On September 8, 2023, Amit Gulia achieved the first sub-17-hour finish by a non-Ladakhi runner in the 122-kilometre Silk Route Ultra. Here’s a look into the approach he adopted for the race at altitude.

On the morning of September 8, 2023, much before the winner of the year’s Silk Route Ultra (SRU) crossed the finish line, another runner had completed the race. He would settle for fourth place as he belonged to the first batch of runners that set off the previous evening to tackle the 122-kilometre distance from Kyagar to Leh, up and over the 17,618 feet high-Khardung La. Judged by net timing, the Ladakhi runners of the second batch were faster. They would sweep the podium; first, second and third. Still, Amit Gulia’s timing was no small achievement. The 16 hours, 21 minutes and 25 seconds he took to place fourth was the first sub-17-hour finish in the race by a non-Ladakhi. In the ecosystem of the Ladakh Marathon, an event with altitude as its biggest challenge, non-Ladakhi runners are the outsiders taking the brunt of elevation.

Amit’s journey to that September finish had commenced five years earlier. Based in Chandigarh, Amit, 40, has a background in medical research He is a medical writer and since the past one year, he is also chief coach at Skechers Go Run club in Chandigarh. A runner since the age of 32-33, he has never run a marathon officially. He did so in training and the one thing he liked to do as runner, was to run long distances. That was how his drift to the ultramarathon happened. He found himself completing a marathon in training with others and still having room for more mileage. His first ultra was the popular event at Bhatti Lakes; a pucca start to his innings.

Thanks to their long distances, ultramarathons demand preparation, strategy and support. When Amit attempts races requiring support crew, that role is typically taken up by two people close to him. There is his wife Gurjeet Kaur, who like Amit, is a runner and a medical researcher. She takes much interest in his running. Then there is Vijay Pande, an engineer and runner based in Bengaluru, who Amit often consults to devise approach and strategy for the projects he undertakes. The two had met at a past edition of the Mashobra Ultra, which was among Amit’s first official forays into distances exceeding the length of a marathon. It was Vijay who introduced Amit to training with the altitude mask.

A December 2022 article by Ashley Mateo in Runner’s World explains what the altitude / elevation mask does. How it works is very different from training at altitude. When one trains at altitude, there is increased production of a hormone called erythropoietin (or EPO). It triggers the body to produce more red blood cells and form new blood vessels. This enables the body to deliver more oxygen to the muscles which in turn means faster and more efficient running, particularly when one returns to sea level. Altitude masks have valves or vents that regulate air intake. They can alter the quantity of air getting in but they don’t affect the mix of gases in the air inhaled. Consequently, when used while training at low altitude, one does not get the same benefits as when training at elevation. It is not an exactly similar situation. However, restricting the air intake contributes to something called inspiratory muscle training. It increases the strength of the respiratory muscles which can eventually translate to the ability to bring more air into one’s lungs. That’s potentially more oxygen that can get into the bloodstream. More oxygen in the muscles means one finding it easier to exercise. In other words, the mask-route is not precisely the same as training at altitude but it has an oblique benefit by way of strengthening the respiratory muscles.

Amit’s use of the device started during his preparations for the 2017 edition of La Ultra The High, an event with a basket of ultramarathons happening in Ladakh. Initially, the mask was difficult to use. But given the event he had signed up for, Amit had no other option; he persevered. That year, he won the 222 km-category of La Ultra The High, the first Indian to do so (archived results of the event show the winner’s timing as 38 hours, 20 minutes). It was Amit’s first ultramarathon at altitude; the route of the 222 km-race touched both Khardung La and Wari La (over 17,400 feet high). The template for acclimatization he fashioned for that race, has remained thereafter his rule book for races in Ladakh. Besides regular training at low altitude and the use of the altitude mask for some of the sessions therein, the other noteworthy aspect was Amit’s protocol for pre-race days in Leh. Unlike the typically anxious participants of these races who continue running at elevation or make last minute dashes to high altitude in a bid to get familiar with the environment, Amit focused on rest. In the fortnight he reserved for acclimatization before the 2017 La Ultra The High, he rested in Leh and walked around locally. There weren’t any runs, car or bike trips to still higher altitude as preparation for the race and its high passes. What is generally overlooked in such cases is that for people coming to high altitude from the outside, post-exercise recovery and healing in activities done during the acclimatization period, misses the richer oxygen levels of lower elevation. “ In my opinion, visits to high altitude and exerting oneself during the acclimatization phase before a race, inflicts damage without adequate time for healing and recovery. I stayed off such practices. Consequently in 2017, when the race started, I was feeling as though I was running in the plains. I have been repeating this protocol ever since. I prepare in the plains and rest ahead of a race at altitude,’’ Amit said.

