Khardungla Challenge 2015

“Failing is not a crime but a lack of effort is” 

Blurry eyesight!! Dizzy head!! Numb hands!! Somehow retaining consciousness!! Staying towards the middle of the road to avoid drifting towards the snow on one hand or into the deep valley on another!! Putting one step after another!! The last water station came eons ago and I have already exhausted the water bottles I was carrying along. Can’t afford to fall down here! Bathed in the first rays of morning Sun, Khardungla is almost here. Surely, the top has to be just around the corner!!

[Time: 8:00AM; Elevation: 18,000Feet; Distance: 30Km mark; weather: 4-5deg Celsius with winds]

These were the words echoing in my head close to the highest point of the Khardungla Challenge (72+ Km Ultra–Marathon) in the midst of the upper Himalayan range. Along with the Three Idiot inspired Pangong Tso, Khardungla Top (K–Top) is on the priority “to-do” list of every Leh Tourist. This ancient trade route of nomadic tribes has been converted into the world’s highest motorable road (Peak Height: 5370M) by the indefatigable Border Road Organization (BRO). Folklore has it that akin to ship’s captain, most BRO comrades preferred going down with their vehicle (dumper, roller, digger) into the gorges rather than bailing out of it in case of any accident which were quite common. True to BRO’s signboard – “we strive for your better tomorrow”, these sacrifices have given the world a scarcely believable route through some of the most hostile terrain to live off their biking / cycling dreams.

So why did we land up here, when there are quite a few longer and infinitely more saner races in the plains back home? Quoting Everest Legend George Mallory, “Because it's there”. Philosophy apart, we  my wife KV (Khushboo Vaish) and myself DK (Durgesh Kashyap) got our first relatively unexpected “Did not Finish (DNF)” at the 90^th Comrades Marathon (Up Run) in South Africa in June 2015. Not only did we have to face the well documented treatment of drop-outs in the marquee event; we also lost on our special edition back-to-back medals (Since we successfully completed Comrades Down run in 11:30 hours in 2014). We couldn’t let ~1,200 Km of practise run during the Jan-May Period at the peak of Mumbai Summers go waste. Plus, we needed something to boost our confidence? So what better than giving another quality marathon a shot!! We had dropped out at 80 /70 Km at Comrades and hence the 72 Km here didn’t appear as daunting.

Brad Hogg took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar for the first time in a Hyderabad ODI in 2007. Post-match, Hogg went up to Sachin with a photograph to get his autograph. The snap had the stumps in the frame with the bails on the ground, Sachin was walking off and Adam Gilchrist was trying to control Hogg’s enthusiasm who was celebrating ecstatically as though the wicket had saved his career. Sachin signed the photo with the words, “This will not happen again”. Brad Hogg (no mean leg spinner) played against Sachin in all three cricket formats for over 18 years after that without ever getting his wicket again. We took a silent pledge of our own of making this our first and last DNF!!

Practicing for any Ultra–Marathon requires an attrition effort. Not only, one has to run slow, the total mileage has to be much higher which means much longer practice time compared to a regular half / full marathon. Sweating in practice to the point of exhaustion when no one is watching on a lazy Sunday afternoon is the only way of assuring a par performance. An ultra-marathoner has to make their body used to working under fatigue. It is when you are completely exhausted and about to give up that you feel that hidden source of energy within you to take you a little further. Slowly and steadily, one is able to grow his limit. Any potential wear and tear happens only towards the end of any race when one is trying to speed up towards a time finish. Since, we escaped that last ten percent of the Comrades, our legs were reasonably fresh. After resting for a week (travelling with parents to United Kingdom) post Comrades, we were back to the treadmill.

Besides distance, this practice required almost perpetual hill training which limited our sessions to gym or Malabar hills. To break the practise into little modules, we had gym runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with back to back long runs on Saturday and Sunday. Swimming towards the later part of Sunday allowed us the much needed relaxation.

Over roughly two and a quarter months of practice, we covered additional 700 Km horizontal distance and a vertical distance equal to twice the height of Mount Everest at 18 Km. Alongside the schedule, we ran quality practice runs at Mumbai Ultra (85 Km for myself and 75 Km for KV) and Hyderabad Marathon (rolling hills) in mid and end August respectively. I had the opportunity of running with our very own Ironman – Dr. Anand Patil during these runs giving me an ample amount of time to pick on his brain for understanding the secret behind maintaining performance consistency without injury. Dr. Patil has been the most consistent Comrade Runner for last four years finishing smoothly around ~10:00 Hours and became the first Indian male to complete Comrade and Zurich Ironman back-to-back in 2015. All this, he has done at a young age of “54” and alongside running a flourishing personal firm. Unexpectedly, entire practice was in hot and humid Mumbai atmosphere of Mumbai. From my prior Leh experience, I was confident of being able to acclimatize well at high altitudes with adequate amounts of rest. I did regret this over-confidence.

