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2023 LADAKH MARATHON / FROM PRE-RACE CHATS AND DISCUSSIONS

In Leh for the 2023 Ladakh Marathon. Satish Gujaran (extreme right) with Sunil Shetty, Sangeetha Shetty, Gita, Anupam Deka, Pronami Chakraborthy and Rita Chaudhary (photo: courtesy Satish)

Late August-early September, this blog got to spend time in Leh interacting with the organizers of the Ladakh Marathon, some of the runners arrived to participate and the people in town. The event comprises two ultramarathons, a marathon, a half marathon and shorter runs. Here’s a glimpse into the ecosystem of an engaging, still evolving event:

What makes the Silk Route Ultra and the Khardung La Challenge tricky?

Locations make marathons different. According to Dinesh Heda, for those not residing in the Himalaya, it is tough to replicate in the training phase, all the challenges one may face in the Silk Route Ultra (122 km) and the Khardung La Challenge (72 km). One can address endurance and accumulate elevation. But there is nothing possible as regards high altitude and weather. The altitude one touches in the Himalaya is serious; it brings in its wake reduced oxygen levels and biting cold. Alongside, there is the unpredictability of weather conditions. Things can change at short notice. Plus, during the course of the two ultramarathons (the longer Silk Route Ultra starts in the evening; the Khardung La Challenge at around 2AM), the athlete experiences cold to very cold conditions followed by the dry, warm weather of a morning in Leh. Because nature is dynamic, no two runs offer identical experience although the broad parameters may be the same.

People who assume that the Khardung La Challenge’s 72 kilometres is just another 30 kilometres more than a marathon and therefore very doable, overlook altitude and weather, Dinesh who is a senior runner from Goa, said. Not to mention – there is the overall cut off and the individual stage cut offs, which must be met. This is what makes the Khardung La Challenge challenging and the Silk Route Ultra even more so. In the latter, which measures 122 km overall, two things get frequently overlooked by runners. While Khardung La Challenge starts from Khardung village, the Silk Route Ultra commences another 50 kilometres away, at Kyagar. That’s more than a marathon at altitude run, by the time participants join the regular Khardung La Challenge route. Second, while Khardung village to Khardung La is an uphill, same goes for the Kyagar to Khardung section. In other words, by the time Silk Route participants reach Khardung to tackle the regular Khardung La Challenge route (the two races converge at Khardung with the Silk Route Ultra leaders reaching there around the same time the Khardung La Challenge kicks off), they are already on tired legs. Dinesh attempted the Silk Route Ultra in 2022. Unable to meet the stage cut off at a particular portion of the course, he had to DNF (Did Not Finish). To his credit, Dinesh who has done the Khardung La Challenge multiple times, has accepted the outcome. In 2023, he was back in Leh, not for that unfinished business with the Silk Route Ultra, but to attempt again, the Khardung La Challenge.

The view from the venue of the Ladakh Marathon expo (photo: Shyam G Menon)

An interesting blend

An emergent trend seen at the Ladakh Marathon is that of running the Khardung La Challenge and then following it up with the event’s full marathon. Dinesh has been doing this for a while. He was introduced to the practice in 2016. That year, Dinesh was in Leh for the full marathon when he saw Dharmendra Kumar from Bengaluru tackle both the Khardung La Challenge and the marathon. “ Dharmendra was the first runner I saw doing this combination in Ladakh,’’ Dinesh said. He commenced the practice in 2017. Today quite a few runners do this mix. When contacted, Dharmendra Kumar put the blend of ultramarathon and marathon, in perspective. “ It was a race just sitting there, waiting for you to try it,’’ he said of the marathon that beckoned following the Khardung La Challenge and a good night’s sleep. “ The idea was to do the marathon at an easy pace and enjoy the outing. That’s what we are here for, isn’t it? To run and enjoy the experience,’’ he said. What additionally engages is the difference between the two races. An ultramarathon is a personal experience. The runners may be separated by significant distance, there is a sense of being in one’s own cocoon, the route has long uphill sections, the weather may be unpredictable and there is always, the strain caused by higher altitudes. On the other hand, the marathon in Leh provides a sense of community when running with so many people around. The route has an uphill only towards the end, the weather is generally stable and after that tryst with really high altitude the day before and a good sleep thereafter, the marathon feels enjoyable to run. Plus, there is cheering. “ You take it like a recovery run,’’ Dharmendra said, adding that he was in no way discounting the inherent challenges of a marathon at altitude. It is just that when you run the marathon after the Khardung La Challenge, there is also an element of enjoyable relief and recovery at play. He was clear that the motive wasn’t to add kilometres and brag about the distance accumulated. After all, in the world of ultramarathons, 114 kilometres (the aggregate of the Khardung La Challenge and the marathon) is not big. The attraction is the relaxed pace of a recovery run and the enjoyment of being in a marathon with people around. 

At the Ladakh Marathon expo (photo: Shyam G Menon)

The invisible risk

Being an event at altitude, medical support is critical for the Ladakh Marathon. A variety of agencies – among them, the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) dispatch their ambulances and ambulance crew to support the event. The event also has a medical partner. Since its inception, the Ladakh Marathon has had its share of medical emergencies. Significantly, it has stayed free of any fatal incident. In the case of the Silk Route Ultra and the Khardung La Challenge, participants have their oxygen saturation and pulse rate recorded twice by the organizers. The first checking is at the time of bib collection; the second happens before actual commencement of the race. Major variations are flagged and a runner may be held back from racing. Besides ambulances available along the way, there is the army’s medical station at Khardung La. With all this monitoring and the additional support of the race’s medical partner for a given edition, Chewang Motup, owner of Rimo Expeditions, which organizes the Ladakh Marathon, believes that the hosts are doing their best to contain risk. But there is one angle no organizer or race director can control and that is – concealment of medical facts by participants and poor appreciation of the risks attached to high altitude. At the race expo, Motup was seen speaking to runners, checking on their preparations and informing them of the need to respect altitude and follow the acclimatization protocol. He does not have a magic wand to flush out what runners won’t state openly.     

The main market in Leh (photo: Shyam G Menon)

Participation levels

In 2023, fifty-one persons were registered for the Silk Route Ultra and 261 for the Khardung La Challenge. Although podium positions are still dominated by local runners who are used to the altitude and the weather, the number of participants from elsewhere in India and abroad, have been growing. In all, the whole event spanning the two ultramarathons, the marathon, the half marathon and the shorter runs was converging nearly 6000 people to Leh this year. As P. T. Kunzon, former president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) pointed out, the marathon has become a prominent fixture in the tourism calendar of Ladakh. Given its dates are in September, an otherwise lean period for tourism in Ladakh, the marathon has the effect of prolonging the tourist season. But it is two other factors that matter more from a business point of view. First, every runner in town is required to acclimatize well and this means, a longer period of stay in Leh. Some runners arrive with their families (in 2023, there was, according to the organizers, one family with 14 people running various distances at the Ladakh Marathon). For hotels and restaurants, this is a blessing happening as it does, in the tapering portion of the tourist season. Second, as denizens of the world of active life style, runners may wish to explore the outdoor activities Ladakh has to offer like trekking and camping (before or after the marathon). This is good news for people operating businesses around such activities. Compared to this, the tourist arrivals of Ladakh’s peak season mostly belong to the sight seeing sort. It is worth nothing that in 2023, while the number of people coming from outside Ladakh to run the two ultras, the full marathon and the half marathon had risen, the year’s tourist season till then had seen a fall in arrivals.

If one were to sense direction from how the Ladakh Marathon and the tourism around it have evolved (it has graduated from a marathon done and dusted in one day, to two ultras, marathon and smaller runs spanning as of 2023, four days), the mood is one of becoming a festival around the active life style. In 2023, besides the Ladakh Marathon, a football tournament was also scheduled to happen in the same period. This growth to being a multi-day affair is not the only emergent trend about the Ladakh Marathon. In the initial period it was a lonely walk for the event organizers, Rimo Expeditions. Over time, local authorities have come around to supporting the marathon. In Leh, local businesses with products and services relevant to the running community, keep the marathon in mind. “ We have people walking in to buy things in September,’’ Jigdol, proprietor of Himalaya Adventure Store in Leh, said. According to the organizers, on all the four days of the event, the roads earmarked for the races stay closed to traffic during the hours of the competition to ensure smooth passage for the runners. “ I prefer a road closed to traffic. As it is, I would be tired from the running. Watching out for traffic on top of that, would be making things needlessly complicated,’’ one ultrarunner told this blog at the Ladakh Marathon expo. On the Kyagar-Leh section, even the army – an active participant in the Ladakh Marathon with its pool of strong runners – suspends its convoys for the duration of the ultramarathons, Motup said. The communication support for the two ultramarathons is provided by the Signals Regiment of the Indian Army. In 2023, on the Kyagar-Leh route of the two ultramarathons, the regiment was set to have nine communication vans parked at regular intervals along the way. It is critical infrastructure for a race requiring proper monitoring of participants and medical assistance on call.

Many cities in India host marathons but the general attitude seen is one of finishing an avoidable chore and reverting to the Indian normal of traffic, rat race and money-making. Ladakh is a small place and its annual marathon, although big by local standards, is small compared to the marathons of the plains. But the ecosystem of support the event has acquired – it includes local authorities, the military, local businesses and local villages – is noteworthy.