Following the first-place finish at the 2017 La Ultra The High, in 2019, he was the top finisher among non-Ladakhi runners in the 72 kilometre-Khardung La Challenge (KC). He covered the distance in 9:22:50 to place eleventh among men. The next two years were claimed by COVID-19. Sports events came to a halt worldwide or were reduced to a trickle. In 2022, when the Ladakh Marathon returned after the pandemic, Amit and his friend Rakesh Kashyap, decided to attempt the inaugural edition of SRU. They planned to do it like a training run ahead of attempting the year’s Spartathlon in Greece. Joining them were Munish Jauhar and Anmol Chandan, also from Chandigarh, who had signed up to attempt the SRU and KC respectively. Amit followed the same acclimatization pattern as he did for the 2017 La Ultra The High. The race started well for him. At the 60 kilometre-mark, he was comfortably positioned in the pecking order, when he began having problems consuming the energy gels he had brought along. In the biting cold of altitude, the gels had become thick in consistency and when consumed, got stuck in his throat. He wanted hot water to wash it down. But at the aid stations, he passed, hot water was not available. He was told that he may get it further up on the way to Khardung La, at the aid station in North Pullu. But Amit sensed it was becoming a choice between pushing his luck and preserving his well-being for Spartathlon. He opted for the latter; he withdrew from the race. As did Rakesh, sometime later. Munish and Anmol had fine outings. Munish finished SRU in 19:47:40 to place seventh among 19 men in the fray; Anmol completed KC in 9:34:51 to place seventeenth among the 140 men in his category (source: 2022 Ladakh Marathon / SRU and KC results). Back in Leh and his throat condition addressed, Amit ran the event’s full marathon. In the weeks that followed, both he and Rakesh flew to Greece and completed Spartathlon.

By now Amit was sure that he would return to Ladakh for SRU. For the 2023 edition of SRU, he commenced training in mid-June. Besides his training runs, he worked out using the altitude mask. At the gym he frequented, he kept the treadmill at a good incline and walked with the altitude mask on. Each session with the mask lasted between 40 minutes to an hour. He did this twice a week. Once again Rakesh and Anmol joined him on the trip to Leh; this time all three would be running SRU. As the event drew close, Amit was sure that he was going to complete it within the stipulated cut-off time of 22 hours. Within that expectation, he set himself three options. The first was aggressive – cover the 122 kilometres in 15 hours to 15 hours and 15 minutes. Second, keep it sub-16 hours. In case both of the above proved tough, then do a sub-17. Third – complete the race at any cost. “ I have a habit of challenging myself,’’ Amit said over coffee at a café in Leh on September 11. Besides his goals in terms of overall timing for 2023 SRU, he divided the race into sections – Kyagar to Khardung, Khardung to North Pullu, North Pullu to Khardung La, Khardung La to South Pullu and South Pullu to Leh – to evolve a strategy and assign expectations. He planned to cover the first 50 kilometres in five hours and was happy when on race day, the stretch was actually done in five hours, 20 minutes. From Khardung to North Pullu, he had estimated a duration of three hours. It too was managed in and around the planned time. By now he had 50 per cent of the race in the bag and was the race leader. But the section from North Pullu to Khardung La proved tough.

The group of runners Amit was in – the first batch of the race – had left Kyagar, late evening on September 7. Aside from the odd street light at settlements like Khalsar and Khardung, the road wound on and uphill in utter darkness. By the time Amit commenced tackling the uphill from Khardung village to Khardung La, it was past midnight. The North Pullu-Khardung La portion came some hours after that. Sizable gaps separated the runners. Some proceeded alone; some stuck together. With traffic suspended for the duration of the race, it was quiet. One heard the sound of athletes breathing, the swishing of wind cheater fabric and the sound of shoes on gravel, as person passed by. An occasional nuisance were dogs, some of them, territorial. Race officials, moving up and down the road, chased the animals away. Viewed from far, sole stamp of runner’s presence in that vast, dark mountainous landscape was, each person’s headlamp. In between, one saw the brighter solar lamps of aid stations. Amit was ahead of everyone else, all by himself. “ I was feeling exhausted. I was shivering like hell. I had on, two pairs of gloves, three jackets and two caps. I was finding it difficult to drink water from the bottle,’’ he said. Amit reached the 17,618 ft-pass almost an hour later than what he had planned. The pass is a tricky place. Given the stretch spanning North Pullu to Khardung La as the place where many people withdraw due to exhaustion, reaching the pass in SRU, represents a milestone achieved. But with that can come a loss of appreciation for where exactly one is. The pass is high in elevation and bitterly cold. There is an aid station at Khardung La, where one can hydrate, get some nourishment and also rendezvous with drop-bags positioned in advance. Runners like Amit treat Khardung La carefully; they don’t let the milestone bit get into their head. Hanging around unnecessarily at the highest part of the race does nothing useful to the body. The emphasis is on shedding elevation. With the environment quite cold, oxygen level at the pass known to be lower than at sea level and his body feeling fatigued, Amit picked up a glass of hot soup from the aid station at the pass and quickly moved on. Ahead lay the long descent to Leh.

Amit does strength training thrice a week. He had trained for long descents. He was prepared for the downhill that follows Khardung La. But even he miscalculated what his needs may be, that September 8 dawn. It was a miscalculation on the logistics front. Layering and de-layering is how athletes functioning at altitude manage their attire to stay efficient. It is an act that seeks to strike a balance between protection from the elements, the temperature of one’s surroundings and the warmth, the body naturally generates as it works. Amit forgot to keep a drop-bag in advance at Khardung La so that he could de-layer in anticipation of the descent and the need of such faster movement to have less layers getting in the way. Minus drop-bag to leave his layers in, he stayed imprisoned in piles of clothing and gear that had served its purpose. So even as he exited Khardung La without wasting much time, he was bulky and hauling weight. He had on his upper layers, two layers on his legs, two pairs of gloves, two caps, hydration pack and trekking poles. Simply put, he couldn’t take advantage of the descent and run. He had kept his next drop-bag at South Pullu, several kilometres away on the Leh side. When on tired legs, every ounce of weight is acutely felt. Try running with too many layers on and one’s cocoon of clothing risks becoming unbearably warm. Till South Pullu, he moved inefficiently.

