KOCHI: Eating healthy and working out are good ways to keep good health and diseases at bay. Ram Ratan and Sanjay Kumar, two Indian Navy officers, are on a mission to raise awareness about non-communicable diseases and the importance of staying fit. The duo hopes to set a Guinness record by running 4,431 kilometres from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 56 days.
Titled ‘K2K Run 2021’, the initiative is being supported by Together We Can, Kochi, a registered public charitable trust focusing on advocacy work related to child rights, disability, education and mental health.
The officers will be covering 11 states, 91 cities and over a 1,000 villages along their route. Hailing from Rajasthan and Haryana respectively, Ram and Sanjay met and bonded over their interests in ultra marathons.
“It was Sanjay who inspired me to take up the same. Although I had run short distance ultra marathons ranging from 100 to 200 kilometres, I never considered the idea of embarking on a run across the country,” says Ram. He has already covered a marathon spanning 42 kilometres and a 111-kilometre run from Leh to Ladakh.
Sanjay, on the other hand, has completed a 480-kilometre run from Manali to Leh crossing all the five passes consecutively for five days. This record was earlier set by an Australian who finished the Hell Ultra and set a new course of record from Manali to Leh. The duo is ultrarunners of the Panampilly Nagar runners (PNR), a chapter of Soles of Cochin.
“Though this run, our main focus is to inspire the youth and promote women empowerment,” says Sanjay.
Commencing the run on January 12, 2021, National Youth Day, the duo will urge the youth of India to take the fitness drive forward. the awareness run will culminate on March 8, International Women’s Day.
“In September, we had successfully completed a run from Jaipur to Delhi. This inspired us to attempt for the record from Kashmir to Kanyakumari which was earlier achieved by a woman. We have been practising for four months and have already prepared a route map for the purpose,” says Sanjay.