A challenge in 2023

Leh has two major road links to the outside world. The most popular one is via Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The other is via Srinagar and Jammu. A lot of the materials needed to host the annual marathon reaches Ladakh from the plains. The goods travel by road. In 2023, the monsoon caused havoc in Himachal Pradesh. Besides causing a high number of deaths, it destroyed houses and wrecked the road network. September, the month in which the Ladakh Marathon occurs, is just outside the usual months of rain south of the main Himalayan axis (Ladakh is to its north). For a marathon, required materials should start moving at least a month in advance. In 2023, such logistics into Leh was hit by the natural calamity in Himachal. Shipments to Leh for the marathon got stuck between Shimla and Manali. A team had to be dispatched from Delhi, which then repacked the goods onto smaller vehicles and rerouted it through the few roads still open, to Jammu. There, it was transferred to trucks for passage to Leh via Srinagar. Some stuff had to be airlifted adding to costs. The kits offered to participants in the event’s ultramarathons are quite attractive and contain T-shirts, jackets, thermals etc. Orders had been placed as early as April-May. Given the challenging logistics scenario, things were still coming in even as the marathon’s expo got underway at the NDS Stadium in Leh. Nature stays an unpredictable and non-negotiable entity not just during the races in Ladakh but even in the preparations to hosting an event.

Before their race

Hanna Gogoseanu lives in Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, Romania. She has been running regularly for the past three years or so. About two years ago, she happened to see a documentary on Ladakh on National Geographic. That was how she got to know of the Khardung La Challenge. It became a goal to aspire for. At that time, Hanna hadn’t run a proper marathon. So, to qualify for the Khardung La Challenge, she completed two marathons and in February 2023, commenced training for the race in Ladakh. For a taste of altitude, she spent time in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania but those heights are nothing compared to the Himalaya. Landing in Leh in the middle of August 2023, her first couple of weeks was tough. Besides the strain of altitude, she found the atmosphere dry. She developed nose bleeds. On August 31, when this blog met her at the race expo, she said she had begun getting used to the surroundings and had commenced her training runs. She knew she was due for an adventure and was looking forward to it.

This year, Maik Becker had with him Igor Kirsic from Switzerland and Marco Kuchhirt from Germany. For both Igor and Marco, it was their first visit to India and Ladakh. Both of them were into running but neither had done an ultramarathon at this altitude before. As Igor explained, he could accumulate elevation during training in the Swiss Alps but could do nothing about altitude, which is the irreplicable quantum when training for a run in the Himalaya. A triathlete, Marco had been to several Ironman events before. But he reserved complete respect for altitude, saying one cannot predict what lay in store. The duo was hoping to trek a bit as part of acclimatization, before reporting for the Khardung La Challenge. Maik on the other hand, was an old hand at the Ladakh Marathon and other races in India. A known Swiss ultramarathoner who travels the world to run, he had done the Khardung La Challenge a few times before. In 2023, he was set to attempt the Silk Route Ultra.

Ashwini Ganapathi (photo: courtesy Ashwini)

By the time of the race expo, Ashwini Ganapathi had been in Ladakh for over a month. She arrived on July 25. “ Five of us had planned to do a self-supported 100 kilometre run in the first week of August. We were to do it from Manali but we had to shift to Ladakh because of weather issues there,’’ she said. Apart for the 100K run, she had also planned a three-week vacation with her husband and a few treks. “ In Ladakh, we did the self-supported run of 100 km from Pang to Tso Moriri. It took us 27 hours to cover the distance. It was more of hiking than running. We drank water from the streams along the route,’’ Ashwini said. She also did a few motorbike trips apart from the treks to help in the acclimatization process. “ Ladakh is very dear to me. I have been visiting Ladakh for many years now,’’ she said. In 2019, Ashwini had done the 72 km Khardung La Challenge and finished second among women. That same year she also did the event’s full marathon. On preparations for the 2023 race, she said, “ I think my training for Silk Route has been good. I am familiar with the Silk Route course. Nevertheless, it will be a challenge to do it at night. The race starts at 7 PM. From 8 PM to 5 AM it will be dark.’’

Shikha Pahwa (photo: courtesy Shikha)

Shikha Pahwa reached Ladakh in the end of August. As part of her acclimatization, she went for a hike to South Pullu at a height of 14,000 feet. She walked the way up and ran the course down. No stranger to Ladakh, in 2017, she had done the Khardung La Challenge and emerged the winner among women. In 2018 she completed the 111 km-race of La Ultra The High. “ In 2019, I did their 222 km-race but had to give up after 212 km as weather turned for the worse. Last year, I did the 111 km again. In June this year, I did the UTMB Mozart 100 in Salzburg, Austria. The official distance was 106.3 km. I was the only Indian participant and completed it in 19 hours and 56 minutes. For the Silk Route Ultra, I am banking on my experience in running in Ladakh. But weather can be an issue,’’ she said.

Satish Gujaran (right) with Thomas Bobby Philip (photo: courtesy Satish)

For Satish Gujaran, his first few days in Leh were trying. By the evening of his arrival, he had a splitting headache. He decided to take Diamox and continued the recommended dose the next day. By now, he had loss of appetite and was feeling nauseous. From the third day onward, his condition improved. He suspects, the episode may have been the result of him resting on day one in his closed hotel room instead of an airy ambiance. Over the following days, Satish commenced running locally. When this blog met him September 2 evening on Leh’s Mall Road, Satish had begun doing trips to Khardung La to get used to that higher altitude and get a feel of how walking and running at the pass and its immediate slopes may be like. “ On the day I arrived I found it difficult to walk to the hotel. Now, it’s much better,’’ Satish, a popular figure in running and someone who has completed the Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa many times, said. He felt that running Comrades and running in Ladakh couldn’t be compared. Altitude is a totally different beast. In a reversal of the trend of Indians going to South Africa to run Comrades, Satish wishes to bring interested South Africans to Indian destinations and marathon locations like Ladakh.  

A beautiful Surly touring bike parked at the door of its owner’s office on Chanspa Road and a conversation with the owner about cycling, revealed a small detail. Leh resident, Tenzin Dorjee, was due to run his first half marathon at the 2023 Ladakh Marathon. “ My neighbour was in the army. But even after leaving the military, he continued to run. He was my inspiration,’’ Tenzin, who manages a travel company, said. He has been running for the past five years. He has been cycling for a longer period; during the COVID phase, he toured a lot on his cycle within Ladakh. In the following years, he cycled in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. According to him, the Ladakh Marathon has had a salutary effect on local running with more people in Leh stepping out nowadays for a morning jog or run. Asked why the active lifestyle was late catching on in these parts, Tenzin attributed that to life in the mountains being a naturally active one and hence people not seeking out exercise as a separate avenue to physical fitness. That has changed with the onset of new perspectives to living; it received further impetus after the pandemic, he said.

Anmol Chandan (centre) with Rakesh Kashyap (left) and Amit Gulia (photo: Shyam G Menon)

In July, Anmol Chandan had earned a podium finish (third place) in the open category for men at the 2023 IAU 100KM Asia Oceania Championship, held in Bengaluru. In 2022, he had completed the Khardung La Challenge. This year, along with his friends, Amit Gulia and Rakesh Kashyap, he was set to attempt the Silk Route Ultra. Amit reached Leh on August 29. “ We have been clocking miles,’’ he said of the training runs the trio did locally. Usually doing 6-7 kilometres a day, they did around `16-17 kilometres on one day and also made a trip to Khardung La on motorcycles. The pass felt cold that day. “ It’s going to be how you feel on race day,’’ Anmol said, adding that he intends to have a strategy in place for the Silk Route Ultra but also provide room for flexibility. Both Amit and Rakesh have completed Spartathlon.

Dinesh Heda (photo: courtesy Dinesh)

For many runners attempting the two ultramarathons within the Ladakh Marathon fold, the crux of the whole course was Khardung La and its immediate neighbourhood. This segment signified the zone with maximum altitude and lowest oxygen levels on the ultramarathon route. Runners hired cars and visited the pass to get used to the altitude and do mild training runs / walks around there. Dinesh Heda was among those not doing pre-race visits to Khardung La. Instead, after two days of natural acclimatization in Leh, he headed out in the opposite direction from Khardung La; to Shanti Stupa in Leh and the modest height gain it offered. Although he had a strategy for the race, he wasn’t a fan of the world’s fascination for measurement and data. He preferred to listen to his body. To perfect that link, Shanti Stupa sufficed. In his mid-fifties, Dinesh’s approach seemed one of reserving his running on race day for the flats, gentle gradients and downhill portions. Plus, be efficient without tiring oneself on the Khardung village-Khardung La stretch and try reaching the pass with some saved time on hand. In this, he knew that he wouldn’t be running near Khardung La, which is the hardest section. Up there, he would be walking as best as he can. “ I think it’s better to walk the uphill sections,’’ he said. Consequently, while training, he was focused more on maintaining his efficiency in brisk walking. Similarly, between performance and preservation, he preferred the latter. There were a couple of other reasons too for not stealing off to Khardung La before the actual race. Even if you visited the high pass so, there is no guarantee that conditions would be the same on the day of the race. So, why obsess with the pass and make it grow in one’s head like a formidable objective? Besides, Dinesh liked some things to stay unknown for a sense of discovery on race day. And no matter what the outcome on race day, he planned to be there for a celebratory beer in Leh with his friends.     

