Apoorva creates new Indian record in 24-hour ultra run

New Delhi [India], Dec 17 (ANI): Ultra-runner Apoorva Chaudhary created a new national record, completing 176.8 km in the women's 24-hour event of the NEB 24-Hour Stadium Run held under the aegis of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on December 15-16.
The 28-year-old from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh broke the previous record of 175.4 km registered by Meenal Kotak. Competing in her third ultra-marathon, Apoorva also became the fourth woman in India to run more than 100 miles (160-km) in 24-hour after Meenal, Hema Saini (172.3km), and Aparna Choudhary (169.2km).
In another exciting 24-hour run, Pranaya Mohanty from Bengaluru completed a brilliant 206.8 km in the men's category, becoming the third Indian to have crossed the 200 km distance and the first to have achieved it in a stadium race held in India.
AFI president Adille J Sumariwalla said: "Each ultra-running race and championship is where we are seeing barriers being broken and new targets being set for others to break. Congratulations to Apoorva and Pranaya for their strong performances and raising the bar."
"AFI has advocated setting standards that are strong and high to ensure that Indian ultra-running teams will be a force to reckon with in future championships at the international arena," he added.
"The conditions were challenging here in Delhi. We started the event at 7 pm on Saturday. It became very cold in the night. Then by Sunday afternoon, the temperature became warm and by the time event was about to finish it was very cold again. The results are really good. We have some new names coming up rapidly in the ultra-running circuit in India," said Nagraj Adiga, race organiser, and ultra-running specialist.
Earlier this month, Ullas Narayana completed 250.3km and bagged a bronze medal, India's first international medal, at the 2018 International Association of Ultra Running (IAU) 24 Hour Asia and Oceania Championships held in Taipei. Competing in the same event, Sunil Sharma also completed 202.6km to help India secure a bronze medal in the team event. (ANI)