Meanwhile behind him, on the northern slopes of Khardung La, Amit’s friends were coping with a vastly different experience. Neither Rakesh nor Anmol own altitude masks. They had trained for SRU without it. According to Anmol, he compensated for the absence of such a gadget by resorting to high repetition interval training in the plains, which has the effect of improving respiratory efficiency. All that seems to have gone well. In retrospect, what happened after their training in Chandigarh was hugely different for the trio. In the pre-race acclimatization phase in Leh (11,500 ft), Anmol’s path and that of Rakesh, diverged sharply from Amit’s. Rest is very important in acclimatization. “ Amit does not do anything before a race at altitude. He rests. I reached Leh on August 28 and from then till around September 5, I piled on 70 to 80 kilometres in training. I don’t know why; that’s my style and it had worked for me in 2022,’’ Anmol said adding, “ Rakesh also put on similar mileage.’’ This time, the approach didn’t work. When this writer met Amit, Anmol and Rakesh in Kyagar, they appeared relaxed and in good spirits. But according to Anmol, at the start line of SRU late evening September 7, he was on tired legs. He realized he hadn’t recovered from all that running around in Leh.

The night of September 7, for about 30-35 kilometres since race commencement, Anmol and Amit were together. Then Amit pushed ahead. Around 60 kilometres covered and on the long ascent to Khardung La, Anmol began experiencing dizziness. He tuned into the sensation and decided to get it checked. Near North Pullu, he consulted the medical team that was present there with ambulance alongside. His oxygen saturation had dropped. He was otherwise feeling alert. It was very cold and so he was asked to try walking some more to see if the oxygen saturation level improved. Anmol figured that may not be viable. Such a walk would only be uphill given Khardung La was still some distance away. The terrain and direction of travel wouldn’t allow an improvement in his oxygen saturation unless he stopped or lost elevation. “ I told myself this is not a Kumbh Mela, something that happens only once in several years and therefore having to be done right now at any cost. I can always come back to try SRU again. I decided to quit the race there,’’ Anmol said.

Rakesh too gave up. But in his case, he may have misjudged his predicament. Rakesh’s exit from SRU was reportedly after some more distance (than Anmol) covered and it manifested as a collapse. Around the time of this incident, there was a bus carrying the baggage of KC runners (at 3AM that day, KC had commenced from Khardung village) and some runners who had retired from SRU, coming from North Pullu. Two of the runners in the bus helped this writer, recreate the scene. It was the morning of September 8. There were both KC and SRU participants running and walking on the road. The bus had just passed an ambulance parked by the roadside, when some distance away, one of the (above mentioned two) runners witnessed Rakesh collapse to his right side. Another runner, who was still in the race, stopped to tend to him. Upon reaching the scene, the bus driver halted the vehicle and honked to alert the ambulance behind. The runners from the bus stepped out to help. They told the racer who had stopped to assist Rakesh, to carry on as they were available. By then, the ambulance had arrived. Four people were required to help Rakesh into the ambulance. He kept saying that he was capable of continuing. But the doctor in the ambulance pointed to Rakesh’s collapse, put his foot down and said the race was over for him. “ It was between North Pullu and Khardung La, I would think 70 kilometres or so overall, from the start line of SRU,’’ one of the runners said. Rakesh received medical attention. He recovered. “ He is fine now,’’ Anmol told this blog on September 29. While on the SRU course, Amit knew nothing of what happened to his friends. He got updates only after he finished the race.

At South Pullu, Amit took 20-25 minutes to de-layer and have a warm cup of tea. Thus revitalized, he did a decent jog from there to Leh. “ I even pushed myself a bit,’’ he said, adding with a smile of satisfaction, “ if I remove all the time I lost to resting, and just aggregate the time spent moving, I clocked around 15 hours, 20 minutes and 10 seconds.’’ In all, over the 122 kilometres covered, Amit took three major breaks – at Khardung village, North Pullu and South Pullu. End to end, including any rest he may have availed, Shabbir Hussain of the Indian Army’s Ladakh Scouts regiment (he started the race one and a half hours after Amit did, in the second batch), won the 2023 SRU in 15:27:53. Amit would like to come back to Ladakh and improve his timing at SRU. “ There are some races, which are close to my heart. SRU is one of them. The finish line, located in Leh’s main market, is a fantastic experience. When I crossed the finish line, besides the spectators, there were people coming out from nearby shops to congratulate me. The congratulations in town continued the next day too,’’ he said.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai. While the running community knows Amit as Amit Gulia, his official name – and the way it appears on race results – is Amit Kumar. At La Ultra The High, his name appears as Amit Chaudhary.)                  

After five podium finishes in the 72 km-Khardung La Challenge (including a hat-trick) and two podium finishes in the 122 km-Silk Route Ultra, Shabbir Hussain wishes he had more opportunities in the ultramarathon

An ultramarathon at altitude, is a bit like a mountaineering expedition.