The pass at the centre of the two ultramarathons

For most people today, Khardung La is the world’s second highest motorable pass and in Leh, a coveted objective tourists like to visit as a landmark in altitude reached in the neighbourhood. Simply put, it is all about altitude, vehicle, travel by road, the thin air of the pass and photos taken as proof of having been there. End of story. For Ladakhis however, that isn’t the case. Khardung La was for centuries, part of the summer route on the Silk Route to Central Asia. According to Chewang Motup, owner of Rimo Expeditions (it organizes the Ladakh Marathon) the Silk Route’s junction beyond the borders of Ladakh was Morgo. It had two routes of access from Leh. In winter, caravans proceeded to Morgo via Shyok village on the banks of the Shyok River. Although the river’s name is drawn from its capacity to spread gravel, there appears to be an element of death also associated and that could be because in olden times, the caravans to Morgo had to cross the Shyok River multiple times. River crossings can take a toll on animals and humans. In summer, this route becomes unusable because glacial melt causes the river to bloat. Consequently, the summer route from Leh to Morgo went via Khardung La. Motup recalled how in his childhood it had been a three-day trip on horseback from Kyagar, his home village, to Leh. It took another two days to Srinagar, where he attended school.

In the years past, the northern side of Khardung La used to be glaciated. Caravans via Khardung La operated till almost the mid-1970s, Motup said. His grandfather had gone a fair distance on the Silk Route. In 2002, as part of an expedition, Motup made it to the Karakorum Pass via Shyok. He was the third generation of his family to stand there. The motorable road from Leh to Khardung La, which everyone takes for granted these days, made its appearance only in the late 1970s. Just beyond the pass, there used to be a bridge that was – like many things Khardung La – acclaimed for its altitude. It no longer exists; the gap it bridged has been filled and concreted. Even with a road in place by the late 1970s, Khardung La wasn’t an easily accessible spot for visitors to Leh. It was a restricted area. Much later, when Nubra was opened to the public along with Dahanu (also called Aryan Valley), Pangong and Tso Moriri, the tourist destination called Khardung La was born. On either side of Khardung La, on the approach to the pass, lay North Pullu (on the Nubra side) and South Pullu (on the Leh side). Pullu in Ladakhi means a shepherd’s shelter. Long before they acquired their contemporary names, Motup said, North Pullu was known as Spang Chenmo while South Pullu was referred to as the pullu for Ganglas and Gonpa villages. Specific to the race (Khardung La Challenge), 2018 is widely recognized as having been a tough year for participants. There was rain on the approach to the pass and at the pass it was blizzard like conditions with very low temperature.

The Silk Route Ultra course (from route maps displayed at the marathon expo / photo: Shyam G Menon)

That time we run through

It is what decides podium finishes at races; it is what all runners live by (even the ones wishing to be free of its pull). Meet time. These days at marathons, time is measured using mats, which one steps on and side antennas that one runs past. The start and the finish, being most critical and requiring certainty of recording, typically feature both mats and antennas for redundancy. Mats are useful where a large number of people are involved, which is the case at the start line of a race. Time stations along the way, are served by side antennas and they suffice – especially in ultramarathons like the Silk Route Ultra and the Khardung La Challenge – because past the start line, clusters split and runners get spaced apart. The Silk Route Ultra will have six timing stations – at the start, at kilometre 25, at Khardung village, at Khardung La, at Mendak Mor and at the finish. For this race at altitude featuring a modest number of runners (both Silk Route Ultra and Khardung La Challenge put together), the service provider, Sports Timing Solutions, will work with a small crew in a format resembling a relay. Given the equipment used is imported and was designed for use in cold countries, the cold weather at stations like Khardung La won’t be a problem. What may pose difficulty is altitude; more precisely the effects of altitude on the people manning the stations (they have to be there till the last runner goes through). According to Amir Shandiwan, partner, Sports Timing Solutions, the company has learnt from its previous experience in operating at altitude in Ladakh. Aside from making sure the timing equipment and the people manning it are alright, the other thing to take care of is the availability of telecom network coverage for data transmission. Each year, this is assessed afresh on the mountainous route of the two ultramarathons. On September 5, the Sports Timing Solutions team was due to check out connectivity on the route. They had dongles from multiple telecom service providers to add redundancy into the system. As further back up, each timing station will have the provision to download the recorded data into a USB, so that in the event of any weakness in network, the data may be physically transported to the nearest point from where onward transmission is possible. To wrap up – one’s timing in the two ultramarathons may be just a series of inanimate digits; delivering it, however, entails some hard work.         

The aid stations and a story of community participation

A unique aspect of the Ladakh Marathon is the participation of the local community in race arrangements. The route of the two ultras within the portfolio of races at Ladakh Marathon – Silk Route Ultra and Khardung La Challenge – are connected. The Silk Route Ultra is an extension of the older Khardung La Challenge with its start located 50 kilometres further up the road. Between Kyagar, where the longer 122-km ultra starts and Leh (the finish point), there are 21 aid stations. Except the aid station at the highest point enroute – Khardung La, and the one at the very end, all the remaining aid stations are operated by teams drawn from villages along the route. Of the seven aid stations between Kyagar and Khardung (from where the Khardung La Challenge commences), the first and third are managed by Sumoor village, the second by Lagzhum, the fourth by Khalsar and the fifth, sixth and seventh by Kyagar. Thereafter, the first four aid stations on the Khardung-Leh stretch are operated by Khardung village and the fifth and sixth by Kyagar village. Aid stations from the seventh to the thirteenth on this stretch are managed by teams from Ganglas and Gonpa villages. The last aid station, the fourteenth on the Khardung-Leh stretch is usually managed by a business enterprise in Leh close to that point.

The fourteenth aid station, located at Khardung La, is a crucial spot and is managed by a team drawn from the trekking staff of Rimo Expeditions. They spend roughly four hours on Khardung La, the highest and coldest point of the course, providing support to the runners passing through. However, the aid station that stays open longest is typically the seventh one on the Khardung-Leh stretch, Motup said. The above architecture of participation by villages, is noteworthy. In September 2023, there were 51 runners registered for the Silk Route Ultra and 216, for the Khardung La Challenge. According to Motup, the angle of carrying capacity wasn’t yet a bother because Khardung over time has added more accommodation facilities. And as for any strain on race infrastructure and monitoring due to enhanced participation, Motup pointed out that the longer Silk Route Ultra had debuted only after several years of holding the Khardung La Challenge. It was a conservative extension of the course’s length. Not to mention – the emphasis has been on sustaining and improving an existing race before adding another to the portfolio.

The reservoir built by the Tatas in Khardung village (photo: courtesy Chewang Motup)

Sponsors yes but preference for those appreciating the event’s uniqueness

The high level of community support has meant, Motup setting matching expectations for his sponsors. He is clear that the Ladakh Marathon cannot be approached by sponsors in the same fashion they would, a city marathon. Notwithstanding what a sponsor may want by way of marketing and brand promotion, events in Leh come with non-negotiables like the limits and possibilities of local geography, unpredictable weather conditions, sensitive environment and modest size of race. Respect for these parameters may mean, the regular compulsions of brand promotion and marketing, requiring to compromise. For instance, a potential hydration partner cannot simply supply bottled water, end its engagement there and hope for publicity. At many marathons, plastic bottles generate garbage and littering. Water must therefore be handed out in cups to those requiring a drink. Sometimes, the realities of Ladakh and the involvement of the local community may also mean sponsors needing to go the extra mile. In 2022, the Tata Group, which was a partner that year, left behind a remarkable legacy – they built a reservoir for Khardung village, something utterly useful in Ladakh, which is a high-altitude cold desert. This year, it is hoped, Bisleri would build a reservoir for Kyagar village. Motup’s expectations don’t end there. He would like any sponsor interested in the event to also help in creating and sustaining Ladakhi talent in running. It may be recalled that for years, Rimo Expeditions has supported the growth of a team of runners from Ladakh; they travel to the marathons of India’s plains, have secured podium finishes and one of them – Jigmet Dolma – made it to the Indian women’s marathon team. Motup acknowledged that while there were those wishing to support the marathon, he had to let go of many such opportunities because they didn’t satisfy the overall paradigm employed.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai. Our thanks to all those who spared the time to talk to us.)

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2023 LADAKH MARATHON / THE SCULPTURES NEAR THE STADIUM

Chemat Dorjey’s sculpture of black-necked cranes near the Leh post office (photo: Shyam G Menon)

On the first day of the 2023 Ladakh Marathon expo, as one walked down the road leading to the NDS Stadium, a series of sculptures by the side of the road leading to Choglamsar, fascinated.

Made of metal parts, the idiom at work seemed to communicate a mix of form, anatomy and innards, and at least in the case of a sculpture or two, felt quite kinetic; like energy unleashed. Ladakh’s barren cold desert landscape, against which one perceived the art forms, added to the bare bones, skeletal broodiness of scrap metal. Neither an artist in the real sense of the word nor a trained art critic, I nevertheless felt sufficiently impressed to try finding out who created these works of art. As chance would have it, freelance journalist’s habit of seeking out affordable eateries landed him at a café opposite the sculpture of two black-necked cranes and a restaurant named after the birds, near Leh’s post office. The materials used to make the birds appeared similar to what I had seen near the stadium. Could there be a connection? A case of same or similar hands at work perhaps? The best place to ask seemed the Black-Necked Crane Restaurant. It’s manager, Tundup promised to help. He got back with the name and phone number of Chemat Dorjey. By then, I had also found an old interview with Chemat published by Reach Ladakh. The next day, we met.