Over last six years, Leh and its tourist profile have completely changed. In 2009, there was a dearth of quality vehicles while now the city roads have very limited place to walk. From the pristine no dust zones earlier, the entire city now seems to be perpetually under construction. Development does come at a price. Finally, while foreign tourists count has remained stagnant, count for their Indian counterparts has gone through the roof. To cater to the taste of Indian households and provide a complete package of travel, food and lodging; numerous guest-houses have opened up across the Leh town.

We stayed at a small family run guest house “Sai-La” with a huge kitchen garden which supplied for most of the meals. The next few days were more of ticking off the “To-do”s. Sightseeing on Day 1 (Lamayuru, Alichi and Lekir), night stay at Pangong Lake on Day 2/3, Mini Trek on Day 3, Rafting on Day 4 and Cycling down from Khardungla top on Day 5.

Due to cloud bursts led rains, the region’s heritage monasteries are being run down. Those having Leh on their travel plan would be wise in not delaying same a lot further. These precious monasteries might be damaged beyond recognition in the next few years. Thanks to Phunsukh wangdu aka Amir Khan, Pangong is always full. The crowd has come at a heavy cost to the local flora and fauna. Hordes of birds dotting the lakefront have all but disappeared. To our utter surprise, a fake 3-idiot patch with tens of Rancho restaurants has been created at the very tip of the lake to save the original stretch from pollution. We stayed at Spangmik (last village on Indo – Chinese border). Here, I had a six year old promise to keep. In 2009, I had clicked snaps of the kid of our homestay owners and had promised to return with printed copies if I ever came back. The kid’s mother could scarcely believe that someone will remember them after so many years! Next day, rafting was just about okay with limited water in Zanskar. In complete contrast to the all foreign raft –mates in my last trip, this trip had a complete Indian contingent. And with our folks came, the perpetual delay, cribbing, boasting and so on. It is a pity how foreigners appreciate the tough conditions under which the locals work but our own folks can’t. With utmost difficulty we found the shop which arranges for cycling trip down Khardungla and we contemplated if we should try the exercise with 36 hours left to the event. But KV insisted as she hasn’t had this experience earlier and I had to give in, no wonder. L I had fallen somewhere midway from Khardungla top while racing down with a bunch of foreigners in 2009. To avoid any repeats, we rode slowly covering 40 Km of boulder laced roads in about 3 hours.

Twice during these leisure trips, I had bouts of unconsciousness. I collapsed sometime during the night at Pangong stay feeling almost no sensation in my head. Not having sufficient water through the day combined with already low oxygen and closed windows led to my brain being complete deprived of oxygen. I made a mental note of keeping at least 500ml water with me during the entire run. While cycling down from Khardungla, I tripped by the roadside trying to dodge a rushing sumo. Within moments, the bout of dizziness returned but I had sufficient water on hand this time around. These incidents sowed enough seeds of doubt in my mind to convince me to take it easy on the race day. Honestly, I had contemplated going all – out for the non-Ladakhi podium positions in this run!

Unlike its more famous counterparts, KC expo was to the point with no paraphernalia. Organisers were happy at the response. 85 runners had registered in 2015 including 45 non–Ladakhis (Outsider count in 2014 was just 11!!) Runners were advised to carry their clothing and requisite food supplements rather than rely on intermediate pickups. We could finalize our running gear only at the starting line-up in the wee hours of the morning. This should have been sorted much earlier. Runners had to prepare for the early morning biting cold with icy winds and heavy sunlight laced with UV rays as the day progressed to the noon. So it is like dressing up for a Mont Blanc and a Sahara run together. I had contemplated changing shoes midway but quickly side lined the idea after being advised to carry our gear. 

