Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Arun Bhardwaj (Bhaiyya's) record run

Its 26th october and Arun bhaiyya has to run for 24hrs on treadmill, he has no experience of tread-mill running before. According to our plan I have to pick him up from his place by 9am. I reached bhaiyya's house 5 mins to 9 am, but then too we manage to reach the venue by 11am only. Record run is Adidas sponsored and at Adidas showroom, Connaught Place, New Delhi. After reaching the venue bhaiyya introduced me to Adidas guys.

Myself, Arvind (Bhaiyya's brother), Devinder (another co-runner)and 2 another friends of bhaiyya, this is the list of handlers, those who have to assist bhaiyya during record run. I was carrying a tentative schedule of what to give by when.

By 12:00 o clock bhaiyya started his record run and we started our job of taking care of his intake . Bhaiyya took 5-7 mins breaks after every hour and a half and everything went good until at around 7 when doctor came for check-up, this break is not a scheduled one. Doc found that bhaiyya had a bad stomach, doctor suggested some anti-acid but Bhaiyya refused to take any. After resting for 20 mins which is not scheduled bhaiyya came back on track and Still he was ahead of his target pace.

Bhaiyya now mixing walking with running and he was still better than target rate. After all these ups and downs he easily finished 160.9 kilometers(100 miles) in around 23hrs 42 mins and finished 24hrs with 164 kms on tread-mill(102 miles).

Its the time to celebrate, Arun Bhaiyya had set an Indian 'record' and entered the Limca Book of Records by running 164 kilometres on treadmill in a 24-hour non-stop effort here.

Addressing the media after completing the run
He said that "It was an absolute dream run, one of the biggest milestones he has achieved so far."
"I had broken the 100 km barrier once before, but nothing can match this exhilarating feeling of setting a record and receiving encouragement from sports enthusiasts from all over Delhi"

Bhaiyya further added that he took up the challenge so that it may serve as an inspiration for his children.
"I did not have any role model or inspirational figure in my
childhood. When I had a daughter I wanted to inspire her. For that I choose
myself. I don't want to tell my daughter to emulate others. I want myself to
directly inspire her,"

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