The Ultra and Trail Running Selection Committee of Indian Athletics (formerly Athletics Federation of India) met on May 1 to decide on the team of ultra runners to represent India at the IAU 24 Hour World Championship scheduled to be held in Albi, France over October 18 and 19, 2025.

Twelve runners (six women and six men) will be representing the country. Two additional runners have also been chosen as stand-by for both the men’s team as well as the women’s.

The women’s team comprises Aparna Choudhary, Shashi Mehta, Sunita Subba, Bindu Juneja, Arti Agrawal and Sadiya Salim Savy. Sufiya Sufi will be the back-up runner.

The men’s team includes Amar Singh Devanda, Ullas Narayana, Saurav Kumar Ranjan, Geeno Antony, Velu Perumal and Sugourav Goswami. Badal Teotia will be the back-up runner.

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

Thoudam Opendro Singh is overall winner

Ashwini sets a new national best

Ashwini Ganapathi fell short of an overall win at the Bengaluru BigFoot Backyard Ultra but set a new national best for women.

She ran for 28 hours (covering 6.7 kilometres in each hour) notching up a total mileage of 187.6 km, a new national best by a woman in this format of ultra running. The previous record of 27 hours (180.9 km) was held by Aparna Choudhary, which she set in October 2024.

The overall winner of the Bengaluru BigFoot Backyard Ultra 2025 was Thoudam Opendro Singh. He ran for 29 hours. The event was held on May 10, 2025.

The backyard ultra, also known as the last runner standing, is a format of ultra running in which runners are required to run a loop of 6.7 km within an hour. Every new hour runners who have completed the 6.7 km in the previous hour continue their running until the last surviving runner is declared the winner. This winner is also the sole finisher of the race.

“ The Backyard Ultra is an interesting format of ultra running and I had wanted to attempt it for some time now,” Ashwini said.

The concept of backyard ultra was founded by Gary Cantrell of Tennessee (also known as Lazarus Lake). He is the founder and race director of Barkleys Marathon.

“ I paced my run in such a manner so as to get seven to eight minutes time in each hour to get rest and nutrition before the next hour started,” Ashwini said. She managed to finish well within the 60-minute cut-off for most of her 28 hours barring one when she had a close call. She had to help a runner get back to the finish line.

The rules of this format of ultra running mandate that runners not take any external help or aid from passers-by or friends while on the route. But at the end of each loop, they can be assisted by their support crew. Ashwini’s support crew consisted of her husband Sandeep and Anand Adkoli, race director of Malnad Ultra.

“ When we started at 6 am on May 10, 2025, we were 20 runners. As the hours went by, runners kept dropping out. At the 18th hour only four runners remained and by the 22nd hour only two of us were left – Opendro Singh and me. I continued till the 28th hour. I gave up as I had developed blisters on my feet. Opendro Singh continued for the 29th hour to win the race,” she said.

The national best for men in this format – 52 hours – is held by Sunil Sharma. He set this record in October 2024.

Ashwini also holds the national record for 12 hours with a mileage of 111.8 km.

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

Amar Singh Devanda sets a new national record in 12 hour run at Bengaluru Stadium Run 2025

Aparna Choudhary, Geeno Antony take top honours in 24-hour run

Ultra runner Amar Singh Devanda bettered his own national record in the 12-hour run at the 24-hour Stadium Run Bengaluru held on March 30 and 31, 2025.

Amar ran a distance of 151.6 kilometres during the stipulated 12 hours, smashing his own record of 145.2 km set previously. He also holds the current national record for 24-hours with a distance of 272.54 km covered.

In the 24-hour run category, Aparna Choudhary and Geeno Antony won in the women’s and men’s categories respectively. They qualified for the IAU 24-Hour World Championship to be held in Albi, France later this year.

In the women’s race in the 12-hour category, Bengaluru-based Bindu Juneja finished with top honours covering a distance of 108.8 km.

