Leh for Delhi where they participated in a marathon in Gurgaon. From Delhi the quartet moved to Darjeeling where they stayed a month and practised hill-running. Darjeeling was chosen because while hilly, its temperature isn’t as cold as Leh’s allowing for more training time. The four runners then returned to Delhi where seven more runners joined them and the 11 strong-team, traveled to Mumbai. However, participating at the 2016 Vasai Virar Mayor’s Marathon (VVMM), they suffered a setback. According to Jigmet and Tsetan, the four Ladakhi runners who participated, received their bibs only the morning of the race. There weren’t enough safety pins for all. Three of them ran with bib clutched in their hand. Tsetan finished first in her category in the full marathon; Jigmet came second. Prizes were distributed, they said. But there was protest by other runners over the run without bibs pinned on, following which the prizes were taken back. Both Jigmet and Tsetan said that they liked the ambiance at VVMM, well known for the crowds that line up to cheer. “ We would like to come back and run it again,’’ Tsetan said. With SCMM done, the team’s attention is on the upcoming half marathon in Thane. Their last engagement will be the IDBI Half Marathon in Delhi, after which, they should be back in Leh by around the first week of March.

Kamlya Bhagat (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Road Runner Strikes Again

Kamlya Bhagat: Although living near the Mumbai-Navi Mumbai region, Kamlya had never participated in SCMM. That was until 2016. That year, he ran his first SCMM and ended up first in his age category in the half marathon. In 2017, he ran his second SCMM and ended up first for a second time in his age category (30 years to less than 35 years) in the half marathon. January 18, two days after SCMM, we were back at Panvel’s Visava Hotel for a chat, missal pav and tea. Hailing from financially challenged circumstances, Kamlya races mostly on short distances at events in Raigad. Well-wishers and sponsors in Mumbai’s running community point out races elsewhere and register him for a 21 km-half marathon. Given that is how major half marathons materialize for him, in the time between his first win at SCMM and the 2017 edition of the race, the bulk of Kamlya’s running was over smaller distances. Closer to the event, according to Kamlya, Dnyaneshwar Tidke put him in touch with the folks at Nike (the coach there is Daniel Vaz). They provided Kamlya a training schedule. He couldn’t travel to Nike’s training sessions in Mumbai city; so he trained on his own near Panvel. It was already December when Kamlya began his training for SCMM. “ I must have trained for a fortnight at best,’’ he said. His schedule emphasized speed training. The short duration of training he somehow managed compared to, much of Mumbai that makes a year-long affair of Mission SCMM, wasn’t the only quirk in his preparations. On race day, minutes before the half marathon commenced, one saw him engaged in warm-up jogs. He wore no shoes; he had on just a pair of socks. According to Kamlya, while he wears shoes for his training runs, for some reason, he can’t extract race winning performance from them on race day. So at races, he prefers to go barefoot. Barefoot however, doesn’t work well on all Indian roads. He sought an intermediate situation and that is how the socks debuted. In a version of minimalist footwear he innovated, he started to wear the socks over a plain insole. But that wasn’t satisfactory as the insole tended to slide and slip around. Early January 15, with minutes left for the SCMM half marathon to begin, he was into version two of his innovation – he created a contraption wherein he first wore a pair of socks and glued the insole into place under it, then he wore two pairs of socks over it; this was his race footwear. In that, Kamlya ran to an early lead in the half marathon. Past the 17 km-mark, he recalls feeling some tiredness; he also experienced mild cramps. But he maintained his lead to end first in his age category with a timing of 1:16:11. Was he nervous defending his first position from the past? “ No, that was never a source of tension. My only worry was – I had promised those who sponsored me in registering for the race that I would try to return a timing of 1:15. Unfortunately, although I won, that timing stayed elusive,’’ he said. When this blog first wrote about Kamlya, he was staying in a hut of a home at a small hamlet on the outskirts of Panvel. He has since spent money improving his home, giving it better shape and stronger build. The money for this came mostly from running; a mix of funds contributed by fellow runners – particularly many at Mumbai Road Runners (MRR) – and prize money. “ There is still work left to do. But once the house is complete, I plan to name it: Road Runner,’’ Kamlya said.