Hailing from Sakti village and talented at painting, Chemat decided to study art. He did his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Jammu and later, his MFA from Varanasi. Initially given to painting, he specialized in sculpture after being inspired by the work of one of his teachers. At Leh’s Onpo House, a heritage building (it was once the seat of royal astrologers) now restored and used as an art gallery and venue for discussions on art, Chemat explained the local art scene. Ladakh may be small. But its imagination is colourful. Thanks to its traditional art forms like thangka, Ladakhi society has curiosity and appreciation for art. That nature (empathy for creative work) is the foundation on which, later styles of art have got layered. Although contemporary art struggles to find acceptance, people turn up to see exhibitions of such work all the same. Indeed, when asked if choosing art for a career had been a problem (an unpopular decision) in Ladakh, Chemat said that hadn’t been the case. At the same time, studying art outside had taught him to look differently – in more perspectives than just the traditional – at subjects that engaged his interest. 

The line of sculptures just outside NDS Stadium, Leh (photo: Shyam G Menon)

There is a community of around 20-30 artists scattered in and around Leh, Chemat said. Most of them have no other avenue of livelihood. They survive on original work and commissioned pieces. The rise of local businesses, particularly hotels, has helped in securing commissions. In some cases, art projects have come from monasteries. However, in the context of steadying their ship destined to sail the choppy waters of creativity, the artistic community wishes for more support from government. Besides art projects the government could give, a simple change that could help stabilize the fluctuating economic fortunes most artists are subjected to, would be to have positions for artists in schools, colleges and other such institutions. It would provide employment. That is awaited, Chemat said.

In the meantime, private patrons in Ladakh commissioned art work or as happened in the case of those black-necked cranes near the post office, the sculptor pitched an idea to government and the government decided to back it. Migratory and vulnerable, black-necked cranes have visited Ladakh for long. It’s the union territory’s ` state bird’ (previously it used to be the state bird of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state). They would be found in the Changthang region of Ladakh. It is believed that a pair of black-necked cranes bond for life. Over the years, the number of visiting pairs have reduced and people from Hanle (which falls in the area where the birds arrive) told Chemat that the growing noise of vehicles, including motorcycles, had contributed to the problem. That was how the sculptor conceived the idea of a pair of black-necked cranes made from scrap metal (vehicle parts). The main inspiration for the art work is drawn from the courtship dance / display of the birds. According to Chemat the sculpture was unveiled in 2019. In a related note, Chemat observed: “ In a way this sculpture is an embodiment of the artist’s vision towards awareness of the threats that rare and migratory birds like the black-necked crane face in their natural habitat among others. Beyond the inspiration of beauty and aesthetics, this sculpture is also a criticism of the change in the ecology of the region.’’

From the sculptures just outside NDS Stadium, Leh (photo: Shyam G Menon)

While the sculpture of two birds made of scrap metal sourced from vehicle parts bridged the two main elements of the work (vulnerable birds and the problem of traffic), Chemut provided the sculpture more local roots by bringing in the spindle as the sculpture’s base. Central to local textiles and dresses like the Ladakhi koncha which keep people warm, the spindle, as an emblem of how humans survive in Ladakh, is a recurrent motif in Chemat’s work. It is the heart of one of Chemat’s installations too, now on view at Onpo House.

In April 2023, Ladakh hosted the Youth-20 (Y-20) summit under the auspices of G-20, of which India had become president. In the run up to the Y-20 meeting, there was a flurry of beautification projects in Leh. According to Chemat, about a month before the Y-20 meeting he was sounded out by the local administration about a proposed art project. That was the genesis of the sculptures that came up just outside the NDS Stadium, which in September 2023 served as venue for the Ladakh Marathon expo. Realizing that the time provided was very limited, he recommended a symposium attended by invited artists – five from Ladakh and ten from elsewhere in India. Based yet again on scrap art, the symposium was called: 1st Ladakh National Scrap Art Symposium. It was anchored by the union territory’s administration and its housing and urban development department. The local administration leased space near Shanti Stupa in Leh for the artists to fashion scrap metal into creative art forms. The finished sculptures were set up adjacent to the NDS Stadium. Months later freelance journalist headed to a marathon expo would be sufficiently intrigued by the sculptures to find out who made it. But therein lay another tale.

Chemat Dorjey at Onpo House, Leh. To the left is one of his installations featuring spindles (photo: Shyam G Menon)

While the sculptures were installed and the Y-20 meeting was held, a proper explanation of the works of art along with credit to its creators, was still pending as of early September 2023. Standing before the sculptures, one couldn’t know the names of the artists involved because their names hadn’t been displayed. The underlying theme (what the sculptures signified) also stayed silent pending articulation and display. “ The formal unveiling is yet to happen,’’ Chemat said. He sent me a digital presentation on the earlier mentioned symposium, which contained the names of the participating artists. They were, besides Chemat; Parmar R. Kumar, Lodoe Gyaltsen, Madhab Das, Saurab Singh, Vinit Kumar, Vivek Das, Arun Bhandari, Dheeraj Kumar, Anupam Patel, Virender Singh, Tsering Gurmet, Stanzin Tsepel, Stanzin Samphel and Urgain Zawa. They made that row of intriguing metal sculptures. Unfortunately, even as anyone going to the NDS Stadium would have noticed the art work, it didn’t grace the actual course of the Ladakh Marathon. The course was towards Choglamsar while the sculptures were towards the side of Leh town.

Meanwhile, artists in Ladakh have become more versatile. Ladakh has distinct seasons with palpable impact on landscape and human existence and that has begun influencing artistic expression. Of late in winter, Ladakhi artists have worked with ice and snow. Within this approach, artists in Leh use ice, of which they have plenty in winter. In Kargil, the play is with snow; there is strong snowfall that side. Besides this, Ladakhi artists have also begun using the vast space and landscape of Ladakh as inspiration for outdoor installations.

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

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AT A GLANCE / SEPTEMBER 2023

Jim Walmsley (this photo was downloaded from the Facebook page of the athlete and is being used here for representation purpose. No copyright infringement intended)

Courtney Dauwalter, Jim Walmsley win UTMB 2023

American ultrarunners Courtney Dauwalter and Jim Wamsley claimed the top spots at the 100-mile Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc (UTMB) held over August 28 to September 3, 2023.

Jim Walmsley is the first American man to win the 100-mile race; he did so in his fifth attempt.

He also set a new course record with his finish in 19 hours, 37 minutes and 43 seconds, setting aside Killian Jornet’s course record of 19:49:30 hours.

Courtney Dauwalter won with timing of 23:29:14.

AFI names 12 ultrarunners for IAU 24-Hour World Championship Taiwan

The Athletic Federation of India (AFI) has named the team of 12 ultrarunners to represent Indian at the IAU 24 Hour World Championships to be held in Chinese Taipei in December this year, AFI said in a circular.

The team includes six women and six male runners. Women runners chosen include Anju Saini, Aparna Choudhary, Preeti Lala, Shashi Mehta, Meenal Kotak and Priyanka Bhatt. The men’s team includes Velu Perumal, Saurav Kumar Ranjan, Amar Singh Devanda, Geeno Antony, Badal Teotia and Ullas Narayana.

The selection criterion for the World Championships mandates that male runners complete 220 km or more during a 24-hour race held between July 1, 2022 and August 10, 2023. Women runners are required to cover a distance of 180 km or more.

As proof of fitness, runners are required to have run a 12-hour or a 100 km event during the period January 1, 2023 and August 10, 2023, AFI had said in an earlier circular.

In another circular, AFI said it plans to send a team of six female and six male runners for the IAU 50 km World Championship to be held in Hyderabad in November 2023.

The qualifying cut-off timing for male runners is completing a marathon in 2:50 hours and for women 3:20 hours in a race held between November 5, 2022 and August 10, 2023.

Courtney Dauwalter (this photo was downloaded from the Twitter handle of UTMB and is being used here for representation purpose. No copyright infringement intended)

Courtney Dauwalter smashes women’s course record at Western States, Hardrock 100

Courtney Dauwalter, American ultrarunner, smashed course records at two major ultramarathon events in a period of three weeks.

At the Western States, a 100-mile endurance run and the world’s oldest trail run, Courtney broke the women’s course record by nearly 80 minutes. She finished the race in 15 hours, 29 minutes and 33 seconds. The race was held on June 24-25, 2023.

Three weeks later, she broke the course record at Hardrock 100, also a 100-mile race. She finished the counter-clockwise course in 26:14:08, smashing the course record by an hour and four minutes. (Hardrock alternates the circular course every year). She already holds the course record for the clockwise direction.

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

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“ PROBABLY THE BEST PHYSICAL ACTIVITY TO KEEP A SENIOR CITIZEN FIT AND HEALTHY”

Zarir Baliwalla (photo: courtesy Zarir)

In July 2023, Zarir Baliwalla, 62, secured an age category-podium finish in the five kilometre-swim at the Oceanman Asian Championship in Bali.

Earlier, he had been three times age group podium finisher at Goa Swimathon (2019, 2022 and 2023); he was member of the winning relay team in the Gateway – Vashi Relay Swim Race in 2022, and in 2019, was a member of Team Hope, a four person-relay team that successfully swam the English Channel.

At this blog’s request, Zarir wrote in on his affection for swimming.

I learnt how to swim as a child of eight to nine years and have had a love affair with water ever since.

I have always felt comfortable in the water, be it a swimming pool, a lake or the open sea. Back in the 1960’s-70’s our coaches taught us only the breast stroke. As a junior, I competed in breast stroke races at the inter school level. Much later, as an adult, I taught myself the freestyle. After finishing school, I hardly swam for the next 30-35 years. But the sport of swimming always fascinated me and when our children were around eight to nine years old, my wife and I enrolled them in learn-to-swim classes. Both of them eventually swam competitively; my son for several years, all the way till the national level.