On pre-race day at organiser’s office, most talk was around Running safe!! Staying safe!! Drinking safe!! Great emphasis was laid on avoiding short-cuts and checking this was the primary job of Volunteers. Ultras are like gladiatorial arena where one can’t have anything other than sheer respect for the co-runners waiting to go the grind. Organisers were impressed by the handful of female participants. Later, we realized that this race is even more difficult for the females. In addition to regular challenges, lack of any portable loo on the way meant loss of precious time trying to find suitably isolated place to relieve oneself, especially with the quantum of water consumed to tackle lack of oxygen. Attending to nature’s call will be a complete story in itself for any female runner at this run.

Along with a bunch of Mumbaikars (had not met them at Mumbai Ultra which talks volumes about the growing strength of Ultra runners in this city), we boarded the bus to Khardung village on the other side of Khardungla pass in the Nubra valley. Getting out for a pee and tea break at top of Khardungla was still making me breathe deeply. Luckily, the snow had receded. As if to help in acclimatising better, the bus stopped for a long time just ahead of the top due to some activity on road ahead. “Booommmmm”. Valley shuddered at the deafening echo. BRO had just blown a piece of the mountain right in front of us by dynamite to broaden the road. Luckily, it was last for the day. Still, delay increased our travel time to Khardung from 2.5 Hours to 4.5 Hours. Saving grace was seeing few of the so-called short-cuts for to skipping couple of Kilometers which was mentioned during the introduction. No way on earth, we could dream of even contemplating these. Not only will they require more energy, any slip will (Himalayas are young mountains so have lots of loose stones) will take one tumbling down and maybe cost a bone or two for good measure.

Through the journey, we saw the distance markers at 5 Km interval on the other side of Khardungla. I felt confident about the distance but a bit concerned about lack of oxygen. After what seemed like ages (time appears to pass slowly in the mountains!!), our bus stopped at a small garden next to the road just prior to the Khardung village by about 5:00 PM. The place had an array of tents. One look around and even the most experienced runners can’t avoid being humbled. In the light of the day, one can see the entire length of serpentine 32 Km of upwards mountain road. Standing tall and defiant, Mountains are almost daring one to take a go at them. Back home, one of our runner friends had rightly mentioned that organisers could have named this race more creatively. “Man v/s Mountain” Challenge would have been so apt. 

After a round of hot tea (mug was reminiscent of the one given to Farhan Akhtar at army camp in BMB) and biscuits, we were allotted our tents. Soon, it was dark all around. With darkness came the herculean task of reaching one’s tent in single go, every time one stepped out. Now, there are people who love this sort of stuff with tents, sleeping bags and darkness, like KV, I am so not one of those. This was my first instance and I was feeling particularly claustrophobic. KV was trying to arrange the tent like a mini-house designating space for specified item at every corner.

Dinner was scheduled at 6:30 PM giving us a clear hour for settling in. I had hardly taken a nap when the plate banging started (similar to dreaded bell of Scindia hostel days, all juniors were expected to line up within 30 seconds at any time of the day or the night!!). I don’t eat much in the last meal prior to any race to avoid having stomach issues. Further, my appetite was not whetted at the thought of eating Ladakhi Thupka. To our surprise, there was a full hot spread of rice, dal, fresh vegetables and chicken. Well, what more can one ask for in this place which literally was an epitome of being “in the mid of nowhere”.

At 7:30 PM during post dinner attendance, we realized that about 20 registrants had not turned up for the event. Khardungla Challenge had got accreditation by Association of International Marathon (AIMS) this year onwards. With AIMS, came the timing cut–offs. Since its inception, event has not had any timing limits over the last three years. Runners were just happy to complete and a few also took appropriate rest on the route in between to manage their lack of oxygen.

8 Hours for 32K from Khardung Village to K–Top, 2.5 Hours for 14K from K–Top to South Pullu, 3.5 Hours for remaining 25K from South Pullu to Ladakh Public School Grounds in Leh Town. 14 Hours in Total!!

For the distance, the cut–offs seemed quite generous (could not have been any further from truth in hindsight!!). After initial formalities, we slipped out of the meeting to handle the two bigger issues at hand. First, KV had spilled almost a glass of water on her shoes while filling her bottle after dinner. Not only was her foot getting numb right now, this was the only pair she had got. An entire bunch of tissue paper was dumped inside the shoe to soak away the moisture (Luckily, it did). Second, my Tom-Tom GPS watch decided to conk–off all of a sudden. On hearing my plight, the camp coordinator readily agreed to lend his watch without any hesitation. Honestly, in the scheme of things, either of this could have been a race breaker the next day.

