Running Ultramarathons, Breaking Records and Beating Asthma
Apoorva Chaudhary, 31 years old and working as a marketing professional, has been running long-distance races since her school time. She always loved running long distances and used to participate in 1500 m and 3000 m races in school. When in college, she used to run now and then but wasn’t consistent with her runs. By the beginning of the second year of college, she developed bronchial asthma and it was serious. She was in and out of hospitals due to bad relapses. Doctors had conveyed that she has to live with this condition as there’s no sure shot cure for it. Apoorva was asked to keep an inhaler with her at all times and if the situation worsens, she was required to use a nebulizer.
This kept on going for 3-4 years. In 2016 in Bangalore, when she was actively looking for theater roles, her friend in the Bangalore Film Festival reached out to her asking if she could do a body double for the runner on whom the documentary was being made. Apoorva agreed and ran for 20 or so kms on uneven surfaces for that shoot. She was pleasantly surprised to realize that she had little trouble negotiating the slopes of Nandi Hills during the shoot. Kavita Kanaparthi, the race director of Globeracers and the main lead of the documentary, invited Apoorva to volunteer for her races. Apoorva agreed and went, and she enjoyed the vibe of the events and the company of ultramarathon runners. She became a regular volunteer where she used to crew for the runners and run just for fun for 5 km or 10 km. Thereafter, Apoorva picked up running all over again and also because she was tired of taking homeopathic and ayurvedic medicines for asthma. She wanted to wean off those medicines.
It was in 2017 when she ran her first 10K in approximately 1 hr. Though she felt strong, she was disappointed that she didn’t end up on the podium. Thereafter she volunteered for one more event where she overheard two runners talking about sub-2 hour half marathons. She was curious and asked them about it and learned that in a sub 2 event, a half marathon is to be run in under two hours. She made that her next goal and in December 2017, she ran sub 2 and ended up on the podium and this was without any proper training or routine being followed.
“Everything starts to fall in place when you are dedicated towards your goal and start taking one step at a time.”
She signed up for and ran another half marathon IDBI Delhi Marathon in 2018, where she also met her coach Kanan Jain who was running ultras. Upon learning that Apoorva had done an expedition to Stok Kangri without any difficulty, Kanan asked her to represent India in a 24-hr run. By then, Apoorva was doubtful since she hadn’t done a full marathon yet which she had planned to do towards the end of year.
After meeting Kanan and reaching home, she thought about it and decided to take on the challenge. It was wishful thinking of hers to run 160 kms just to qualify for the event. For the championship, the top 5 female runners were to be selected and Apoorva wanted to be the first woman runner to be selected; not second, not third to rule out any possibility of not being in the team.
“Just on Parle G, banana and some water, I ran that whole race for 12 hours and I did 99.6 (100) km.”
To qualify for the World Championship, there were three rounds. The first was to run either 42K or 50K. In July 2018, she took up the challenge to run the Tuffman Mashobra 50K and logged the time of 6:01:00. In the second round in August 2018, she was to run for 12 hrs, and she kept an aim of running 100 km in that time. And then in December 2018, a 24-hr run happened and this was the final qualification round; for this, she kept another ambitious target of running 200 km. During the run, she found that she was nowhere near that target and her willpower was weakening. She decided to not focus on the distance covered but with all her might to focus on keep running and reach the finishing line. The news spread like wildfire about Apoorva running with determination and all her strength and the whole community came in support. She covered 176.8 km in her first 24-hr stadium run and attained the first position.
“When everyone was celebrating Diwali, we were on the tracks. I had no social life for two years while I was training. I sacrificed a lot. I wanted to do justice to that Indian jersey.”
She was selected for the World Championship and participated in the 24-hr race and logged 202.212km at the IAU 24-hour World Championships in France. Apoorva hasn’t experienced any asthma relapse in the last 5-6 years, but just to be on the safer side, she keeps the inhaler with her at all times.
“I have no asthma now. Thanks to running!”
Apoorva Chaudhary’s Personal Best -
- Current national record holder after logging 202.212 km at the IAU 24-hour World Championships in France
- First Indian woman to smash the 200-km barrier in 24 hours
- First position at 24-hour Stadium Run in New Delhi in 2018
- First position in 12- hour Stadium Run in Bangalore in 2018
- 2nd Position in Marathon in her age category with a timing of 3:28:49 in 2020