Idris Mohamed (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Next Year: A Full Marathon

Idris Mohamed: When Idris Mohamed first ran at SCMM, he chose the full marathon. At his subsequent appearances in 2016 and 2017, he opted for the half marathon. An intriguing set of choices, Idris explained that it is both temporary and reflecting his predicament in prize money-based racing. Idris has investments, one of which is an investment in an optical business, where his partner manages the show leaving runner free to compete and more importantly – maintain a second line of earnings through prize money. It so happens that in prize money’s calendar of events, half marathons seem to exceed full marathons in India. Idris’s schedule reflects this. He came from running a series of half marathons to SCMM. By the second weekend following SCMM he was due to sail into a schedule of four half marathons. “ I cannot ignore these half marathons,’’ Idris said. As he did in Bengaluru last year, he could have run the full marathon on the back of a series of half marathons done (Idris is a triathlete and has adequate endurance to cover the additional distance of running involved) and even attempted a good timing (he had finished the Bengaluru full marathon in 3:04). But recovery in time for the half marathons following SCMM would have been tough. So he decided to stay with the half marathon at the 2017 SCMM too. He finished second in the half marathon in his age category of 45 years to less than 50 with a timing of 1:24:52. This was 28 seconds slower than the timing he registered in 2016. One reason for this was that he wasn’t feeling all that well going into the run. The sultry weather didn’t bother him. He however wished there had been some more aid stations stocked with oral rehydration solutions and energy drinks. “ Next year, I plan to do the full marathon at SCMM. Before I turn 50 years old, I want to do one,’’ he said.

Ravi Kalsi (Photo: courtesy Ravi Kalsi / Facebook page)

A Personal Best despite the Weather

Ravi Kalsi: “ I like to run SCMM. I enjoy the spirit,’’ Ravi, who works with a BPO, said. On a warm, sultry day – not exactly ideal conditions for running – he managed both personal best timing and place on the podium. Ravi finished third in the half marathon in the 45 years to less than 50, age category. “ The run was good as I ended with a personal best of 1:25:29. I did a barefoot-run again. The road was very good till Marine Drive. My plan was to get to sub 1:25 because that meant I would be in the A category of the half marathon. I could not achieve that but I am happy with my performance. There is always a next time,’’ he said. Ravi had trained well for the 2017 SCMM. Unexpected element was the weather which suddenly changed from fine weather, ideal for running to warm and sultry, the night before SCMM commenced. “ The weather was a dampener and I realized it in the second or third kilometer itself. After about seven or eight kilometers I started pouring water on my head to help me cool down; I did so every two kilometers or so,’’ he said adding, “I like to run SCMM. I enjoy the spirit. There is so much positivity and energy. After I finished my run, I rushed to Marine Drive to cheer other runners.’’ Ravi will soon be back to training. He plans to do the ILFS 10 k coming up in February. His stringent training schedule also includes emphasis on form, diet and rest.  He started running in 2011 and has done a couple of marathons. But now his focus is on improving speed and efficiency in half marathons.

Shyam Sunder (Photo: courtesy Shyam Sunder)

Enjoy Running SCMM, No Complaints at All

Shyam Sunder: The septuagenarian who gifted himself a marathon overseas when he turned 70 years old some time back, finished second in the 70 years to less than 75 age category of the 2017 SCMM full marathon. “ The race was good until around 30 kilometers or so. After that I got cramps and had to resort to a mix of walking and running. I did 21 km in 2:06 and 30 km in 3 hours. I was doing well until I started to get cramps at around 30km-mark. I had not trained much this time. All my long runs were below 20 km. I did not want to strain much. I enjoy running SCMM. I have no complaints at all,’’ he said. Shyam Sunder finished the run in 4:53:24, knocking six seconds off his timing in last year’s Mumbai Marathon, which incidentally had been his maiden full marathon. His next plan is to do a half marathon at the Thane Hiranandani Half Marathon, mid-February.