As the race approaches, each participant withdraws into a cocoon, unique to one’s wiring. By September 6, 2023, the day of departure from Leh to Kyagar in Nubra Valley, it was clear that an element of imminent rendezvous with reality was beginning to wash over those set to attempt the 122-kilometer-long Silk Route Ultra (SRU). In Kyagar, some rested in their hotel rooms and stayed unseen. Some walked around, conversed and chatted, ostensibly to ease the gravity of the countdown. Among the less visible was Shabbir Hussain. He must be resting. Tomorrow is his, isn’t it? – although not verbatim, that was the tenor in response from his colleagues in the military and paramilitary; at least three of them – Stanzen Phuntsog, Tsewang Kundan (from Ladakh Scouts) and Phunchok Tashi (from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police [ITBP]) – stayed in circulation, playing the occasional game of table tennis to keep themselves occupied and distracted. The day before an important race and the hours leading to it, can be testing. Staying relaxed is easier said than done. Shabbir appeared only on and off. Would the ones to watch out for tomorrow be the ones seen the least today? – I wondered.

Several hours earlier, at the NDS Stadium in Leh, a small fleet of buses had manifested to transport the runners. I had chosen my bus for Kyagar at random and discovered a self-effacing runner conscious of his importance and yet wishing to be away from the glare it fetched, take his place in the seat in front. His credentials in running were clear from his physical appearance. Here comes the winner. Take us also up the pass along with you, Shabbir – that, yet again not verbatim, was however the substance of the greeting he received from the other runners in the bus. From different parts of India, some of them attempting the race again after being unable to complete in 2022, they all knew Shabbir as the man to watch out for. With Kundan, Stanzen and Tashi too in the same bus, our vehicle felt special. Turbo-charged?

Shabbir Hussain’s significance to the two ultramarathons – Khardung La Challenge (KC / 72 km) and SRU – that are part of the family of races constituting the Ladakh Marathon, may be understood from the event’s archived results. Both these races come up and over the 17,618 feet-high Khardung La, among the world’s highest motorable passes. It is an altitude with less oxygen; running becomes quite difficult. Additionally, the SRU has a start that is 50 kilometers farther away from the start line of KC. In other words, a SRU participant is more than a marathon old in terrain gaining elevation towards Khardung La by the time he reaches the village of Khardung, start point of KC. The 72 kilometer-KC made its debut in 2012. Shabbir started running KC in 2014. As per results available on Wikipedia (at the time of writing, the KC results of 2012, 2013 and 2014 didn’t feature on the Ladakh Marathon website), he finished first in six hours and 35 minutes. In 2015, Shabbir finished fourth with timing of seven hours, 16 minutes and 13 seconds. The winner in 2015 was Tsewang Tokdan (6:33:41). By 2016, Shabbir was back on the podium at KC, he placed second (6:53:35.04); the results indicate a photo-finish with Tokdan (6:53:35.04). The next year was clearly Shabbir’s; he finished first (6:23:50.26) in KC. He stayed first (6:50:38) at KC, in 2018. In 2019, he made it a hat-trick of triumphs, securing the top position with timing of 6:53:34. In 2022, he shifted to competing in SRU. He finished second (14:57:57) in the race. 

Shabbir was born and raised in Darket, a village roughly 20 kilometers away from Kargil towards the Leh side. Kargil is about 2700 feet lower in elevation compared to Leh (11,500 feet); it has an altitude of around 8780 feet (source: Wikipedia). He has three brothers and two sisters. Shabbir’s father worked as a laborer. The boy studied till tenth standard. As is widespread practice in Ladakh, he later joined the Ladakh Scouts regiment of the Indian Army. According to Shabbir, during his days in school, there wasn’t any indulgence in sports worth mentioning. However, soon after his acceptance into the Scouts, his ability to run was recognized. That was how he started landing up at the races of the Ladakh Marathon.

The event commenced in Leh, in 2012. That year, the men’s marathon (42 km) was won by Tsering Gyatso (3:36:18). In 2013, archived results show the men’s marathon sporting a new winner – Shabbir Hussain (3:25:33). “ I just ran the marathon and ended up first,’’ he said. In 2014, he shifted from the marathon to KC. Outside of Ladakh, Shabbir’s participation at races has been very limited and he has enjoyed no podium position. He travelled a couple of times with the team of Ladakhi runners Rimo Expeditions sent to the marathons of the plains. Away from the Ladakh Marathon, he also participated once in the 111 kilometer-race of La Ultra The High (also held in Ladakh) and secured a third place. “ When we train, we don’t think of podium position. We think of improving our timing. If you lost a position but gained in timing – it is fine. Similarly, a good position without good timing does not enthrall,’’ he said.

At Kyagar, Shabbir explained why he progressively drifted away from the marathon and stuck to KC and SRU. “ My forte is stamina. I find speed tough to generate,’’ he said. That was a day before the 2023 SRU set off late evening September 7 and Shabbir, running in the second batch of runners (the Ladakhi elites started one and a half hours after the rest of the field), showed that even in the ultramarathon, his pace – and that of the other runners from Ladakh Scouts – can be hard to match. They headed off into the night at a steady pace. Villagers who had lined up at road junctions to cheer the first batch, stayed back to encourage the local heroes. Shabbir felt that Ladakhi athletes like Jigmet Dolma and Nawang Tsering, who have embraced the marathon, have actually taken the tougher challenge of chasing speed. In comparison, he chose the path of less resistance – pursuing stamina. And yet that doesn’t totally sum up Shabbir for he digs a good challenge. In both the shift from the marathon to KC and the subsequent shift from KC to SRU, the main motivation he conceded, was “ challenge.’’  It’s probably why after winning the 2023 SRU, it isn’t a return to the same race that is playing on his mind. He wonders whether he should try the shorter KC next time, for in 2023, the KC winner, Rigzin Gyurmeth (6:31:41) of the army’s special forces, had come close to Shabbir’s timing from 2017 – 6:23:50.26. “ I would like to keep the course record,’’ Shabbir, 29, said smiling. He will take a decision on KC or SRU for 2024, closer to the event.