Amar Devanda’s training for the 12-hour run was a coordinated effort of the NEB Performance Team, which included a nutritionist, a running coach and a strength and conditioning coach. “ The training was devised with a scientific approach,” he said. As Amar has already qualified for the World Championship, the focus was to step up his pace in the 12-hour run so as to attempt the same pace during a 24-hour run.

“ My run went as per the plan laid out by the coaches,” he said. Post event, his recovery has also been quite good. “ I should shortly commence my training for the World Championship,” he said.

Aparna Choudhary, winner of the women’s 24-hour run, said she was confident going into the race as her training went well. Aparna normally does her training runs in the afternoon, therefore the weather adversities did not trouble her during the race.

On race day, weather was pleasant in the early hours at Bengaluru but got progressively tough with harsh sun and gradual rise in temperature.

“ I did suffer some gut issues, which really got bad. Lalita (race director of India Backyard Ultra), the person crewing for me, saved the day. I also ended up with hip flexor issues, a common problem that I have faced in many of my ultra runs,” Aparna said. In the 24-hour run, she covered a distance of 192 km.

In February 2025, Aparna had finished overall first in the 338 km run at Vineyard Ultra 2025 held in Nashik. She also won the women’s race of the Border 100-mile run held in December 2024. She has been running events for the past few months including marathons and ultra runs.

Arti Agrawal, who finished second in the women’s 24-hour race, had entered the event with very little training.  “ I have a full-time job and a family to take care of,” she said. But she did a few ultra runs including the 100-mile race of Border Ultra 2024, Adani Ahmedabad Marathon 2024, Tata Mumbai Marathon 2025, Jaipur Marathon 2025 and Tata Ultra 2025. “ I took these races as my training runs for the 24-hour run,” she said. During the stipulated 24 hours, Arti covered a distance of 182.8 km.

Geeno Antony, who secured the top position in the men’s 24-hour run also went through a vigorous 10-week training program before the event. “ This time around my training plan was designed by Santhosh Padmanabhan (also the manager of the Indian ultra runners’ team). Training included very long runs leading to a weekly mileage of 200-220 km sometimes,” he said.

As part of his training, Geeno did a 10-hour run, four night runs and four six-hour runs.

“ On race day, I started conservatively so as to stay consistent through the 24 hours. But I did lose the last 50 minutes due to an injury. It was a setback to lose that time but my coach asked to me to stop, a prudent decision in hindsight,” Geeno said. He covered a distance of 238.8 km, a new personal record of 300 meters.

Velu Perumal, who finished second in the 24-hour race, was targeting a distance of 245-250 km but finished with 233.2 km. Having done much of his training in the cool climate of Ooty, Velu did find the daytime heat at the Bengaluru stadium difficult. Velu, an army man, is now posted at the Military Hospital at Coonoor in Ooty. His training went off well with inputs from Santhosh Padmanabhan and support from Brigadier Muthana, Military Hospital Commandant.

Sugourav Goswami, who finished third behind Velu, had also stepped up his training ahead of going into the race. “ I had the longest training session with higher intensity, increased distance and time. I was running a distance of 150-170 km every week,” he said. Sugourav, who finishing third, covered a distance of 226 km, thereby qualifying for the World Championship. To qualify for the IAU 24-Hour World Championship, male runners have to cover a distance of 225 km and women runners 180 km during a 24 hour run, as per Indian Athletics guidelines.

“ My race went as per plan, near perfect. As I train around a lake in Bengaluru, I was used to running in a loop,” Sugourav said. But the long hours did prove challenging. The Bengaluru-based ultra-runner has participated in many ultra-running events. This run was his first ever stadium run. “ The longest time I had been on my feet in a running event was 18 hours. At the stadium run, I did find the last few hours tough. I struggled in the last three hours,” he said. He had devised his own training plan.

In the 12-hour women’s race Bindu Juneja was the winner covering a distance of 108.8 km. “ This was a personal best for me but I am tad disappointed that I could not break the national record of 111.8 km (currently held by Ashwini Ganapathi),” she said.