Amar Chauhan (Photo: courtesy Amar Chauhan / Facebook page)

Good to Run in a City that Cheers and Supports Runners

Amar Chauhan: Amar Chauhan lives for six months of the year in Mohali and the remaining six months he divides his time between the U.S. where his daughter lives and Canada where his son resides. The retired Punjab government official started running overseas about four years ago. “ I used to go for brisk walks earlier,” he said. He has participated in 21 half marathons and three full marathons and has had podium finishes in 21 of these races. He got a podium at the BMO Vancouver Marathon 2016 (second position with timing of 4:18:04). On January 15, 2017, Chauhan topped his age category (70 years to less than 75) at SCMM. “ It was a good run. I was satisfied with my performance (4:16:31) though it was not as good as it was last year (4:10:36). I ended up first once again. This time around I developed cramps at 38 kilometers and had to take a minute’s break. But when I restarted I was fine. I had trained very well this time. Every alternative day I ran a 20 k in the month before the marathon. My long runs would be of the distance of 30, 35 and 40 km,’’ he said. About 35 runners from Chandigarh participated in the 2017 SCMM. Amar Chauhan said that he likes running SCMM as there is a lot of enthusiasm, cheering and good support for runners. His next two runs are in Mohali and Chandigarh. He has already signed up for races in Canada and the US.

Savio D’ Souza (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

A Coach’s Satisfaction

Savio D’Souza: Savio is among Mumbai’s best known coaches. A former national marathon champion he makes it a point to participate in SCMM. He finished second in his age category of 60 years to less than 65, in the half marathon at the 2017 edition of the event. “ It was a good run. I finished with a timing of 1:38 and ended up second in my age category (60-64). I was targeting 1:35 but could not manage that. Humidity was a bit high,’’ he said. Savio is also coach to the team of runners from Ladakh who have been regularly visiting Mumbai for SCMM. Based on past performance, in 2017, two of these runners were elevated to the elite category. “ As a coach it was a satisfying experience. Many of my wards ended up with places on podium. The performance of the team from Ladakh was good. This was a major race for them as elite athletes. They ran well, they did not get intimidated by anything and handled the pressure well. They have the potential to do better and improve their performance as they are quite young. They came here one month ahead of the race to get acclimatized to Mumbai’s humid weather. They have years ahead of them as marathon runners usually peak at the age of 28-32 years. I have been training them for the last two years. Many of my wards in amateur groups also ended up with podium finishes. Among them are Disket Dolma in the open half marathon category for women, Ankita Mittal and Neha Grover in the 30-34 age group of the half marathon, Vidhi Sheth in the below 35 years age group in the full marathon, Sanjay Jadhav in the 55-60 years age group of the half marathon, Elsie Nanji in the 60-64 years age group of the half marathon and Pervin Batliwala in the 60-64 years age group of the full marathon,’’ he said. According to him, SCMM is a very well organized event, one that has mobilized the entire country into running. “ It is evident in the number of people coming into marathon running,’’ he said.

Vaijayanti Ingawale (Photo: courtesy Vaijayanti Ingawale / Facebook page)

A Podium Finish at Her First Full Marathon

Vaijayanti Ingawale: A podium finisher at many of her half marathon appearances, Vaijayanti Ingawale ended up with a third position in her maiden full marathon attempt at the 2017 edition of SCMM.

“I really had no clue how this run would go as it was my first full marathon. I had no target,’’ she said, noting alongside that one of the differences between the half marathon and the full is how some of the cheering and support dies out by the time the amateur full marathon runners straggle in to complete the distance. But there are exceptions. “ In many places residents were offering snacks and hydration to runners. One of the residents ran along with me for quite a distance offering me chocolate. The weather was a dampener this time,’’ Vaijayanti said. A medical doctor (she is a pediatrician), she started running in 2012 when a friend suggested that she try something new – she chose running. The bug caught on and soon she found herself signing on for the 2013 edition of the Thane Hiranandani half marathon. Later that year she got her first podium at the Goa River Marathon. She wasn’t aware of her podium status until she got home a few days later. A resident of Thane, Vaijayanti loves to travel to running events. Her husband Deepak Ingawale is also a runner. Recently, she participated in the Nilgiris run where she did a 25 k. Having crossed the finish line of a full marathon at SCMM, Vaijayanti now wants to explore ultra-distances. She is not a fan of SCMM as it is very crowded with runners now. She was also tad surprised at the lack of hydration support at the end of the run. “Further, the post-run refreshment that is offered is not up to the mark. However, the camaraderie among runners makes up for the shortcomings. It was also great to see the elite athletes running past us at such a close distance,” she said.