In my early fifties I took up long distance running to keep fit. After a few years and several half marathons my knees were beginning to trouble me, so I decided to reduce the load on them by cutting back on the running and switching to the triathlon. While training for the triathlon, I realized that swimming was by far the easiest of the three activities and also the least stressful on the body. So, even as I have done several Olympic triathlons over the past five to six years, I have always focused more on swimming than cycling and running.

Almost all my swim practice in Mumbai is done in pools. However, I am at my happiest in the open water; the sea in particular. Being in the middle of a huge ocean is a truly meditative feeling, hard to describe in words. I feel at one with the ocean, with nature. Once it casts its spell, the sea holds one in its net of wonder forever.

Apart from having done solo and relay swims in the triathlon, I have participated in several open water swim events. Some of them: Goa Swimathon, Thonnur Swimathon, Kasersai Swimathon, Gateway –Vashi Swim Relay, Sunkrock – Gateway solo swim, English Channel relay swim and most recently the 5km race at the Oceanman Asian Championship in Bali.

There was a time when we practised in the seas off Mumbai’s coast. Sadly, this has become almost impossible now due to pathetic water quality and refusal of permissions by relevant authorities supposedly on the grounds of security. So, I go to Goa three to four times a year during the open water season (October–May) and enjoy training in the pristine seas there.

Swimming plays an absolutely vital role in my life. It keeps me not just physically fit but is a definite mood elevator too. Swimming in the sea or in a pool gives one a lot of me time. At the end of a swim session, one always feels physically and mentally refreshed.

In my opinion, swimming is probably the best physical activity to keep a senior citizen fit and healthy. It entails zero impact on the knees and other joints (unlike running), the heart rate can stay low and well under check and it exercises all the muscles in our upper and lower body. Regular swimming will also certainly improve one’s lung power and aerobic capacity.

Unfortunately, not too many people take up swimming, since it is an acquired skill best picked up in childhood. Paucity of access to pools and even the sea are also huge deterrents to pursuing swimming.

(The author, Zarir Baliwalla, is a businessman based in Mumbai. He is ex-president of the Greater Mumbai Amateur Aquatic Association.)

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IN ALUVA, A MISSION TO MAKE KERALA SWIM

Saji Valasseril (photo: courtesy Saji)

The owner of a small furniture shop in Aluva has been making a unique contribution to life in Kerala.

A land of backwaters, rivers and seacoast, accidents involving boats have been several in the state. In May 2023, 27 people died when their boat capsized in Tanur. That was merely the latest at the time of writing. What set Saji Valasseril thinking was an incident 21 years ago, when 29 people lost their lives after their boat traveling from Muhamma to Kumarakom, capsized in the Vembanad Lake. “ There were other mishaps too that made me want to do something,’’ Saji, a resident of Aluva, said. In 2007, 15 students, two teachers and an employee were killed when their boat sank in Thattekkad. In 2009, there was the Thekkady boat tragedy when 45 people died after their boat sank in the Periyar National Park. For Saji, it just didn’t make sense that people should die so. He felt that if people knew how to swim; at the very least if they could stay calm and afloat till rescuers arrived, lives could be saved. Saji had a background relevant to imagine so. His late father, V. Thomas Mani, had been a champion swimmer during his days in the army’s Madras Regiment. He taught Saji to swim in the river Periyar.

In March 2010, Saji decided to address the subject of drownings in Kerala, starting with his own family. His two children – Merin and Jerin – and the children of a friend, commenced learning to swim under his tutelage in the Periyar. On the map, Aluva, located on the banks of the Periyar, is a little before the river splinters into a complex estuarine geography ahead of its rendezvous with the backwaters and the Arabian Sea. The Periyar is Kerala’s biggest river in terms of volume of water carried. Because he was imagining back from all those boat accidents and survival in such contexts, Saji oriented his swimming lessons towards an eventual river-crossing. Merin did just that on the 39th day of her training; aged 13, she swam across the Periyar. The younger Jerin followed suit; he took two to two and a half months of training.

A training session in progress in the Periyar (photo: courtesy Saji)

Around 2012, Saji named his endeavour, ` Valasseril River Swimming Club.’ By 2013, the number of people crossing, rose to 38. “ About one third to a quarter of a batch reach the competence level where they become eligible to try a crossing. The rest, learn swimming and go,’’ Saji said, adding against the backdrop of his syllabus that he estimates a trainee to acquire basic skills in 16 days. In 2014, 76 people swam across the Periyar. In 2017 the number touched 87 and in 2019 it rose further to 91. After a spike in response during the COVID phase, when almost 240 people crossed each year in 2020 and in 2021; in 2023, 1620 people trained, of who, 140 crossed. “ In all, I estimate, about 8000 people have by now learnt swimming from us,’’ Saji said leafing through files of entry forms submitted over the years. He has since become a regular subject of interest for the local media. According to Saji, the current length of the club’s crossing is approximately 750 metres as the route is to and fro. Maximum depth should be 30-40 feet.

Saji’s swimming sessions also attracted a clutch of differently abled individuals and senior citizens. Media reports cited a double amputee, a boy born without hands, a girl who underwent neurosurgery and was weak in one leg and a septuagenarian lady – Arifa – who swam with her hands tied, among those who crossed the Periyar. On August 14, 2023, Arifa spoke to this blog. In 2018, Aluva, where she resides, was among places affected by the heavy rain and floods that hit Kerala. She was not in town when calamity struck but her children told her of what happened including the tales of rescue. Arifa didn’t know how to swim. But she quickly realized that to be useful in times of flood and be part of relief work, swimming was an essential skill. That’s how at 68 years of age, she connected with Saji. Having grown up near a river, Arifa wasn’t an utter stranger to water. But that was 55 years earlier in her childhood. The year she attended Saji’s training session and learnt to swim, she couldn’t cross the Periyar because the day for swimming across coincided with her period of fasting. Then the lockdown induced by COVID-19 intervened. Eventually, she swam across the Periyar in 2022. Two months later with a week of training devoted to the new challenge assigned her, she swam across with her hands tied. “ The message I’d like to share from this attempt is that all should learn how to swim,” she was quoted as saying in the New Indian Express. In its early days, Saji’s program was focused on children. In 2016, very unexpectedly, a parent swam along in the crossing. He died of a heart attack. Following this, an ambulance became a constant presence at the program site and on the day of crossing, a safety-boat was engaged. More importantly, Saji began training adults as well. Nowadays, no adult gets to the crossing stage without the trainers being convinced that they are up to it, Saji said. Aside from his commitment to the journey he has embarked on, what engages about Saji’s project is the manner in which he built up scale.

A crossing underway in the Periyar (photo: courtesy Saji)

A state, where many houses once sported private ponds, the declining engagement of the average Malayali with swimming, is a product of altered lifestyle. Greater construction has meant the old ponds levelled and built over. Overwhelming emphasis on academics meant the school and college-going became distanced from swimming or they learnt it as a skill paid for and acquired at any of the state’s modern but expensive swimming pools. Simply put, the numbers of those in newer generations who were acquainted with water, shrank. As these shifts happened, the Periyar’s kadavu or bathing ghats grew neglected and with it, familiar places on the river with gradual progression in depth and ideal to teach swimming, dwindled. Compounding the issue has been the problem of sand mining (it plagues many rivers in Kerala), which creates places with sudden variation in depth.

A May 2022 report in Mathrubhumi said, “ As per the records of the Fire and Rescue Department, on an average, three people drown in the state per day. ‘’ According to it, in 2021 alone there were 1102 reported cases of drowning, up from less than 1000 the year before. Many people drowned in rivers and ponds when visiting such places in groups. Even if one knew swimming, being able to tackle natural water bodies with currents in them, was an issue contributing to the fatalities, the news report said. When this writer contacted M Naushad, Director (Technical) of Kerala Fire and Rescue Services, he said that while knowing how to swim is always a good thing, people not heeding instructions to desist from swimming when and where conditions are not ideal, was a worry.   

Saji, who is clear that his job is not to create champion swimmers but impart a survival skill, hosts his training at Manappuram in Aluva, a place by the Periyar famed for a Shiva temple and which has a gradually sloping approach into the waters. Here, Saji came up with an ingenious device (his fabrication skills came of use); a removable, collapsible structure of GI pipes, 70 feet by 40 feet in dimension. He currently uses four such structures. Each of them, anchored and kept afloat by an array of inflatable rubber tubes, separates the area within used for training, into seven lanes of varying water-depth. The trainees work their way from the shallows to the deep lane. This graduation takes weeks. It is only after such progression entailing 50 days, that the best of the lot, get a shot at the crossing monitored by expert swimmers with a kayak in tow. For Saji, this method has worked well so far. More importantly, since his mission commenced in the need to teach a state how to save itself in water, he considers the model replicable for use at other locations. “ If you look at where all people are drowning these days, you will be amazed. There is the case of a large temple pond, which was cleaned and beautifully redone only to have people drown in it later. My device can be built to required scale and all it needs is the shallows of these ponds. If people are trained using the device in such ponds and they venture to the deep only after they are properly skilled, fatalities can be minimised,’’ Saji said.