Her training was executed very well with guidance from Santhosh but on race day she did face some gut issues. Nevertheless, in the last one hour of the race, Bindu managed to cover 10.5 km to take her total mileage to 108.8 km.

The 100 km race was won by Jayadrath who finished in 7:59:33.

The NEB organized stadium run in Bengaluru was held to enable ultra-runners qualify for the upcoming IAU 24 Hour World Championship.

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

Ethiopian runners Tadese Takele and Sutume Asefa Kebede won the men’s and women’s race at the 2025 edition of Tokyo Marathon, one of the six World Marathon Majors, held on March 2, 2025.

Takele finished in two hours, three minutes and 23 seconds in the men’s race. In the women’s race Kebede clocked 2:16:31 to defend her title.

Weather on race day was unusually warm by Tokyo standards. It was perfect at the start of the race but got warmer in the second half of the race. The brunt of the shift in conditions was experienced by the amateur runners.

We spoke to a few runners from India about how they trained for the event and their experience, running the Tokyo Marathon.

Subhojit Roy

Pune-based Subhojit Roy was always more focused on running a well-timed marathon in different cities than on the six-star World Marathon Major (WMM) journey. Nevertheless, having done a few of them he decided to play along and complete all the six.

The six-star WMM circuit entails running the six marathons – Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York City and Tokyo. Subhojit’s first WMM was Berlin Marathon, way back in 2017. This year, at Tokyo, he completed his six-star WMM journey. “ I got entry to the Tokyo Marathon after several attempts over the years,” he told this blog.

Towards the end of August 2024, Subhojit contracted chikungunya and had to drop out of the half marathon race at Hyderabad Marathon 2024. Though he recovered from the infection the aftereffects continued to wreak havoc for several weeks thereafter.

“ I had enrolled for Berlin Marathon 2024.  My training was absolutely negligible but I decided to go as all my bookings were non-refundable. On race day, I decided to run but carried some cash that would enable me to get back to my hotel in the event I could not complete,” he said. He finished the race in 3:12:59.

He continued to suffer body pain due to the chikungunya infection until sometime in December 2024. “ I had six weeks to train until the Tokyo Marathon,” he said. His coach Nihal Baig chalked out his training plan but a half marathon race timing and a tempo run did not turn out well. After a discussion with his coach, he altered his nutrition and was able to put in two weeks of very good training runs. “ After these training runs, I was confident,” he said.

He targeted a 3:08-finish but was able to finish in 3:05:56, a new personal record for Subhojit. “ The weather was warm and the last 5-6 kilometres were tough. I was not in a mood to let go. The weather turned warm by Tokyo standards but we train in much worse air quality and on traffic-laden roads,” he said. Subhojit was the fastest among Indian runners at the 2025 Tokyo Marathon.

“ My recovery after Tokyo Marathon has been quite good,” he said. He has enrolled for the 2025 Boston Marathon but is yet to decide on going for it.

“ My WMM journey has helped me maintain fitness, focus and sanity in the face of the many ups and downs of life. I think it has more than served the goal of self-improvement and discovery that I embarked upon when I started,” he said.

Narinder Sharma

Narinder Sharma, now a resident of Chandigarh, trains under Pune-based endurance athlete and coach, Kaustubh Radkar. He commenced his training under Kaustubh while he was at the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla. He has been running for over 10 years.

“ My training for the Tokyo Marathon went off quite well,” he said. His performance stayed on track though the rise in temperatures did impact him. Narinder finished in 3:31:57.

At Tokyo Marathon, runners are not allowed to carry their own water bottles. They are required to seek hydration support offered in a very organized manner all along the route.

Narinder, 61, an army veteran, has completed three of the six WMM so far – Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo. He is due to participate in the 2025 Boston Marathon slated to be held on April 21. He plans to resume his training shortly. “ After Boston Marathon, I may consider New York City Marathon, which is held on the first Sunday of November each year,” he said.

Harish Vasista

The 2025 edition of Tokyo Marathon was the culmination of the six-star WMM journey for Bengaluru-based runner Harish Vasista.