Dnyaneshwar Tidke (Photo: courtesy Dnyaneshwar Tidke)

A Good Run but Short of Personal Best

Dnyaneshwar Tidke: Among the best amateur runners in the Mumbai-Navi Mumbai region, Dnyaneshwar’s aim was to get a personal best at the 2017 SCMM. The marathon ended well for him as he finished with an officially recorded net timing of 2:55:14. However, it fell short of his best, which remains 2:53. “I had some stomach issues, which impeded my run.  But overall the run was good.  This time around support was excellent with adequate water and electrolyte, sponges and oranges,’’ he said. Unlike many runners at SCMM, Dnyaneshwar was not impacted by the humid weather. A major dampener for him was running into a wall of half marathon runners, particularly on Peddar Road and towards the end. Unfortunately, Dnyaneshwar did not figure among podium finishers initially although his timing within his age group indicated that he finished third. “I have written to the organizers to rectify it,’’ he said. The error has since been rectified and his podium finish is now official. Dnyaneshwar loves the energy at SCMM. His plan going forward is to focus on training and strengthening and bring down his timing.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai. The photos taken from Facebook were downloaded with the permission of the runner concerned.)

Illustration: Shyam G Menon

Muthupet is located in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvarur district, some 360 km south of Chennai. It is adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, at the southernmost part of the Cauvery delta. Lagoons and mangrove forests abound. It is an area rich in fish. The man before us was born and brought up in Muthupet. We were at the popular restaurant at Bengaluru’s Kanteerava Stadium; the eve of the city’s 2016 marathon. There was a steady stream of runners proceeding to collect their bibs. Many of them stopped at the restaurant for a cup of tea and small talk.

The previous year – 2015 – Idris Mohamed had finished second in his age category in the half marathon segment at Bengaluru. And that is just one of several podium finishes, the wiry man from Muthupet had been notching up in races across India. Back home, he hailed from a big family. “ I am one of ten children; I have six brothers and three sisters. I was the most active of the lot, given to sports although not the sort winning prizes at school or anything like that,’’ he said. Following school, Idris moved from the coast to Dindigul near Madurai, in the interiors of Tamil Nadu, to study textile engineering at the SSM Institute of Technology and Engineering.

Idris; running in the Middle East

For a while thereafter, he worked as an apprentice at a company in Coimbatore. In due course, given a brother, who had opted to work in Dubai, Idris too, shifted overseas. “ I remained in Dubai for eight years,’’ he said. Despite his background in textile engineering, when it came to livelihood, the man from Muthupet found himself in sales and marketing. Work days were long and involved taking clients out and entertaining them to clinch a deal, resulting perhaps in a sense of life as a lot of time requiring to be spent somehow. Liking badminton, he often played the game. He also enjoyed walking and the occasional jog. There was nothing yet to indicate a later passion for running.

In 1996, he got married. From 1996 to July 2014, he worked in Bahrain. “ During that phase, I gained a lot of weight,’’ Idris said, “ I was close to 90 kilos.’’ To tackle the predicament, he took up running. “ It took me six months to be able to run non-stop for three to four minutes,’’ Idris said. Soon he became member of a club called Bahrain Road Runners (BRR – according to one website, it has its roots in an earlier outfit started by expats in 1972, with its first marathon organized in 1979 to mark the Bahrain visit of Queen Elizabeth II). Every weekend, they had races. “ I never missed a weekend run,’’ he said. Although he was running with BRR, Idris didn’t have a coach keeping an eye on him. His passage in running was by trial and error. Like most rookies, he ran without adequate warm up and stretching. Within a few months he suffered major injuries. “ It put me out of action for almost a year and a half,’’ he said. Lesson learnt, he began warming up and stretching, embarking eventually on a period of running that has since stayed injury-free.

Crossing the finish line at a race

In 2002, for the first time he ran a half marathon; it was the first evidence he got that he had the capability to run 21 km. He finished the 21 km in 1:45. “ That was when they said: you have talent in running. Since then I haven’t looked back; I have been running, cycling and swimming,’’ Idris said. In 2003, he ran that year’s edition of the Bahrain International Marathon. It is considered to be the oldest marathon in the Middle East. Now weighing around 70 kilos and well into running, Idris completed the marathon in 3:35. As always happens, the running bug started working on Idris Mohamed. And as typically follows, the wife took some time understanding husband’s emergent eccentricity. Afroz Banu had her concerns but eventually gave in. Idris spoke honestly. “ For Indians, particularly runners, once you get married, it is an uphill task overcoming the pressure in this department. It is a challenge. It took me three years to convince my wife about my interest in running. There are friends of mine who like running but don’t find time for it because of family commitments. I was lucky after those three years,’’ he said.