High point of the stay was clearly the crystal clear sky with thousands of bright twinkling stars against the backdrop of snowy and brown mountains. Even the best of the cameras would fail to capture this beauty. There are times when something should be just experienced and not captured. After hurriedly arranging our gear (20 pieces in total) for the next day, we bundled inside our sleeping bags for those few winks of sleep. Locals in the next tent kept chatting till late in the night ensuring multiple hours of tossing and turning for us.

Unexpectedly, the morning came sooner than anticipated at 1:30AM. We were up to a chilly and windy weather but fortunately not a sub-zero temperature. Organisers had laid down a good breakfast spread (under the circumstances; basic bread, porridge, egg and banana is gold standard!!). However, we skipped most of it as is our practise before any race. Surprisingly, bananas were quite raw. Little did we know that our tryst with these raw bananas would continue through the race!!

There is only so much you can tell your co-runners at this stage other than showing a silent thumps–up. The race started sharp on time at 3:00AM right in front of our camping site to the chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Ganpati Bappa Morya and Ladakhi war-cries. Before, we could take our first few steps, the locals were off in a flash. To give a perspective, no non-Ladakhis has clocked better that 11:30 Hours at Khardungla Challenge. However, the local lads (usually from prestigious Ladakh Scouts – only scout to be provided regiment status by Indian Army) consistently run below 8:00 hours with the winners touching 6:30 hours. Average speed of over 11 Kmph in these conditions is purely insane!

Despite my initial skepticism, using headlamps turned out to be a nice experience. (Dogs allowing, I would surely use them for after–dark practice runs at Bhakti Park in Mumbai). I trotted off slowly with a plan of having only limited walk breaks in the first leg of the race. Most races are spoiled by the quick outburst of energy in sprinting at the start. Dr. Patil’s words of not accelerating under any circumstances on the uphill stayed in my mind.

“Everybody has a plan until they are punched in the face” .. Mike Tyson!!

Despite wearing double set of gloves, my hand started getting cold almost right away. Chilly winds in the face kept pushing backwards. Due to tunneling effect, there were sudden passes in the mountains where these winds were becoming unbearable. Within first 500m, I found my breathing getting heavy forcing me to walk till I got into some sort of a rhythm. I settled into a 400m run – 100m walk pattern. This stretch had metalled road cutting between the mountain so there was no fear of ditches / snow puddles. Little niceties of life!! Headlamp light was quite sufficient. From over a hill–top, the long line of headlamps drew an interesting pattern resembling fireflies in the dark. 

I ran with multiple runners at this stage but most seemed to slow down as the incline picked up. After crossing over 4 Km as per GPS watch at 3:45AM and regular roadside markers, I sighted the first official distance marker for the race. To my surprise, it read 70 Km to go. This turned out to be ~4 Km compressed to ~1 Km. Nice little joke at the beginning itself!! I had exhausted my 500ml coke (habit from comrades!!) and was hoping to reach the water station at this mark. However, it turned out to be an Ambulance where the visibly sleepy driver didn’t seem to stock any water. Luckily a little distance ahead, I caught up with a mobile station which handed me a bottle. Due to lack of experience, the person forgot to open it. After some effort and removing a pair of gloves, I did manage to open it. Starting here, I decided to keep couple of bottles with me right till the top. Water is the only saviour against lack of oxygen in these conditions. Dizziness with severe head-ache can strike in no time even on brisk walking.

Steadily, I kept moving ahead crossing some of the more enthusiastic starters. At about 5 Km into the race, I was maintaining a brisk pace and had opened up fair distance ahead of the next set of runners. In the pitch dark, I did imagine seeing headlamps a few times only to realize later that it was my mind doing the tricks. Our first major stop was North Pullu at 14 Km mark. On the bus the day before, it had seemed right next to Khardung. Two hours of braving cold had still not got me any nearer. Having only a handkerchief to cover my face / nose turned out to be a seriously bad idea at this point. At one point, I had to take off both my gloves to adjust the hanky in place to cut out on wind and still allow easy breathing. This chilled my hands and I was yearning for hot tea at North Pullu. Up above, the sky had lightened up and I decided to get rid of headlamp at North Pullu.

After a little over 2.5 hours, I reached North Pullu. While the water stock was replenished, there was no sign of anything hot. Army people at this point seem to be lost in their own activities. With me being a solitary runner here by some distance, they didn’t seem too enthused. In true Ladakhi spirit though, my “Jullay” didn’t go unanswered.

