Three runners from Bengaluru – Ramesh Rao, Bindu Juneja and Gagan Sethi completed the Comrades Marathon, one of the world’s oldest ultramarathons (since 1921) which takes place in South Africa and covers a distance of approximately 89 km, on June 11. A total of 403 participants from India, including 42 women, took part in the marathon this time.
The run began at Pietermaritzburg and ended at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban. While there were 84 participant countries, India had the largest international running contingent this year. Last year, only 150 members from the country participated.
“It was quite a challenge as we had to run around five mountains and elevation of 1,100 metres. It was also a timed run meaning that we had to finish the run within 12 hours. We also had five interim cut offs. The temperature is another factor. While it was 6 degrees in the morning when we started, by afternoon it was around 23 degrees and by the time we ended the run, it was 16 degrees there,” said Ramesh Rao, who completed the marathon in 10 hours 46 minutes.
