5 Men, 1 Nation, united in stride
About six months back on a crisp morning in the Himalayas, he excitedly, yet nervously, toed the starting line of a 100 mile race. Months of training and toil came together that day in a celebration. The gun went off and the runners jostled to begin a run that would last about 30 hours if everything went according to plan.
Kieren DSouza is a shy talent, an unassuming man who is an engineer by training. His journey to the Indian team of ultramarathoners has been arduous and awe-inspiring. He started running as a way to experience nature up close and fell in love with the sport along the way. He represents a new breed of runners in India. Young, diverse and coming from different walks of life, these people were introduced to running as a hobby, which slowly has grown into a passion.
Many of these have come from the crucible of Indian education, which has for long sidelined sports as a career. But the genius of running is that, it does not have an age limit. In marathons and ultra-marathons, you have twenty-year olds running alongside fifty-year olds as well.
Kieren is a part of the 5-member strong Indian trail running team chosen by the Athletics Federation of India for the trail world championship to be held in Spain this summer. This championship race will be held in the emblematic mountains of Penyagolosa/Castellon. And the planet’s best ultra-runners, from over 41 countries, will compete in this endurance race, a grueling 85km with over 16000 ft elevation gain.
Race profile: https://tracedetrail.com/fr/trace/trace/49392
More race details here: http://www.i-tra.org/page/349/2018_TWC_-_Penyagolosa_Trails_SportHG.html
Ultramarathoners are a special breed in themselves within athletics. For the readers’ benefit, any footrace longer than 26.2 miles is an ultramarathon. It had been gaining attention from the media and public in recent years, largely for the immense health benefits it offers. With time constraints in this day and age running provides an excellent opportunity of health benefits, releasing stress and adding happiness to life.
Here’s a cool video of the Penyagolosa trails from the organizers:
Each member of the 2018 Indian ultrarunning team comes from a disparate background and shares a similar yet different life story. Each has their own reason of why they run, or why it all started. But there is one thread that connects us all. To derive the immense joy that ultrarunning brings us, the camaraderie we enjoy, the places it takes us; both out in the nature and in exploration of our own soul, our own limits that we perhaps do not yet know of. To find them and push them even further, maybe that’s why we run.
The fantastic 5-member Indian team is composed of — Ullas Narayana, Kieren D’Souza, Sampath Subramanian, Lokesh Meena, and Ajit Narwal.