Morning of September 8. Fifteen hours, 27 minutes and 53 seconds after he set off from Kyagar, Shabbir crossed the finish line of SRU in Leh to win the 2023 edition of the race. Easily among the most iconic runners emerging from Ladakh Marathon, Shabbir would like to compete in ultramarathons outside Ladakh. Although news of races elsewhere now reaches Ladakh’s runners, Shabbir has to date not participated in an ultramarathon outside the union territory. “ I would like to attempt 100 km-races and 24-hour stadium runs,’’ he said. Top notch competitions in these disciplines, held under the auspices of the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU), now happen in India. There are Indian teams participating. Many civilian runners also regularly take part in high profile road and trail-based ultramarathons overseas. A serving soldier, Shabbir’s future in the sport depends much on seniors empowered to take decisions. Hope they are listening.

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

The data in the phone-camera gives the time of the photograph as 8.42AM.

That was when on September 10, a wiry runner blew past the finish line of the 2023 Ladakh Marathon and won the race. A few steps past the finish, he lay down exhausted. Helped up by volunteers, he then picked his way to Leh’s NDS Stadium nearby, where the awards presentation was due.

A couple of days later, when this writer met him at a café in Leh, he still seemed a light, breezy presence on the planet. Soft spoken, mostly answering to the point and if a wind blew – likely to float off. Meet Nawang Tsering or as at 8.42AM on September 10 – two hours, 42 minutes and two seconds. And for this spectator from Mumbai, such timing at 11,500 feet elevation, where many of us find it difficult to jog!

Still when Nawang won the 2023 Ladakh Marathon, it wasn’t his best timing so far. He was marginally short of his own course record in Leh; 2:41:42, set in 2022. His personal best was 2:39:39, set at the 2022 New Delhi Marathon. At that time, it (2:39:39) appeared the best timing yet by a Ladakhi marathon runner (source: Administration of Union Territory of Ladakh, press statement dated March 29, 2022). However, it’s a long way off from the timings reported by top Indian marathon runners (for comparison: Shivnath Singh’s longstanding national record is 2:12:00 and Gopi T of the Indian Army who has since been the closest to that mark, clocked a personal best of 2:13:39 at the 2019 Seoul Marathon [source: World Athletics]). On the bright side, Nawang is 24 years old and only getting started. Besides, just as runners from the plains may be stretched doing a sub-three hour-marathon at altitude in Ladakh’s dry weather, a Ladakhi runner like Nawang, takes time to adjust to the heat and humidity of lower altitudes. All of which points to engaging discoveries and twists and turns ahead, in India’s marathon story.

Nawang hails from Lingshet, a village in the Sham region of Ladakh. It is a long way from Leh, to the south west. Although technically a part of Leh district, enquiries in Leh revealed that culturally, Lingshet used to be closer to Zanskar. For long, Lingshet was a remote place. There wasn’t a road leading right up to the village. Nawang’s father worked as a labourer. His mother died when he was in the third standard. He has two brothers and a sister. Nawang studied at Leh’s Lamdon Model Senior Secondary School. Even after he competed his twelfth standard some years ago, the school continues to be second home. He stays in the school hostel.

In his early childhood, Nawang recalled, it took three days to reach home from Leh. And in winter, passage to Lingshet entailed trekking on the frozen Zanskar River. Known as the Chadar Trek, it was until recently a much-coveted objective in adventure tourism with people paying a lot of money to experience walking on the frozen river in sub-zero temperatures. Global warming and consequent unreliability around the strength of the ice cover and problems associated with too many people arriving for the bragging rights of having walked the frozen river, have since taken the sheen off the trek. For Nawang though, the Chadar Trek was a winter reality. It was the only way he could go home during vacations (in Ladakh, the winter school break is longer than the summer one). As he grew up, the visits home appear to have dwindled. During the ninth and tenth standards, tuitions kept him in Leh. In the following years, it was running. Lingshet is now connected by road. But the boy, since become a man and devoted to a life in running, rarely goes home. Leh and Lamdon have become his address.

For much of his years in school, Nawang wasn’t into running. The bug bit in the eleventh standard. His inspiration was his friends – Tsering Stobgais and Jigmet Norbu – who had been to Mumbai (home of India’s biggest city marathon) and on their return begun to train. There was even a running club operated by his friends; they called it Cosmos. According to Stobgais, Cosmos was one among clubs of that sort, formed by the inmates of the school hostel to have informal tournaments. “ Back then, Leh did not have many sports tournaments. We had to devise our own,” Stobgais said, adding efforts are now afoot by former Cosmos members to recast the club into a body that spans both competitions at school and outside. At the time Nawang first saw his friends train, he didn’t have running shoes. His friends had visited Mumbai as part of the running team sponsored by Rimo Expeditions. The company provided team members new pairs of shoes. When his friends’ shoes became old, Nawang got to borrow a pair for his training runs. Then in 2014 or so, when the year’s edition of the Ladakh Marathon was due, Nawang bought his friend’s old running shoes – a pair of Kalenji from Decathlon. At the event in Leh, he participated in the half marathon and finished eighth. From 2015 onwards, he started getting podium finishes at the Ladakh Marathon; he opened his account with a second position in the half marathon in the open category. Archived results show his 2015 timing as 1:23:26.

