Bhat and Merchant are the first Indians to finish the world's highest 60Km Everest Marathon

Deepa Bhat and Taher Merchant’s completed the 60km Extreme Ultra – Everest Marathon, the world’s highest running event, and with that, became the first Indians to do so since this competition opened in 2013. Everest Marathon is held to mark the historical ascent on the Mount Everest by Late Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953, and also includes half and full marathons.  Bhat clocked the circuit in 19 hours, 50 minutes, and 40 seconds – beginning at 6am on May 29 and finishing by 1am on May 30. “I took two coffee breaks, without which, I would have fallen asleep,” the vice president of an e-learning firm shared on a quick call from Nepal. While Merchant took 19 hours, 15 minutes and 10 minutes, he didn’t run in one go. “Mountains are unpredictable. That evening, temperatures went sub-zero. It started to snow, so I decided to stay back at a lodging and resume the next day. For this, I was penalised for four hours. Otherwise, I would have timed 15 hours,” says the businessman. “No guesses but the Nepalis won the first eight slots,” Merchant said, laughing. “I saw them at the start and then at the finish, nowhere in between. They are so fast.” Rightly so, Thirtha Tamang ran it all within seven hours to win the day. Nonetheless, they are proud that it took “two crazy Bengalureans” to bring this honor to India. 

posted Monday June 4th
by Barkha Kumari