From the Ironman event in Malaysia

The shape of runner Idris has evolved to tracked his circumstances. BRR used to host triathlons – that probably explains the regimen of running, cycling and swimming he came to follow. In 2010, when Indians at triathlons was yet a small number, he participated in an Ironman event in Malaysia completing it in under-14 hours. He funded the participation himself. It was a straight plunge into the full Ironman format without any attempt at a half, before. The event in Malaysia was a struggle. Idris had commenced swimming seriously in 2004. Twice a month he used to swim in the sea off Bahrain. “ It is a relatively calm sea. You don’t find waves there,’’ he said. He found for himself a stretch where he could swim 400 m across and back. His weakness was cycling. He bought a bicycle suited for the needs of the triathlon, a week before the event. He practised some bit, learning how to shift gears and ride alright on flat courses. Malaysia however had a course that went up and down. He struggled in the hills trying to figure out the right gear shifts, the right ratios. “ I wasted a lot of energy in cycling,’’ Idris said about the event. Result – running, which he does well, paid the price. It took him five hours to finish the marathon leg. But the Malaysia episode hasn’t stopped Idris from dreaming of Ironman. “ Now at age 50, I want to do an Ironman. Hopefully, I can be the fastest Indian in my age group in the Ironman,’’ he said. Maybe an Ironman in Australia, he thinks, for his sister stays there. Else in Canada, where his brother lives. “ I want the course to be a fast one,’’ he said. That is among considerations.

Age group also matters. “ I am beginning to get old,’’ he said, “ I want to set a benchmark for veterans. Currently I lay a lot of emphasis on strength training.’’  He lives a packed schedule. On Sunday, he runs two hours to build endurance. Monday finds him swimming in the morning and cycling by evening. Tuesday is a combination of swimming in the morning and hill-running by evening. Wednesday is reserved for stretching and yoga with a bit of cycling in the evening. Thursday mornings are kept for swimming; Thursday evenings for speed work-out. Friday, till afternoon, is prayer time followed by an evening run of 15-20 km. Next day – Saturday – he swims in the morning and cycles by evening. Idris does not have a specific rest day. He prefers to rest through variation in activity. However ahead of a race, this approach alters. He consciously rests for two days before races.

Idris Mohamed

Despite all this, back in 2003, when Idris ran his first marathon, he had finished it believing he will never do it again. His timing was decent. Problem was the state he found himself in. “ I was literally in pieces. I was that exhausted,’’ he said. Nevertheless as the story shows, he persisted. At his second BRR marathon, the timing was less – 3:10. Then came the big one – in 2009, he completed the full marathon in Dubai in 3:04. In 2011, he ran the London Marathon, finishing it in 3:17.  His personal best (PB) yet in the full marathon is a perfect three hours, returned at a 2012 marathon in Bahrain. Same year he completed the full marathon along the Great Wall of China (it involves tackling 5164 steps) in 4:36, placing 23rd among 700 international runners. Next year (2013), he finished in the top 25 again at a full marathon in Phuket, Thailand. In 2013, he also participated in the Bengaluru Ultra. In 2014, he ran the Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa in 8:56, an admirable timing of below nine hours. In 2015, he moved back to India from the Middle East, a small whirlwind of sporting activity accomplished during his years in Bahrain. His father who had been running a school needed help managing it. Idris returned for that reason. What followed is perhaps the most engaging angle to Idris’s life.

Idris and Dnyaneshwar Tidke

At most races he participated in, in India, Idris found himself on the podium. It intrigued the runner in him. His two children – a son and a daughter – were in senior school and mid-school respectively. Having invested his money well, – his investments had been mainly in real estate and gold – he had some assets yielding income. “ I asked my wife: what should I do? Should I go back to Bahrain? My desire was to run and make a living from it. When you have children, their education is top priority. For that, Chennai is better than Middle East. As regards money to support wife and two children – that wasn’t a problem. The only thing was – how will I kill time? Fortunately my wife agreed. She said: go ahead,’’ Idris said.