The incline from here was expected to be quite steady. Chance of getting any flat patch was behind us. A straight jump of ~3000 feet within 18 Km of gravelled, boulder laced and broken roads. As if this was not enough, during this stretch one had to also guard against stepping into snow puddles which would most certainly end many a runner’s hope of meeting the time limits. I continued on my steady strategy of 400m run – 100m walk. With first rays of sunlight upon us, there was some warmth but the wind had also got stronger as I climbed up. Waiting for entire 5 Km to get the water replenishment did not seem feasible and I continued to rely on mobile vans. After a few Kilometers, I felt a tinge of dizziness for the first time. In no time, I finished one entire 500ml water bottle and sat down to calm myself. This story of consuming oodles of water carried continuously from here on. Above 15,000 Feet, I was finding it difficult to run for anything more than 250m in one go. I made a conscious decision to avoid any attempts of running in this zone. This distance had to be covered by brisk walk. I kept telling myself that Khardungla was a 6 Hours trek followed by a marathon. Despite my speed slowing down considerably, I was on track of reaching the top in about 6 hours well within the 8 hours cut–off. About 4-5 runners overtook me at this stage while I went ahead of couple of tiring and injured locals. Regulars will tell you that the key challenge of Khardungla is in handling the first 4 hours. I was “almost” at that end of this slot now.

Snow clad Khardungla top was first visible at about 50 Km mark. Taking deep breaths, I kept moving ahead always telling myself that every step took me closer to that top. Due to construction work, the 15 Km stretch prior to the top was ragged and laced with all kinds of boulders and stones. In plains, this will not even be considered a road but here in these mountains this was an arterial highway. Organisers had cordoned off traffic on the route till 11:00 AM. Being able to close this route for a handful of runners was definitely impressive. Else, the dust from these vehicles would have been a big menace for the already exhausted runners in this stage.

By 8:00 AM as I drew closer, I could now understand why the limit of 8 hours was not generous at all. Barring 5-6, almost all non-Ladakhi participants were quite far behind me. Till my eyesight went, there was almost no one visible. At 45 Km mark, I decided to take only a single bottle of water as the peak was already close by. Hereon, even regular walking was getting difficult. Despite all conventional wisdom, I started taking rest breaks and was sipping water at every such break to calm my nerves. Before I realized, I was out of water. With water station only at the peak, I had no choice but to continue walking. As if on cue, I got this sudden bout of dizziness. With no water at hand, I was earnestly hoping for someone to come close by but there continued to be just about no one even on the distant visible horizon. The memories of Pangong Tso and cycling came rushing through making my situation only worse.

Blurry eyesight!! Dizzy head!! Numb hands!! Somehow retaining consciousness!! Staying towards the middle of the road to avoid drifting towards the snow on one hand or into the deep valley on another!! Putting one step after another!! The last water station came eons ago and I have already exhausted the water bottles I was carrying along. Can’t afford to fall down here! Bathed in the first rays of morning Sun, Khardungla is almost here. Surely, the top has to be just around the corner!!

By 9:00 AM, mountains seemed to be pushing me towards the cliff as the lack of oxygen hit hard. Unofficial rules state that civilians should not spend more than 25 minutes over 18,000 feet levels when on a leisure visit. Due to slow pace, I had already spent much more time than that and hence the dizziness. Only later, I realized that doing a Stok–Kangri trek few days prior to the race could have been a better way of acclimatization rather than the usual tourist stuff in and around Leh Town. This last 2 Km to the top was straight out of hell. Somehow, I made my way to the Khardungla pass in 6:05 hours. Here, I saluted the fluttering National Flag and somehow managed to control myself from falling at the steps of Khardung Baba Temple – Deity of the local Army cantonment.

Elation of having made to the Top came with the realization that a similar boulder laced route (though without snow puddles) awaited me on the other side. I took some time to chat with the army folks before realizing that my head was not getting any better. My time was already ticking way beyond the advised 25 minutes over 18000 feet level. I deposited a jersey in the stationed van, had some hot tea and rushed towards South Pullu. Despite my now obvious struggles, I was doing fairly well on the time cut–offs so I decided to take it easy hereon. Rankings can wait for later editions. As often told to novices at Comrades Marathon, first race has to be about soaking in the experience, Bronze can wait for later years.

