There’s no dearth of inspiring athletes in India. Some run small distances, mid-level distances, some full marathons and some compete in the Ironman athletics contests. Whereas some are just passionate about running and do so extensively, like veteran model and actor Milind Soman. However, there aren’t many ultra marathoners in India – people who run more than 100-kilometre races.
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Kieren D’Souza is one such guy. The 23-year-old from Nagpur recently became the first Indian to complete one of the toughest races in the world – the Spartathlon in Greece. The race involves a distance of 246km from Athens to Sparta which D’Souza completed in 33 hours, 2 minutes and 25 seconds and stoood 86th among 370 participants.
It was for the first time that an Indian flag fluttered over the finish line in Sparta near the statue of the great Greek King Leonidas where the race ended. The 34th edition of the Spartathlon race was flagged off on September 30 and ended on October 1.
During this Spartathlon, Kieren created a new 100-mile record of 18 hours 37 minutes, the first by an Indian, when he reached the 47th Check point at a distance of 159.5km.
“Throughout the stretch, Kieren maintained a comfortable speed, reaching the 98th position at checkpoint 28, which was at a distance of 100km from the start,” his father Peter D Souza is quoted as saying by TOI. Kieren’s mother Christabel D’Souza, the sole member of his crew, provided him assistance and encouragement throughout. “At the 47th check point (100 mile mark), he had moved into the 64th position. At the 60th check (195.5km from the start and 51km from the finish) point Kieren was at the 60th position.
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However, soon his leg gave trouble and he developed inflammation of a tendon. “It was only about 50km from the finish when the pain around my left shin developed, that I felt I would take longer than expected to reach the finish line. Over the next 50km, I kept setting small targets and finally reached with more than 2 hours 35 minutes left for the cut-off,” Kieren told TOI.
There is no prize money and a finisher’s medal is the only prize one receives. Everyone who completes this race is crowned with an olive wreath, and a drink of water from the river Eurotas. Till 2015, only 2558 runners had completed the race, comprising 2290 men and 268 women.
Entry into the race is through a lottery of those who meet tough qualifying standards in ultra marathons.
Apart from Hong Kong 100km ultra marathon in January 2017, he has three other international marathons lined up – France, Spain and Switzerland. But funding remains a problem area for him. “For the Spartathlon, the support received from Indian embassy gave me and my mother a big boost. I could also do it due to the support from my sponsors – Azani, Suunto, Unived Sports, Volini and few kind people, who went out of their way to help me financially. Besides diet, nutrition and health care, I need funds to enrol myself at international events and the cost for doing so is prohibitive,” he said.