Today, Idris is in an enviable spot; a position many men and women of his age aspire to be in. His life has been turned over to his passion – running.  Running and winning in his age category, he now makes anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 a month. He races almost every week. “ I am happy. The wife is also happy,’’ he said. In 2015, according to Idris, he participated in close to 32 races. In 2016, by the time we met him on the eve of the Bengaluru Marathon, he had already logged in 22 races. The running season spans July to January with most races happening in the months of July, August, September, October and November – that’s gladiator’s busy season. In April, TCS 10K is the sole major race in his reckoning. This situation wasn’t accidental. Idris admits that you don’t reach here without prior planning. “ This has been a drift in me since 30 years of age. We invested in apartments at that time,’’ he said, pointing to how he had prepared for the life he now leads. “ You can’t make this change all of a sudden. You have to plan for what you wish to do at age 55 or 65,’’ he said. So what’s his future in running, as he sees it?

Idris and Thomas Bobby Philip

Although he ran the Comrades, going ahead, Idris does not want to court the ultramarathon. Reason – it slows him down. He recognizes himself as a fast runner. Plus, there is an emergent attraction. Being old and fast at once is both a challenge and a rarity. Not to mention – in that specific bracket of wanting to be fast despite age, competition is less, something important when you are running for money. Currently, that last observation is delicately poised. Idris knows that aside from people like Dinesh Kumar and Ashok Nath for competition, Bengaluru’s well known distance runner, Thomas Bobby Philip, will also be in his age group. There is no cake walk guaranteed. “ However honestly speaking, nothing about any of us really matters. Look at Haile Gebrselassie. At age forty plus, he completes a marathon in 2:15!’’ Idris said. In front of foreign runners, Indians have a long way to go. As he put it, his advantage is solely one of positioning in the market. Right now in India, there are few fast runners in his age group. Out of them, the few who race seriously do so at a few selected events. Idris on the other hand, races every weekend. That improves probability of podium finish, provided he stays injury-free and nobody with a history of long, dedicated training – like somebody from the military’s sports set up – enters the age group. As one dwells on what Idris said, that would still seem a tight rope walk for he also concedes that age notwithstanding, he is “ as competitive as anyone else.’’ Competition and staying injury-free at the same time, is a tricky knife edge.

Idris with Ramesh Kanjilimadhom

New life in hand, Idris has everyone bought over to the direction he has chosen, save one person. “ My mother is not convinced that I made a good choice. She wonders how running can be a career. She tells me to come to terms with life,’’ the 50 year-old said. Much time had gone by since we sat down to chat. Having reached Bengaluru just that afternoon and with a race to run early next morning, Idris took leave. Along the way, he paused to watch for a while sport climbers tackling the vertical on the stadium’s artificial climbing wall. By next morning, race over, the results were out. Idris had won in his category of the full marathon with a timing of 3:04:08. Weeks later, he would also finish first in his age group at the 2016 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon with a timing of 1:18:57.

2016: LIST OF RACES IDRIS PARTICIPATED IN:

Amdavad Half Marathon – Age Group First Runner up

Pollachi – Aanamalai 12k – Open 5th Place

SCMM Half Marathon – A.G – First Runner up

Perambalur HM – Open Category – Second Runner up

The Wipro Chennai HM – Open – Top 10

Indore 10k – Veteran Winner

New Delhi Marathon – Age Group Winner

 Nise Gel Goa – 10k – Veteran Winner

 Mepz HM – Open – 6th

Teendurance 5K – Open – Winner

TCS world 10k – Age Group – Second Runner Up

Vizag Bay HM – Veteran Winner

Bangalore 10K Challenge – A.G – Winner

Kanchipuram HM – Open – Top 5

Dream Runners HM – Veteran Winner

Mumbai Chembur 10K – Veteran Winner

IDBI Mumbai HM – A.G – Winner

Hyderabad H M – A.G – Winner

Mysore HM – Veteran Winner

Surat City HM – Veteran Winner

Coimbatore HM – Veteran Winner

Walaja Dream Run 11km – Veteran Winner

Bangalore Marathon – A.G – Winner

Teenduruns 10k – A.G – Winner

Navi Mumbai Half Marathon – Veteran Winner

Airtel Delhi HM – Age Group Winner

Aurangabad Heritage HM – Veteran Winner

Vasai Virar Mayor’s HM – A.G – Second Runner Up

Tata Steel Kolkata 25K – Age Group Winner

 (The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai. Details of events and timings therein as well as the 2016 list of events participated in, are as provided by the interviewee. All the photos used with this article were downloaded from the Facebook page of Idris Mohamed and used with his permission.)