I decided to walk the first few Kilometers till I reached a comfortable height to avoid any dizziness related issues. In terms of road terrain, this is the worst stretch of the entire route. With broad daylight, I could see that “As the crow flies”, only a kilometre had to be covered. Sadly, runners can’t fly.  The only way is the meandering 14K mostly downward track almost all of which is visible to the naked eye in one-go. To motivate oneself, one could look at the peaks left behind and meandering roads already traversed. As in life, runners can choose to get motivated by the challenges that lie ahead or draw inspiration from the past exploits. The end goal is simple to continue moving.  In my view, the timing cut–off for this stretch was the strictest of the three legs taking into account the route on offer.

Somewhere at the top, I also seemed to have caught a nagging cold. This hit me hard as I tried speeding up even at lower heights. So walk, it was again. Towards the end of this stretch before South Pullu, the traffic had started. With it came the dust and exhaust blasts adding yet another dimension to the run. Unconsciously, Mumbai traffic had me prepared for that rather well!! Across the route, I bowed to every single memorial marking the point of death of BRO / Army Grenadiers who had sacrificed their life to give us this route which we proudly claim as “The Highest Motorable Road in the world”.

I took another 2.5 hours to reach South Pullu at 11:30 AM. From South Pullu, the route to the finish was a continuous decline on mostly metalled roads. I was excited to see Coke bottles in the mobile van. Nirav Patel had been coming along with me over last 8 Km. I had my Gu gel here and set for the last 25 Km (or was it 27 Km stretch!!). We had planned to finish the run from here within 12 hours which soon got revised upwards to 12.5 and so on.

Slowly with a mix of walk and Jog, I moved towards the Leh Town. Everything else remaining in shape, I should have been able to cover some time on this stretch but guess that was not destined to be in this race. We were crossed by multiple bikers as they went for their “High” and the mandatory photo moment at the Khardungla Top. As a mark of support, most gave thumbs up with few words of support. In my zone, I could barely understand, what they said.

At 01:00 PM as a first, my compression socks tore on this stretch creating a lot of pain in my foot. Blisters were now only a matter of time. I decided against looking at it till the finish. I asked Nirav to go ahead as I found ways to walk with my injured foot. With Nirav gone, I was again caught in probably the biggest lonely abyss of my race. For as far as my eyes could see, there was just nobody either ahead or behind me. (I was the only runner who had no finishers within +/- 30 minutes of my finish time). Barring bikers and few volunteers, I came across no one from roughly 20K mark till the Leh Town. Keeping the motivation going during this time did require a lot of mental strength despite the obvious benefit of going downhill. Organisers could have done a better job of keeping distance markers in this stretch of the race especially when they were not in sync with the regular distance markers on the road. There was some incline in the last 5 Km but in the larger scheme of things it didn’t hurt much. After a limit, additional pain doesn’t make a difference.

After about 12:35 hours from start, I reached Leh. A situation awaited me here. Volunteers at last water station mentioned that the finish was only a Kilometre away. Religiously, I reached the 0 Km to Leh Road marker. To my surprise, there was no finish line around. I vaguely remembered being told about Ladakh Public School. So, I kept asking the curious people about the same till I luckily came across the race manager’s vehicle in the Leh marketplace. After listening to my outburst, he explained that most of his volunteers were individually trailing the runners who were not ready to board the sweeping van. Fearing for the runners’ life, he preferred to focus his resources on them rather than the finishers, as he aptly put it later – Life is more important than a Finish. He personally paced me to the finish line (which turned out to be another Kilometre away) in 13:06 hours.

Organizing this race is surely a herculean effort for Organizers and they deserve the Kudos. With time, the systems should get more streamlined. In their next edition, they should focus on sorting out the finish situation, last leg distance markers and food quality at water stations. This race deserves to grow into India’s premier Ultra–Marathon. 

I had begun to wonder whether KV had made the second cut-off which seemed to be quite steep. My worry was compounded by the fact that her walking speed has traditionally been quite slow. While I was lost in my thoughts, KV strolled in at 13:39 Hours finishing 2^nd overall in the female category. She had found sudden burst of energy in the last 5Km, overtaking 10-15 runners as she ran to her first podium finish!

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PS: Khardungla Challenge is an emerging Ultra–Marathon. With future editions, processes will only get more streamlined improving the overall running experience. The race offers a runner a whole host of challenges and I daresay that distance of 72 Km is the lowest in that pecking order. Adding ~20 Km of relatively moderate incline / decline to the either end of this route forms the first 111K of the well-known and feared La Ultra. The same has cut–off of 24 Hours putting Khardungla Challenge’s 14 Hours cut–off in perspective. In terms of toughness, KC route is arguably the toughest.