He had commenced his WMM journey in 2018 when he ran Berlin Marathon that year. Training under Bengaluru-based coach K.C. Kothandapani (also known as Pani Sir to runners), Harish followed his training plan. “ Every Sunday, he gives me a plan. Usually, the training plans are woven around the race I am planning to do, my current conditions and my ability,” he said. It is often a combination of fast runs, tempo runs, interval training and long runs on the one hand and strength training and stretching on the other, he said.

“ My coach had given me a target of 3:45 but I was able to better it, and finish in 3:43:11. I had no issues during my race at Tokyo but I missed a couple of water stations and that was tough as the weather was warmer than expected,” he said. Runners are required to go to specific water stations on the basis of the last digit of one’s bib number. “ With so many runners around, you do end up missing your water stations,” Harish said.

Running the six WMMs was a lifetime experience as one meets runners from different parts of the world. “ It is awesome to see runners come with challenges and difficulties and yet complete their run with perseverance. I enjoyed all my six marathons,” he said.

Harish has signed up for the Sydney Marathon, which is the seventh run to become a part of the World Marathon Major circuit. He said he would like to do the Ladakh Marathon but it may not be possible this year as Sydney Marathon falls on August 31, 2025 and the Ladakh Marathon is typically held in the first weekend of September. What awaits him closer home is the TCS World 10k in Bengaluru, scheduled to be held on April 27, 2025.

Dilip Ghadge

The 2025 Tokyo Marathon was Dilip Ghadge’s fourth World Marathon Major. He had done Berlin Marathon, London Marathon and Chicago Marathon earlier.

A resident of Kalyan near Mumbai, Dilip, 57, has been running for over 10 years. After the initial flurry of running events, Dilip wanted to run a marathon in a European city and was aiming for the Amsterdam Marathon. But he was advised to run the Berlin Marathon, one of the initial six WMMs. He did the race in 2023 and quickly followed it up with the 2024 London Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon this year.

As Dilip has ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) certification, he drew up his own training plan for Tokyo. “ Training went off quite well and the run was also good,” he said. Dilip finished in 3:52:26, a new personal record.

“ I had learnt about Tokyo Marathon rules, especially the one about hydration. At Tokyo, water is supplied in cups and runners have to gulp down quickly and resume their running. During my training runs, I practiced this method of drinking water – gulping from the bottle kept in my car,” he said.

His recovery has been good, helped mainly by lots of walking, He went on some sight-seeing trips in Japan after the run.

“ I will be running Boston Marathon on April 21, 2025 and I have already resumed my training,” he said. Later in August this year, he will be running the Sydney Marathon, which has now become part of the World Marathon Majors as its seventh event. Dilip’s sixth WMM – New York City Marathon – will have to be attempted in 2026.

Smita Kulkarni

Smita Kulkarni, a runner from Pune, completed five of the six marathons of WMM with her run at Tokyo Marathon this March.

Her training for the Tokyo Marathon went off well under coach Kaustubh Radkar. She was happy with her training. But the warm weather of race day threw up challenges. “ At Tokyo Marathon, runners are not allowed to carry hydration and with unexpectedly warm weather there was a rush at the hydration stations. Most runners were trying to grab water. It was a mess,” she said.

“ The first half of the race went off okay but during the second half we had no respite from the sun,” she said. Barring the problem with hydration everything else about Tokyo Marathon was good, Smita said. She finished in 3:57:51.

Smita is trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon and she needs to finish in 3:50 for her age category. Having finished Tokyo Marathon and with nothing immediate on the cards, Smita plans to get back to the gym for weight training.

“ In the past 15 months, I have done five marathons – New York City, Delhi, London, Ahmedabad and Tokyo,” she said acknowledging the fact that she needs to take a break from running and resume with renewed energy, later.

Sunanda Dayani

Sunanda Dayani, a runner from Mumbai, has been running for over ten years. Tokyo Marathon was her fourth WMM, having done the New York City Marathon in 2019, Berlin Marathon in 2023 and Chicago Marathon in 2024.