That year he made his first trip to Mumbai as part of the team dispatched annually by Rimo Expeditions to participate in the Mumbai Marathon. Thereby, he got his first pair of new running shoes – a pair of Nike. In Mumbai, he trained under coach Savio D’Souza (Savio also visited Leh periodically to oversee his wards’ training). Contacted in mid-September 2023, after Nawang’s latest victory in Leh, the coach remembered the youngster he met in 2015 as a hardworking, good runner who was short on big race experience. Nawang’s first half marathon in Mumbai didn’t yield any podium finish. He found the heat and humidity challenging. But it was the beginning of a pattern in life – start the running season with the Ladakh Marathon in September and spend the winter months running the marathons of the plains with Rimo. In 2016, he successfully defended his second place in the half marathon in Leh and while he travelled with Rimo to Mumbai, Goa and Delhi and improved his timing, he could secure no podium finish anywhere outside of Ladakh.

Next year – 2017 – he became the winner (first place) of the half marathon in Leh with timing of 1:21:23 and followed that up with a second place in his age category at the Tata Steel 25K in Kolkata, his first podium finish outside Ladakh. However, his participation in the 2017 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and the 2018 Mumbai Marathon yielded no podium finish, Nawang said. It was a spell of no encouraging results. Through the 2019 Tata Mumbai Marathon and the New Delhi Marathon, he continued to run the half marathon to no memorable finishes outside Ladakh. Barring exceptions, his timing in the half marathon was stuck in the range of 1:20 to 1:21. There were some near podium finishes but no real podium. His performance at home too, seemed unsteady. At the 2018 Ladakh Marathon, he completed the half marathon in 1:18:48 to secure first place. But in 2019, it was 1:22:34 and a third place on the podium. Then COVID-19 struck. The world slipped into pandemic and lockdown. Races were cancelled globally.

The intervening period till the resumption of races, was a period of reflection. Nawang had to figure out how to break free from entrapment in a plateauing half marathon performance and dearth of podium finishes. “ I was stuck in the 1:20 – 1:21 range,” Nawang said, portraying the frustration. It was from the consequent churn that the switch to the full marathon happened. Savio explained the logic and process. According to him, two angles counted. First, there were limitations in Ladakh to improving athletes’ speed because the required number of short distance races were not yet a major part of the region’s running ecosystem. Second, what runners like Nawang required was not merely speed but “ speed-endurance.’’ Or simply put, sustaining what speed they could whip up over a longer distance, which in turn helped them when running the the shorter distance races too. A kind of benign, synergic loop. “ For me, it was logical that Nawang should increase the distance of his long runs,’’ Savio said of the drift to full marathon. In his estimation (the whole thing viewed as developing speed-endurance), Nawang learning to be good at the marathon would have beneficial impact on his performance in the half marathon as well.

In Leh, Nawang did some of his training runs for the full marathon with Ladakh’s leading woman marathon runner, Jigmet Dolma (another of Savio’s Ladakhi students), and also with her fellow marathon runners, Tsetan Dolkar and Disket Dolma (they were all part of Rimo’s team). “ He did some of the easier runs with us. Beyond a point, our respective pace is different,’’ Jigmet said. In training, Nawang’s long runs typically touched 35 to 38 kilometres. “ In 2021, there was a marathon in Delhi. That is where I competed in the full marathon for the first time. I had timing of two hours, 42 minutes,’’ he said (the reference here is most likely to the 2021 New Delhi Marathon, where Nawang timed 2:42:49 to place sixth among men in the open category). The next event he recalled, was the 2022 New Delhi Marathon, where he got his personal best of 2:39:39. In September that year came his course record at the Ladakh Marathon.

Then the impact of the switch to full marathon, on the half, also manifested. At the 2022 Vedanta Half Marathon in Delhi, Nawang narrowly missed a podium position in his age category (in the half marathon) but gained a personal best of 1:14:45. In December 2022, he ran the Tata Steel 25K in Kolkata and placed third in the 18-24 years age group with timing of 1:31:28. Roughly a month later, at the 2023 Tata Mumbai Marathon, he placed fourth in the men’s 18-24 years age category of the full marathon with timing of two hours, 39 minutes, 49 seconds. What effect, better circumstances of training and being with runners of matching and superior ability can have on Nawang, is anyone’s guess.  

Going ahead, Nawang wishes to alternate between the full and half marathon. He plans to improve his timing. Many Ladakhi runners concede that while they have faith in their endurance, they find themselves challenged for speed in the races of India’s plains. Nawang trains as his coach, Savio, tells him to. He does his training runs, does free hand exercises and has generally avoided gyms. “ I have only one weight in my hostel room. Four kilos, that’s all,’’ Nawang said laughing. The bulk of his training is a composite of warm-up, running and stretching. Asked what he thought were essential to get closer to the timings reported at marathons elsewhere, he thought for a while and said: an improved diet, coach close by and perhaps access to some strength training. But what sets Nawang apart from the regular crop of Ladakhi runners is how he has imagined his life’s work.

