Mountainous hinterland to limelight: Ladakhi duo take high road to success

In a race where Indian athletes largely failed to push the envelope, two new entrants in the elite category stole the show.
Participants in action during the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday | PTI
Participants in action during the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday | PTI

MUMBAI: In a race where Indian athletes largely failed to push the envelope, two new entrants in the elite category stole the show.

Jigmet Dolma and Tsetan Dolkar, from the Ladakhi hinterland, had been the talk of the town ahead of Sunday’s Mumbai Marathon. And they took their new-found status in their stride, finishing third and fourth among Indian women. The 24-year-old Dolma pipped training partner Dolkar, also 24, to the podium by five seconds.

Though Dolma had been afraid to step into the limelight as an elite runner ahead of the race, she appeared to have found her conviction and voice after winning bronze. “It’s the happiest day of my life,” gushed Dolma, who finished with a time of 3:14:38s. Coming into the race, both the women from Ladakh had a personal best around the 3:20s mark.

The time they achieved is way behind the Indian record of 2:37:29s set by OP Jaisha two years ago, but with the three leading ladies of Indian long-distance running — Jaisha, Sudha Singh and Lalita Babbar — skipping the marathon this year, there wasn’t enough ambition.

Even in the men’s race, Kheta Ram took top spot 02:19:51s, running in more than two minutes slower than his 2:17.23s last year and well behind Nitendra Singh Rawat’s record of 2:15:48s. In the women’s field, Maharashtra’s Jyoti Gawte came in first with 2:50:53s, while West Bengal’s Shwamali Sing was second with 3:08:41s.

Though Ladakh, known more for its picturesque locales, hasn’t quite featured on India’s athletics map before this, it could prove to be a wealth of talent. “These girls live at 10,000 feet,” says Savio D’Souza, a Mumbai-based coach who has been training them for the past two years. “They naturally have lungs and heart for the workload. They already have tremendous endurance and can run as long as I ask them to, but they lack speed. That’s what I’ve been working on.”

Dolma and Dolkar, who come from two different villages, met during the Ladakh marathon in 2014. Their families own small patches of land where they farm to cater mainly to their needs. The very little surplus is left for selling. During winters, though, they are out of work and usually shut out at home.
“It is a tough life,” says Dolma. “But we think if we can do something in running, it will help us and our families. We have taken up marathon running seriously for the last two years.”

deeptipatwardhan@newindianexpress.com

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