Guided by Coach Kaustabh Radkar, Sunanda went through a 16-week training plan that commenced in November 2024. “ My Tokyo run went off very well though the weather was much warmer than expected. It’s a late start and the sun was right on our heads,” she said. Sunanda found the second half of the race tough because of the sun. She finished the marathon in 3:58:32. Her personal best timing in a marathon is 2:55:23, secured at the Apollo Tyres New Delhi Marathon 2024.

“ My recovery has been quite good. I have been walking a lot in Japan,” she said. Sunanda, a nutritionist, plans to now focus on strength training and resume marathon training in July. Typically, runners in India ease off running during the summer months and focus on strength training. “ I may want to do a trek possibly,” she said.

Kranti Salvi

At Tokyo Marathon 2025, Kranti Salvi completed her six-star WMM journey.

“ Because I run regularly, I am always race ready,” she said. The Mumbai-based runner is often a podium finisher at most of the races that she participates in. She has also secured a Guinness World Record for being the fastest marathon runner in a saree at the 2018 Berlin Marathon, in Welsh dress at the 2022 London Marathon and in a Japanese kimono at the 2024 Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

She used the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2025, held in January, as a long training run for the Tokyo Marathon. Her WMM journey began in 2017 with Boston Marathon.

“ Tokyo Marathon was a very different race compared to the other WMMs. There are many rules to adhere to. It’s also a silent race. The roads are excellent and the volunteers do a very good job,” she said.

She finished Tokyo Marathon in 3:59:09.

Back in time, she had wanted to do the Tokyo Marathon in a kimono but the race rules do not permit running in costumes. Having secured the requisite permissions from the Guinness World Records she decided to do it at the 2024 Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

Pramod Salvi

When Pramod Salvi signed up for his first long-distance race at the Mumbai Marathon many years ago, he enrolled for the full marathon without knowing what it entails.

He is not new to sports or adventure sports. He has been involved in many activities including tennis, swimming, equestrian events, motor rallying and hang gliding.

Pramod has been into recreational running for over 13-14 years and has done several marathons and many other shorter distance runs. He and his wife Kranti Salvi, a podium finisher in most runs, have been participating in several races of varying distances over the years.

At Tokyo, his run went off well barring some niggling cramps that he felt sometime around the 30 km mark. He finished the run in 5:23:03.

With this marathon, he has finished five of the six-star WMMs. He is yet to do the Boston Marathon.

Pratik Shetty

Mumbai-based Pratik Shetty learnt about World Marathon Majors when he decided to read about running to get information on injury prevention.

He started running sometime in 2014 primarily as a means to stay fit and keep himself involved in some sporting activity. At the 2016 Mumbai Marathon, he signed up for a full marathon. “ I realized later that I jumped to full marathon too early in my running. Following that Mumbai Marathon run, I ended up with an ankle injury,” he said. He decided to read up and find out more details about injury prevention. That’s when he got to know about World Marathon Majors.

Pratik, 34, has been registering for each of these WMMs and got entry to his first one at the 2018 Berlin Marathon. He bagged his second one at the 2025 Tokyo Marathon. He has four more to go for the six-star WMM medal.

“ My training for Tokyo Marathon was not good as my work kept me busy. My training mileage was quite low,” he said. On race day, he started well and was able to keep to his pace until the 22nd kilometre. After a toilet break at this point Pratik was not able to get back to his pace. He finished in 5:56:53.

“ The Tokyo Marathon course appears easy but the gentle inclines along the way do take a lot of energy out of the runner,” he said. Pratik will now be focusing on the Procam Slam, which entails running four races – TCS World 10 k in Bengaluru, Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon, Tata Steel World 25 k in Kolkata and Tata Mumbai Marathon.

Having done the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) certification, Pratik chalks his own training plans. His next race will be the upcoming TCS World 10 km race in Bengaluru slated to be held on April 27, 2025.

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