Nawang currently holds a temporary job with the Ladakh Police. He also helps out at Rimo. Most male runners in Ladakh, once they become proficient in the sport, join the Ladakh Scouts or get picked up by this regiment of the Indian Army (the Scouts are known to treat their podium finishes at races in Ladakh as a regimental honour). According to Nawang, he was approached. But he held back for two important reasons. First, he is clear that whatever job he does should provide him room to train and grow further in running. It cannot be job above running; it should be a job that enables his future in running. To that extent, within the gamut of government jobs (including jobs in the military and paramilitary), he prefers establishments with a clear-cut sports quota and equally clear provisions for sportsperson to train. Second, he would like to contribute to running’s growth in Ladakh. “ I want to popularize running amongst my people,’’ he said. Outside the café, there was a quiet calm descended on Leh’s main market, also its much loved meeting spot; with the annual marathon over, the last flush of tourists to town had departed. Conversation completed, Nawang left for Lamdon.

“ Nawang Tsering is a star of Lamdon School. In fact, he is a Ladakh-star. He belongs to a very humble family. At an early stage itself, we saw his potential in long distance running. He has stayed on in the school hostel even after passing out. For Lamdon’s boarding school students, he is like an elder brother. He coaches and mentors students,” Dr Stanzin Dawa, principal, Lamdon Model Senior Secondary School, said when contacted. According to him, the Leh-based institution has its own imprint on the annual marathon with many who finish in the top ranks of the Ladakh Marathon’s various races, belonging to the school or its alumni.

The weekend after this writer met Nawang, it was the Sunday of the 6th Kargil International Marathon 2023. Nawang was due to run there. He did and secured the first place, covering the 42 kilometre-distance in a new personal best of 2:38:47 on September 17, 2023. That 2:39:39 from 2022, had become history. The union territory’s administration may need to put out a new press statement.

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

Going into the annual Ladakh Marathon, Chewang Motup’s big worry had been the impact high altitude may have on those who arrived for the event’s races.

He kept reminding participants of the need to respect acclimatization protocols. As race director, he experiences the tension that nearly 6000 people congregating for the four day-event and the potential of non-Ladakhis in the fray acquiring altitude related illness, bring. The event’s races happen across altitudes spanning Leh’s 11,500 feet to the 17,618 feet of Khardung La, among the world’s highest motorable passes. As altitude rises, oxygen level in the atmosphere reduces making athletic performance tougher. In this context, the problems organizers face (as mentioned in an earlier article on this blog) are several. There are participants who don’t disclose pre-existing medical conditions, which could worsen at altitude. To get used to functioning at altitude, some days dedicated to the purpose, including rest therein, is essential. But there are those who think that protocols for acclimatization are unimportant and treat it lightly. As this writer noticed, runners arrive late and insist on getting bibs. Friends reached early try collecting bibs for those unable to reach Leh on time. It provokes arguments, for collection of bibs in person and on time are the primary means by which organizers stay convinced (to the extent possible) that protocols are being followed.

Making matters worse, there is no hesitation on the part of some runners in throwing their weight around. Position, status, importance of self – all these come into play even as organizers emphasize that the acclimatization protocols are in place to protect participants. Holding one’s ground against such negotiators is tough. Thanks to the safety measures the organizers must take and the lengthier duration of stay demanded (due to acclimatization protocols), the Ladakh Marathon is an expensive affair. Those who paid money and registered, try to ensure money’s worth. It reminds of an Everest expedition (albeit on a much smaller scale), where the hunger for achievement risks trumping reality. It will be so unless there is awareness and ownership among runners of what they are getting into. In other words, a race at high altitude is very dissimilar to a race in the plains.

Unlike events at low altitude, where laxity may be accommodated without any grave consequences to one’s health, at high altitude, poor acclimatization and subsequent ailments can result in death if medical intervention is not quick. There is thus a greater degree of responsibility expected on the part of participants, as regards events at high altitude. On the last day of the marathon expo (it is where racers collect their bibs), Motup was heard telling a participant pleading for relaxation of rules around bib collection, “ I am sorry, we are now very close to the race. I can’t give the bib to someone else and without seeing you in person. Don’t tell me how supremely fit you are or what your past record at races is. I have people working for me who climbed Everest multiple times. And yet, each of them has no option but to follow protocols when freshly coming to high altitude.’’ Besides being race director of Ladakh Marathon, Motup also owns Rimo Expeditions, one of the biggest adventure travel companies in India.

To complicate things, health problems experienced at high altitude are still a subject of study in medicine. Not only does each person seem to take differently to altitude but the same person needn’t have the same response to altitude, always. Even if protocols are met, things may go wrong depending on variables ranging from conditions on race day to the physical and mental state of a participant at that instance. While this can easily strengthen the lobby trivializing acclimatization protocols, fact is – all the precautions taken and safety measures met, matter in the analysis of a mishap. Documented evidence is vital. This is among reasons why race organizers insist on protocols being followed. This is why they feel beleaguered when runners argue on critical topics like protocols around acclimatization. “ My conclusion is that runners are taking altitude lightly,’’ Motup said.