A training session in progress in the Periyar (photo: courtesy Saji)

Thanks to the four structures in the water, Saji said, the club can train close to 1000 people at a time. As a concept, scaling up won’t be appreciated by discerning trainers because of the inbuilt danger in something going wrong. For instance, trainers’ attention risks being spread thin as the number of trainees rise. Health issues is another. But against the backdrop of Kerala’s emergent equation with water (there is the newfound reality of floods to cope with during rains plus those recurrent boat tragedies) Saji merits a hearing. According to him, municipal authorities and elected representatives have supported him in the ongoing project in Aluva. To aid scale and reduce risk related to the natural variabilities of a river, he wishes for a large tank with powerful pumps, built at Manappuram, which mimics the water depth of the Periyar’s banks and its flow. It will cost money; sponsors will be needed. But if by now, you are thinking that training plus scale should be fetching this man good money; hang on. According to Saji, he charges nothing except for expenses around safety. His main income remains the small shop: Valasseril Furniture.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai. This is the slightly extended version of an article written by the author and published in The Telegraph on July 10, 2023.)             

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MAXIMUM LIFE

Dr Anand Patil (photo: courtesy Anand)

At the 2023 Comrades Marathon, Mumbai-based Dr Anand Patil crossed the finish line for the tenth time thus earning a Comrades Green Number Roll of Honour. Runners who complete the ultramarathon in South Africa ten times earn the recognition.

Since 1921, a total of 14,000 runners from South Africa and around the world have earned this green number, information on Comrades website said. A week before his tenth Comrades run, Anand did the Durban Half Ironman.

A surgeon by training, Anand’s journey in endurance is a combination of running, triathlon, ultra-long-distance cycling and ultra-long-distance swimming. Apart from the ten Comrades, Anand has done over 13 full Ironman and 11 half Ironman, Olympic distance triathlons and 40 marathons in India and overseas including all the six World Marathon Majors. That last distinction earned him the Abbott World Marathon Major medal. His endeavours also include several ultra-cycling races and ultra-swim events. He has done an Ultraman.

Anand grew up in Kurli village in Belgaum. Much of his childhood years were spent swimming in rivers, local water bodies, cycling, walking and running through the village, apart from pouring over his school books. There was no TV and movies for distraction. At the Vaishampayan Memorial Government Medical College, Anand became part of the swimming team and as a second year MBBS student, he took part in competitions. After his MS, he went into the medical profession. He did not stop formal education after MS. Instead, he went on to do M.Sc (in Biotechnology), MA (in Political Science and History), LLB and M.Phil (in Anthropology). He also cleared the UPSC (Union Public Services Commission) examination, which is essential for a career in civil services. Alongside he started a coaching centre, Study Circle, for those aspiring to join civil services.

Years went by. Anand’s medical practice continued. He also focussed on expanding Study Circle across Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi. “ I had put on a lot of weight. A college friend of mine Dr Ajay Chaugale was shocked to see me so heavy. He asked me to join a gym. At that time both me and my wife Vaishali became life members of Talwalkars Gym,” Anand said. This was in 2000.

In 2004, Mumbai Marathon made its debut. Anand was part of the medical team for that edition. “ In 2008, I ran 21 kilometres at the Thane Mahapaur Run (it was later renamed: Varsha Marathon). I ran without any training. My time at Talwalkars Gym helped build my strength and stamina,” he said.

Dr Anand Patil (photo: courtesy Anand)

In 2010, he ran the full marathon at Mumbai Marathon. In the same year, he did Berlin Marathon. In the following year, he did the New York City Marathon. While running this marathon, he heard about Comrades. In 2012, he did his first Comrades run. Comrades Marathon is actually an ultramarathon of about 87-90 km held annually in South Africa. The route alternates between the downhill version from Pietermaritzburg to Durban and the uphill version from Durban to Pietermaritzburg.

“ I began understanding endurance. I realised that I was healthy but not fit,” he said. Fitness, according to him, has five aspects – stamina, endurance, strength, power and speed.

While running his first Comrades, he heard about Ironman (triathlon) from an Australian runner. Soon, he was dividing his time between work, workouts and races. These races were a mix of marathon, triathlon, cycling events and swimming events.

In May 2017, Anand participated in Noosa Ultraman in Queensland, Australia. An Ultraman held over three days entails a 10 km swim, 140 km bicycle ride (on day one), 281 km bicycle ride (on day two) and an 84.3 km run (on day three). “ I didn’t get my visa until the day before I was to leave. I did the swim segment without a wet suit,” he said. He finished the Ultraman in 33:42:16 hours. Less than a month after the Ultraman, Anand ran the Comrades Marathon (his sixth). Later that year, he did Bhutan Tour of the Dragon, a 255 km-mountain bike race and followed it with Ironman Langkawi.

Anand’s calendar is packed with endurance events. In 2018, he did the Boston Marathon and followed it up with Comrades. Later that year, he did three events over three weekends – Ironman Maryland followed by Chicago Marathon followed by Ironman Louisville. He also did Ironman Langkawi, his third time there. He did this Ironman five times from 2016 onward. Anand is expected to do the Ironman Langkawi for the sixth time this October.

In ultra-cycling events, Anand has completed the Ultra Spice twice and the Deccan Cliffhanger six times.

According to Anand, management of calories is very important for endurance sport. “ This time at Comrades I planned to be on my feet for 12 hours. As per my calculation I needed 11,000 calories. My aim was to get to the halfway mark in under five hours with a need for 4,000 calories,” he said.

On the day of the race at Comrades, at 1:30 AM, he had breakfast and a 750 ml isotonic drink. On reaching the start line, he had a black coffee. “ The race commenced at 5:30 AM. I was in corral H. I lost 7-8 minutes by the time I crossed the start line. At 7:30 AM, at an aid station, I had a drink. From Drummond, which is the half way mark, the stiff climb starts. I did not feel hungry until finish line,” he said. He finished the run in 10:51:07 hours. His best timing in Comrades was 9:50 in 2016.

Having finished his tenth Comrades and earned his green number, Anand plans to focus on training for Race Across America (RAAM), an ultra-cycling event that starts in Oceanside in California and ends at Annapolis, Maryland on the US east coast. It covers a distance of over 3,000 miles and traverses through 12 states. As part of his training, he intends to do the 600 km solo crew supported Himalayan ultra from Leh to Kargil and back in August this year.

Dr Anand Patil (photo: courtesy Anand)

What strikes about Dr Patil’s life is the tendency to push one’s limits, visible as much in his accomplishments in sports as it is in academics. While his harvest in endurance spans marathons to ultramarathons and Ironman to Ultraman; in academics, his degrees range from humanities to law and medicine with an acceptance for the civil services. “ He is an outlier,’’ Anand’s wife, Vaishali, said (according to her, back in time when Anand cleared the civil services exams, he was ranked 68th and offered the chance to join the Indian Police Service). She attributed his nature to upbringing in a rural backdrop, challenges faced along the way, the determination to overcome obstacles and the resolve to maximise whatever one did. “ His needs are minimum. One might think that someone with his kind of calendar would have a diet regimen, a workout routine and endless needs. He has no such needs or demands. If you see his office timings, they are unbelievable, his practice for all of his races is always below par and yet I have not had an ounce of supplements or gels or anything in my house ever,’’ Vaishali said.

With Study Circle picking up strongly, it wasn’t long before the doctor – he had his own hospital in Navi Mumbai – was splitting time between his medical practice and the civil services-training outfit.

Anand has now reoriented his medical acumen towards Fitness calibration based on the concept of the Fitness pyramid, besides training students for the civil services.

In a sense, life has come full circle for him. Those who were his students at Study Circle and have since become high ranking civil servants look up to Anand as their guru in endurance sports too, Vaishali said.     

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

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2023 IAU 100KM ASIA AND OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIP / A CLEAN SWEEP BY JAPAN

Toru Somiya (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Indian men place second in team category

India’s Vipul Kumar finishes fourth in men’s 100km race

Japanese runners swept the podium in both individual and team events at the 2023 IAU 100km Asia and Oceania Championship held in Bengaluru on Sunday, July 30.

In the men’s race, Toru Somiya of Japan won by a good margin covering the distance in six hours, 39 minutes and 38 second, ahead of fellow compatriots Haruki Okayama (second place at 6:50:42) and Hideaki Yamauchi (third at 6:55:51). The outcome in the women’s race was similar with Japan’s Miho Nakata (7:27:44) placing first followed by her teammates, Mai Fujisawa (7:45:49) and Mikiko Ota (7:54:33) in second and third respectively. In the team championship, the men’s category was easily won by Japan; its best three runners had an aggregate time of 20:26:11. India placed second with an aggregate of 22:21:13 and Chinese Taipei, third, with 29:25:54. In the women’s category, the team championship went to Japan with a total of 23:04:06. The second and third positions went to Australia (27:48;03) and Chinese Taipei (32:25:07) respectively.

Miho Nakata (Photo: Latha Venkatraman)

Going into the race, expectations were high for the former world record holder Nao Kazami (he had a personal best of 6:09:14 for 100km) and Okayama (PB of 6:12:10). On race day, Kazami completed the first 11 laps of the five kilometre-course in 3:25:28 compared to 3:29:05 for Somiya. They completed 13 laps in 4:05:05 and 4:08:27 respectively. However, somewhere past the middle of the race, Kazami who was running strongly began to struggle and fade. Somiya completed his 18th lap in 5:53:52. Kazami took 6:02:37 to finish 17 laps. Somiya steadily consolidated his position and emerged winner by a wide margin (Kazami eventually finished in 7:22:10).

According to his team manager, this was Somiya’s first appearance in the national running team. His work schedule is such that he works during the night and trains during the day. On the other hand, the winner among women, Miho Nakata, has been a member of Japan’s national team before. All in all, the Japanese team drove home the message that its participation raises performance levels at running competitions, comprehensively (India’s previous taste of an IAU championship – the 2022 IAU 24 Hour Asia and Oceania Championship, also held in Bengaluru – hadn’t featured participation by the Japanese). Japan is among countries where running enjoys a great following.

