Ram Baboo – running a race of his own
Coming from a humble background, Baboo has emerged one of India's top race walkers in the lead up to Paris Olympics
It is tempting to assess Ram Baboo's incredible rise through the prism of his humble beginning. His rags-to-riches tale is, without doubt, inspirational but there is more to him than that. The 25-year-old finished third at the Dudinska 50 Meet in Slovakia last Saturday, clocking a personal best time of 1:20:00. In the process, he also breached the Paris Olympics qualification mark of 1:20:10.
A bronze medallist in the 35km race walk at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Baboo is the seventh Indian male walker to make the cut for Paris. The others —Akshdeep Singh, Suraj Panwar, Servin Sebastian, Arshpreet Singh, Pramjeet Bisht, and Vikas Singh — are currently training in South Africa under the tutelage of race walking coach Tatiana Sibileva while Baboo is back at his base in the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune. Each country can field a maximum of three walkers in a category and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is likely to select the team in June.
But before that, Baboo will line up in Antalya for World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships. Having already trained in Antalya last year for a month after the Asian Games, he is confident of making an impression. "The podium finish in Slovakia is a big confidence booster. Also, prior knowledge of conditions in Antalya should stand me in good stead next month," he says.
The race in Slovakia pitted Baboo in cold, testing conditions with temperatures plummeting to 7°C. A steady shower on the morning of the race didn't help matters. "It was quite chilly and it took a while for the body to warm up. The loop was wet too which affected the pace," Baboo, who is managed by IOS Sports and Entertainment, said.
The rhythm and pace of the race were also quite different from what Baboo is used to. While the Indian race walkers train to run the first half of the 20km race faster than the second half, the race in Dudince panned out differently. The lead group began slow, leaving Baboo to make hectic calculations on the go.
"I was running against my natural rhythm which is what made me very nervous. The race was quite slow for the first five kilometres. I had thought of picking up the pace after five kilometres and maintaining a steady tempo till 10 kilometres before accelerating. But the race went at the same pace for ten kilometres. It was only after halfway mark that the group began to accelerate," he remembered.
"I knew at the back of my mind that if I go too slow, I may miss the Paris mark. At the 15km mark, I was clocking 1hr 16sec. I was slow in the 16th km even as the group picked pace. At that stage, I was 23 seconds slower than my target, and so, in the last four kilometres, I decided to go all out."
"I was making quick calculations in each kilometre — how many seconds I am in plus or minus. When you go slow, you are always wary of leaving too much to cover up." Baboo, who bettered his personal best time set in January, explained.
Having moved from marathon to race walking about six years back, Baboo picked up the nuances of the tricky discipline within a week. Race walking rules mandate that athletes must always have one foot in contact with the ground at all times, as visible to the human eye. Also, the walker's front knee must not bend as the body passes over it.
"I started training for race walking in Saifai, UP, under coach Siddharth Krishna. He told me that people usually take up to six months to perfect the technique, but I picked it in 7 days. It told me that perhaps I made the right choice," Baboo, who has also competed in 50km and 35km events, said.
With sporting success translating into financial rewards, Baboo's father doesn't have to labour anymore. The youngster is also building a house in his village, a feat that was beyond imagination until last year.
"Tough times made me who I am. I don't regret anything. It doesn't matter where you begin, what matters is where you end," he mused. Baboo's race has only just begun.