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Pune woman covers Leh-Manali stretch on foot in five days, sets new record
Runner-cum-cyclist Preeti Maske, mother of two, created another ‘world record’ by becoming the ‘fastest woman on foot’ to cover this stretch in four days, 22 hours and nine minutes (118 hours), beating the previous record of Sufiya Khan, which was of 6 days from Manali to Leh.
Pune-based runner-cum-cyclist Preeti Maske, mother of two, created another ‘world record’ by becoming the ‘fastest woman on foot’ to cover Leh-Manali stretch in four days, 22 hours and nine minutes (118 hours), beating the previous record of Sufiya Khan, which was of 6 days from Manali to Leh.
Maske‘s journey was flagged off by Brigadier Gaurav Karki, chief engineer, Border Roads Organization (BRO), from Leh on August 9.
Looking at the current monsoon conditions, she had planned to finish this running expedition in six days on August 15. However, she completed the record run in less than five days.
In June this year, she had set a record for the fastest solo cycling from Leh to Manali in 55 hours and 13 minutes.
“I thoroughly enjoyed this ultra-run of 402km, taking a few short-cuts of the winding road route with the guidance of BRO team and even tied rakhis on August 11 to BRO brothers en route,” she added.
Shyamal Mondal, who paced with her as a crew, said Maske ran 80km daily on the first four days and 100km on the last day to set a new record.
Her orthopedic physiotherapist Dr Priyanka Badalia, who made sure that she did stretching exercises every 10km or two hours, said her aim was to keep Maske injury-free. She had no foot sores, despite having a flat left foot with an extended bone condition, she added.
She had to be administered oxygen en route as her SPO2 dropped to 60% on high passes due to thin air with less oxygen. BRO ensured that a BFNA (battle field nursing assistant) was constantly evaluating her vital parameters.
Maske said the most-challenging part was to run in fast changing temperatures.
“In the morning, I would start my run with a jacket on. Then as sun rose, it would get very hot and again it would drop down to freezing cold in the evening and night,” she recalled.
She finished the race on August 14 at Manali and was received by Shabarish Vachali, commander, BRO.
Maske has extended gratitude to the BRO for their support which helped her achieve this feat.
