BENGALURU: Twenty-nine-year-old Vinay Krishnamurthy has made the state proud after being selected to participate in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), a prestigious trail race. A native of Mysuru and presently working as a 3D visual designer in Bengaluru, Krishnamurthy was able to accumulate enough race points through qualifier races in the past two years to represent the country in this year’s UTMB race. It is scheduled to be held from August 26 to September 1 in Chamonix- Mount Blanc, at the junction of France, Italy and Switzerland.
He is one among the seven Indians who will be participating in the run this year. He is also the only Indian to participate in the OCC (Orsieres - Champex - Chamonix) race category (56km with 3460m elevation), a category in which no Indian has ever run till date.
Krishnamurthy’s interest in sports dates back to his younger days, when he used to play volleyball, throwball and participated in 1,500 m and 3,000 m running races. He soon graduated to participating in marathons which he eventually got hooked onto. “I never realised when running became my interest. It’s the pure adrenaline rush after a race that keeps me going,” says Krishnamurthy.
But during this phase, he met with an accident which resulted in two years of rest. “I was able to train myself to extend my runs from 10km to 30km, half marathons, full marathons and eventually ultra runs to an unimaginable 129km,” he said.
Explaining his preparation for the UTMB race, he said, “Hard work, discipline and constant practice have been my go-to formula for any race. But the UTMB requires more since it is at an international level. Callisthenics and CrossFit workouts have been of great help in building stamina and physical strength. I have been working on this since January when I got selected for the race,” he says.
In the past, he has participated in races such as the 21km Bengaluru Mountain festival, the 80km Deccan Ultra race which has an elevation of 2,980m elevation, and the 65km Buddha trials with a 3,450 elevation.
Since Bengaluru has very few places to train for a mountain run, he visits Chamundi hills or Nandi hills to practice.
“I run about 60km per week and keep improving on that,” says Krishnamurthy whose running partner, Santosh Gowda, has helped him to push his limits.