Vipul Kumar (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Having said that, on Sunday, finishing fourth in the men’s category (behind the top placed Japanese trio) was India’s Vipul Kumar. His gritty run took 7:06:10 to complete. He fell short of improving his national best (7:04:00) by a narrow margin. “Although the weather was an issue, I am very happy with my performance,” he told this blog. The second and third fastest Indian runners were Amar Singh Devanda (7:27:48) and Saurav Kumar Ranjan (7:47:06). These three runs taken together, earned the Indian men’s team a second place in their gender category.

In the women’s section, the Indian team suffered an unexpected setback when its top runner Jyoti Gawate (she holds the national record for women in 100 km – 8:20:00) was forced to pull out due to severe cramps. Between her 14th and 15th laps, there was a long gap in her appearance on the course, those watching the race from the side-lines noticed. It was the outcome of a break she had to take to address her situation. Jyoti completed 16 laps before deciding to discontinue. Coming into the race, Jyoti had the sixth best personal timing in 100km among the gathered women athletes. On Sunday, the fastest Indian woman to 100km was Shashi Mehta (8:52:38). She was followed by Gunjan Khurana (10:24:50). The race was held on a five kilometre-loop with a successful completion entailing 20 laps of the circuit. Unfortunately, the Indian women couldn’t deliver three successful completions from their ranks, to be considered for the team championship.

The podium finishers in the open category (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

In the 100km open category, Velu Perumal was the winner; he covered the distance in 7:55:50. The second runner to finish was Gorkha Ram Beniwal with a timing of 8:15:22 and in third position was Anmol Chandan who finished in 10:02:39. There were no women runners in the open category. There were eleven male runners; all from India. Both Velu and Gorkha Ram pointed out that their diligent training helped them to stay strong on the course. Velu had been part of the Indian team which took part in the 2022 IAU 24 Hour Asia and Oceania Championship, held in Bengaluru.

The 2023 IAU 100km Asia and Oceania Championship was organized by NEB Sports.

Lkhagva-Erdene Namkhaidorj and Alan (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

On Sunday, many runners spoke of the weather as a suddenly emergent challenge. In the days preceding the race, Bengaluru had seen rain and experienced a generally cool weather. The day before the race, at the time of the event’s opening ceremony, there was rain. It kindled hopes that the cool weather would continue. Race day commenced with cool weather. But a few hours later, the sun came out and the coolness gave way to heat and humidity. Add to it portions of the course described by some of the runners as less shaded or hosting an incline. From the hours merging morning to noon onward, the struggle was evident across the assembled runners. Thus, although they won the race by a fantastic margin when compared to the rest of the field, the timings of even the Japanese runners were not close to their personal best. A team manager explained the situation as being as much physical as it was psychological. According to him, there was so much confidence in the weather being good that when it turned otherwise, the carefully placed calculations and motivation levels of some of the athletes may have got upset. There were exceptions. India’s Amar Singh Devanda, Saurav Kumar Ranjan, Binay Sah (7:55:21) and Shashi Mehta managed new personal best.

Amidst all the competition, there was a lovely example of cooperation and sharing. In ultrarunning, each team’s support crew plays a crucial role; they make sure they know their runners well, cater to each athlete’s needs on race-day and support them with nutrition and hydration. Mongolian ultrarunner, Lkhagva-Erdene Namkhaidorj, out on her first international event and only the second 100km-race of her life, had reached Bengaluru without anyone to support her during the run. Alan, who was supporting Shannon-Leigh Litt of New Zealand, decided to support the Mongolian runner too. The two teams shared one tent offering the required support facilities. As Lkhagva-Erdene Namkhaidorj completed her race, it was Alan who showed up to greet her at the finish line, Mongolian flag in hand for her to wrap herself in.      

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

Some photos from the event:

(All photos taken by Shyam G Menon)

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INDIA TO HOST IAU 50K WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

It will be the first IAU world championship to be held in India

Athletes and officials assembled in Bengaluru for the IAU 100km Asia & Oceania Championship (Photo: Shyam, G Menon)

India will host its first world championship under the auspices of the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) in November this year.

“ It will be the 50k world championship and will be held in Hyderabad,’’ Dr Nadeem Khan, president, IAU said in Bengaluru on Saturday (July 29, 2023). As yet IAU championships held in India have spanned 24 hours and 100k and been in the Asia-Oceania championship category.

Dr Khan was in the city in connection with the IAU 100km Asia & Oceania Championship, which gets underway on Sunday (July 30). The event – it is the first IAU 100k championship being held in India – is scheduled to take place on a five kilometre-loop at the GKVK (Gandhi Krishi Vigyana Kendra) campus. The championship was formally declared open at a ceremonial function, Saturday evening.

Nao Kazami (Photo: Shyam G Menon)
Haruki Okayama (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

The event has participants from Australia, Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, Japan, Mongolia and India. It is being held in association with the IAU, Athletics Federation of India and is being organised by NEB Sports. The presence of Japan and Australia add to the competition on show. Of the top five male athletes ranked as per their personal best, the top four are from Japan and one, from Australia. This includes former world record holder Nao Kazami of Japan, who has a PB of six hours, nine minutes and 14 seconds for the 100k. Expected to give him tight competition is his teammate, Haruki Okayama (6:12;10). All the aforementioned five athletes have sub-seven-hours PBs. Going into the race, the composition of the top five ranked according to their PBs was the same for women with the top four hailing from Japan and one from Australia. The best PB among women belonged to Miho Nakata (7:19:12).   

The previous edition of the 100km Asia and Oceania Championship was held in Jordan in 2019. In 2022, the 100km World Championships were held at Bernau-Berlin where India’s Vipul Kumar and Jyoti Gawate set new national bests (7:04:00 and 8:20:00) in the distance. Both Jyoti and Vipul are part of the Indian team running at Bengaluru on Sunday (July 30, 2023).

The Indian team with IAU president, Dr Nadeem Khan (far right), race director Nagaraj Adiga (second from left) and others (Photo: Latha Venkatraman)

“ The hosting of IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championship will give us visibility and reach in ultrarunning,” a related press release said quoting Dr Rajender Kataria, an IAS officer and president of the local organizing committee of the championship in Bengaluru. “ The championship coming to India is a culmination of several years of hard work. We are very excited to bring this event to India and appreciate the fact that this will further elevate the sport in the country,” the release said quoting Dr Khan.

India will be represented by ten ultrarunners – four women and six men. They are Vipul Kumar, Binay Sah, Saurav Kumar Ranjan, Nishu Kumar, Amar Singh Devanda, Karthik Joshi, Jyoti Gawate, Gunjan Khurana, Shashi Mehta and Aparna Choudhary.

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

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A PODIUM FINISH AT BADWATER, A MESSAGE FOR WOMEN IN INDIA

Sonia Ahuja (Photo: courtesy Sonia)

Months after the 2023 Brazil 135 and almost two weeks since the year’s edition of Badwater 135 concluded, one of the most remarkable performances by an ultrarunner hailing from India, has stayed little-known.

Sonia Ahuja grew up in Gurgaon near New Delhi. That’s where her journey began. Her parents were teachers. “ My father and I walked a lot. We would walk miles and miles to go to various places. I remember walking a lot as a kid,’’ she said mid-July 2023. It was past 2PM in India, hour of sleep in Los Angeles but as the ultrarunner put it, alright for a chat and just an hour shy of the regular commencement of a running day.  Following her post graduate course in computer application (MCA), Sonia joined Tata Computer Services (TCS) and within months, reached the US. “ I was a generally ambitious person,’’ she said about her tendency to work hard and excel. In due course, she did her MBA from College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She also got married (to Sameer Nayyar), started a family and focused on raising her daughter (Rhea).

Aside from all the walking she had done with her father in India, Sonia had not participated in sports through her years in school and college. Emphasis was on academics. Running entered her life in the period that followed her joining Wells Fargo, and her taking on increased responsibilities at work. The appetite for more work induced stress. To address it, she jogged daily. To her delight, she found it not only good for physical fitness but also mentally refreshing. “ I became less anxious and thought more clearly,’’ she said. Eventually, running became a habit. “ I couldn’t work if I hadn’t run,’’ she said. It wasn’t long before, somebody suggested that she try a marathon. And so, in 2014, Sonia who lived then in San Diego, ran her first marathon – the Rock `n’ Roll San Diego Marathon. To everyone’s amazement, she returned a sub-four-hour timing. In the years that followed, she participated in several events; among them the Los Angeles Marathon and the iconic marathons in Boston and Chicago. She wasn’t a devotee of systematic training and big events. She wasn’t also into racing and running for medals. She preferred instead to run for her own enjoyment, set her distances accordingly and generally opted for low profile events where the pressure to chase targets and be around thousands chasing targets, was less.

What intrigued Sonia wasn’t as much these marathons as how she felt after running them. At the end of a 42 kilometer-run, she felt quite energetic. There was little exhaustion or sense of collapse. It prompted her to run more. Soon it became a trend with her – she would participate in a marathon and while others rested the day after or did short recovery runs, she would do a half marathon. In turn, that ability for sustained running, provoked her curiosity for distances longer than the marathon; the ultramarathon. Four years after her marathon debut in San Diego, she did her first 50 miler in Avalon, California, in 2018. “ It went off well. I felt great after completing it,’’ Sonia said. But further exploration of her boundaries in running was checked by work. She had become the chief operating officer of a private equity backed company; the job entailed considerable travel and the schedule affected her running.