Two days after the 2023 edition of the Ladakh Marathon had concluded, this writer met Motup for a post-race chat. The stress he had accumulated dealing with the event and its participants, was still only working its way off. As with previous editions (the event is now a decade old), the 2023 race witnessed no fatal incident on its course. In the run-up to the event, a lady who had come to run the half marathon collapsed at dinner and died, in Leh (11,500 feet elevation). In another incident, a runner who completed the half marathon in Leh, passed away after reaching home in Mumbai. Whether high altitude had any role to play in these unfortunate demises, we may never know. Ahead of the Silk Route Ultra-runners setting off for Kyagar (start line of the race), there was a session by a high-altitude medicine specialist, on the challenges of performing in such rarefied atmosphere. Including what distress calls from the body to stay alert for and when to call it quits. The session concluded with a moment of silence to pay respects to one of the departed. On race day, the two ultramarathons within the Ladakh Marathon fold (Silk Route Ultra and Khardung La Challenge, both of which touch heights exceeding 17,500 feet), witnessed a few worrisome incidents. Luckily, none were fatal. Ambulances were nearby and people could be evacuated in time. Besides ambulances on the ready, the Ladakh Marathon also keeps a helicopter on stand by for speedy medical intervention.

With roots in mountaineering, Motup looks at high altitude and performance at high altitude through eyes forged in that sport. He has been involved with numerous climbing expeditions (some of them research expeditions as well) and is currently the president of the prestigious Himalayan Club. Rimo Expeditions have been guides and providers of support for many high-altitude mountaineering expeditions, all along the Indian and Nepal Himalaya and that part of the Karakoram ranges which fall in India. Motup speaks from experience. For the 2024 edition of the Ladakh Marathon, he said that he would like to see runners showing greater respect for acclimatization protocols. There will be reduced room for any special considerations. Bibs may have to be collected in person, on time. On the race front, a degree of self-support – mainly the use of hydration packs – may be made compulsory in the two ultramarathons. Since the hosts must set an example themselves, Ladakhi ultrarunners, who have so far run the ultramarathons like an extended marathon, counting on aid stations for water and nutrition, may be told to start getting acquainted with hydration packs. The organizers may look to acquire chip-based tracking devices that allow them to monitor runners’ progress and act quickly if anyone is suspected to be in trouble. And in 2024, the tiered start of the Silk Route Ultra seen so far (in 2023, the elites commenced their run one and a half hours after the rest of the field had started) may be replaced by a single, consolidated start.

Motup also explained why he doesn’t support the oft heard demand for relaxed stage cut-off in the Silk Route Ultra. At 122 km, plenty of uphill, the Khardung La pass to cross and stage cut-offs that continue to challenge despite being eased a bit in 2023, the Silk Route Ultra is a pretty difficult undertaking for any runner. As Motup pointed out, a longer stage cut off simply keeps a participant at high altitude for a longer period of time. Being at high altitude and straining there anyway damages the human body. At the same time, high altitude with its accompaniment of reduced oxygen level, is not apt ambiance for the body to heal. So, longer exposure to high altitude is simply an invitation to worsen matters. This is why it’s so much better to prepare well for the race at more hospitable altitudes, follow acclimatization protocols in Ladakh, take a reasonable shot at performing in the high-altitude race and not stay around for too long in the risky heights of the course. At this point, as a matter of fairness, it should be mentioned that race arrangements must also stay sensitive to the need for runners avoiding long stays in truly high portions of the course. In 2023, for instance, some runners told this blog of a lack of order and retrievability in how drop bags were stored at one of the really high aid stations. It caused a delay in locating bags. They wanted such details improved.

Motup said that in his estimation, the presence of high altitude as its distinguishing feature, rendered the Ladakh Marathon an event with limited comparable brethren to consider for benchmark, when it came to deciding eligibility for participation. Elevation may be piled on by doing gradients at lower altitude but Ladakh’s high altitude (and its dry weather) or the altitude of Khardung La cannot be easily replicated. Finding exactly similar races to qualify for the races at Ladakh Marathon, is difficult. He said that over time, he may look to eligibility being decided by races within the Ladakh Marathon fold. Thus, performance at the Ladakh Marathon (42 km) may be used to decide eligibility for the Khardung La Challenge (72 km), which in turn may be treated as eligibility for the Silk Route Ultra (122 km). Motup found this reliable and safe to decide eligibility as these races are happening in the same overall high-altitude ecosystem and near similar sub-ecosystems.  “ I think someone doing the Khardung La Challenge in under 11 hours could be considered for the Silk Route Ultra. Someone completing KC in under 10 hours, even more so ‘’ he said. However, asked about trail races, Motup said that while he would love to see Ladakhi runners take on trail based-events elsewhere, hosting a trail race in Ladakh would be quite challenging as off-road medical and search and rescue capabilities in Ladakh are not as evolved as they are, overseas. For now, sticking to the road made sense.       

The evening of September 13, a day after the post-race chat with Motup, this writer beheld a large yard (owned by Rimo) in Shey village, where the Ladakh Marathon had come to hibernate till 2024. Hundreds of road dividers fabricated from metal arranged in rows, stacks of traffic cones, the metal framework of tables and arches and plenty of signages bore testimony to the groundwork the organizers had put in for over ten years. All, the physical infrastructure of a marathon; they basked in Ladakh’s evening sunshine, counting the days to another edition of India’s premier running festival at high altitude.         

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