Sonia Ahuja (centre) with her family and her support crew for Badwater 135 (Photo: courtesy Sonia)

In 2020, COVID-19 gripped the planet and the world sank into a period of lockdown and restrictions. The onset of pandemic put on hold, Sonia’s traveling. It freed up time; time that she could use to run. Although running events worldwide went into a hiatus, in a US that believed in the physically active lifestyle, Sonia was able to push her running and pile on mileage. She was doing weekly mileage of 80-100 miles. There were days when she hid her Strava data from public view so that her eccentricity wouldn’t be noticed. Her distances were now moving steadily from marathon to ultramarathon territory. It was partly fueled by the fact that she found the greater distances “ calming.’’ She also liked running on trails and during this time indulged in a lot of hiking. “ I went to Switzerland and ran and hiked in the Swiss Alps,’’ she said. In 2020, she signed up for her first 100 kilometer-race. It was a small event. Days before the race, she realized that she was feeling very good. “ So I changed the 100k to a 100 miler,’’ Sonia said. She placed second among women in the race. Once again, what stood out for her was the comparative lack of exhaustion. She had run (no walking) the whole distance and aside from a few blisters, she was absolutely alright. She continued to do many 50 kilometer-runs.

Around this time, another revelation occurred. She had struck up an annual tradition of hiking up and down Mt Whitney (one way is 11 miles); all in a day’s time. Whitney (14,505 feet) is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and Sierra Nevada. On one occasion, she did the single day-hike up and down Whitney and ran a marathon the next day. She posted this on social media and among the responses she got was a suggestion that she attempt Badwater 135, the grueling ultramarathon through California’s punishingly hot Death Valley with a finish at over 8000 feet-elevation at Whitney Portal, the trailhead to Mt Whitney. “ I looked it up on the Internet and it seemed like the Holy Grail of ultrarunning,’’ Sonia said. In the ultrarunning world, completing Badwater is a coveted benchmark. As Sonia studied the details including race results, it struck her that no Indian woman had yet completed Badwater in the solo category. According to Sonia, in September 2022, she contacted Chris Kostman, the race director of the Badwater ultramarathon and spoke to him of her wish to participate. Given ultramarathons push people to their limits and can therefore be risky, the major events out there usually insist on prequalification. Kostman asked Sonia about the races she had been to. It was soon evident that her resume was weak. He told her that she should have done at least three 100 mile-races before thinking of Badwater.

That didn’t deter Sonia. Given applications for the 2023 Badwater 135 had to be submitted in January, she knew she had very little time to wrap up three races and deliver a performance good enough for consideration by Badwater.  In October 2022, she emerged the overall winner at the Miami 100 ultramarathon with a run that nearly broke the course record. In December 2022, she completed the Rio Del Lago 100 miler in 22 hours. The final of the trio of qualifiers she picked was in Brazil – the Brazil 135, much respected by ultrarunners for its difficulty. An April 2017 article by David Green in Trail Runner magazine described the race so: “ The Brazil 135, a realization of race director Mario Lacerda’s dream, features 135 miles and 35,000 feet of climbing.’’ According to it, the race takes place on “ a storied trail—the “Caminho de Fé,” also known as the “trail of faith”—whose history goes back hundreds of years as a religious pilgrimage. Each mountain climb is rewarded by a descent into each unique village, a church and folks who whole-heartedly support the ultrarunners.’’

Running Badwater 135; Sonia Ahuja (centre) and members of her support crew (Photo: courtesy Sonia)

For Sonia there was a first; Brazil 135 was a race that required the runner to have a support team. Sonia describes herself as “ minimalist’’ in approach and “ low maintenance.’’ That lightness of being had been her attitude towards races too. During her races, she refuelled at aid stations. Brazil was going to be different. And yet, it shouldn’t break the relaxed approach to racing she was comfortable with – that was the thought. Sonia sounded out her best friend, Ekta Ranjan, about a vacation in Brazil with an ultramarathon on the side. Ekta did some homework and understood that Brazil 135 was no run in the park. It gave her an idea of how to prepare. By now members from Sonia’s running club (Mari Iwasaki and Crystal Alexander) were keen to crew; there was also a backpacker (Brian Matsuyama) headed to Brazil who joined in. Local knowledge was critical for the race in Brazil and so they recruited a person from there (Marcelo Bo) as well for the crew. The overall tenor was still one of vacation. The style hid a crucial detail.

Brazil 135 was terribly important for Sonia – a win there ensured runner an entry to Badwater. As it turned out, Sonia finished first among women in the race and third overall. It was remarkable. Besides the intrinsic difficulty of Brazil 135, she had done three 100 milers as best as she could in the period spanning October 2022 to January 2023. And she completed Brazil 135 without injuries, blisters and stomach issues. It was a strong finish. “ I now knew I was going to run Badwater,’’ she said. Of the six persons, who crewed for her in Brazil, four formed her support crew for Badwater (the rest turned up to support). For the event in California, she tweaked her approach and made it more target-oriented. She did additional strength training. For ease of crewing and monitoring her progress, the team visualized the upcoming race as five marathons. Sonia set a best-case scenario of covering the 135 miles in 24-25 hours (she later revised that to attempting a sub-24-hours pace); worst case was 28-29 hours. Plus, some serious planning went into hydration and nutrition; the conditions at Badwater are not to be trivialized with (Death Valley is among the hottest places on Earth. On July 17, 2023, The Guardian reported that the temperature at Furnace Creek in the valley had touched 53.3 degrees centigrade the day before. Furnace Creek is also where the hottest temperature yet recorded on Earth, happened: 56.7 degrees centigrade in July 1913).

From Badwater 135; Sonia Ahuja (centre with flag) and her support crew (Photo: courtesy Sonia)

On race day in early July, Sonia who commenced her run as part of the second wave of runners (there were three in all), covered the first marathon segment in sub-four hours. Some from her crew expressed concern at the pace. It was the early stages of the race and there was a lot of distance left to cover. The second segment went by in 4:15 hours. By the end of the fourth segment, she was still ahead of her personal target. Then came a section, where runners were advised a roughly 20 minute-ride in the crew car to get past a flooded portion. Sonia had thought of catching some sleep in the car. In her urge to secure a fine finish for India, she iced her legs hoping it would make them fresh for the last stretch. Her confidence was also bolstered by the fact that a month before, she had done a dry run of some sections of the race and in that, she had covered the last portion pretty fast. Inexplicably on race day, the last section proved agonizing. Her legs kept giving away and she had to almost crawl to the finish line (it is suspected, the icing of the legs may have caused the problem). Still, the first woman hailing from India to finish Badwater solo placed second in her gender category and fourth overall. According to Sonia, at 25 hours and 42 minutes, hers was the third fastest time to finish among women, in the history of the race. “ It’s insane. Absolutely fantastic,’’ Ashish Kasodekar, well-known ultrarunner from Pune, who has completed both Brazil 135 and Badwater 135, told this blog of Sonia’s performance.

News of Sonia’s podium finish created a buzz among runners in India. Badwater is one of the world’s toughest ultramarathons. People associated with India’s national ultrarunning team reached out to Sonia. But her work and life in the US had seen her take US citizenship; she was now technically a Person of Indian Origin. What the 47-year-old wishes for most, is to see her podium finish inspire female ultrarunners from India to attempt races like Badwater.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai. This article is based on a conversation with Sonia Ahuja.)     

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AT A GLANCE / JULY 2023

Zarir Balliwala (Photo: Latha Venkatraman)

Mumbai’s Zarir Balliwala wins age category podium in 5 km swim in Bali

Mumbai’s Zarir Balliwala won in his age category in a five kilometre-swim at the Oceanman Asian Championship, held in Bali from July 7 to 9, 2023.

The 62 year-old placed first in the men’s 60-69 years age category with a finish in two hours, 19 minutes and 24 seconds. He finished 75th from among 175 swimmers.

The championship featured races over 1 km, 2 km, 5 km and 10 km. Zarir participated in the 5 km-race.

“It was a hard course, turbulent in parts and windy. On the return leg it was slightly difficult. Overall, the experience was wonderful,” he told this blog.

This performance helped Zarir get a direct entry into the World Championships in Phuket in December this year.

Indian team for IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships 2023 announced

Ten ultrarunners have been chosen to represent India at the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships to be held in Bengaluru on July 30, 2023.

Three women and seven men have been named to participate in this event.

The three women are Jyoti Gawate, Gunjan Khurana and Shashi Mehta.

The men’s team includes Vipul Kumar, Om Prakash Saran, Saurav Kumar Ranjan, Nishu Kumar, Kartik Joshi and Amar Singh Devanda. Binay Kumar Sah has been named as a stand-by athlete.

Vipul Kumar holds the national best in 100 km for men at seven hours, four minutes and 52 seconds. Jyoti Gawate holds the national best for women at 8:20:07. Both Vipul and Jyoti had set their records at the 32nd IAU 100 km World Championships in Bernau-Berlin on August 27, 2022.

Asian Athletics Championship / Jyoti Yarraji, Ajay Kumar Saroj, Abdullah Abubakar strike gold

India bagged three gold medals on the second day of the 25th Asian Athletics Championship (July 12-16) in Bangkok.

In the women’s 100m hurdles final, India’s Jyoti Yarraji finished first in 13.09 seconds to claim top honours. In the men’s segment, Ajay Kumar Saroj claimed gold in the 1500m covering the distance in three minutes, 41.51 seconds (3:41.51). In the men’s triple jump, Abdullah Abubakar stood first with a gold medal-winning jump of 16.92m.

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