The Great Himalayan Ultra

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Race Report

Inspire India conducted its 20th RAAM Qualifying Ultracycle Race the 5th edition of The Great Himalayan Ultra. It is the World’s highest Ultracycle race, thatstarts and finishes in Leh, Ladakh at anelevation of 3500Mts (11500ft) and climbs over Fotu La at 4100Mts (13500ft) twice. A multi distance race with 444km and 600km race options that can be raced Solo or Relay. Solo Racers have an option ofracing with Crew Support or Self Supported.

Participants

11 of India’s elite racers including 2 women congregated in Leh for acclimatization, from across India including Surat, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur and Rajasthan. 1 relay team of 2 persons and 2SOLOs raced 600kms with support crew, 2 raced 600kms Self Supported and5raced444km self supported, including participants from as young as 17 and going up to 50+ yrs

Race Route

The Race route followed NH1 through spectacular Himalayan mountain landscapes of Ladakh. Starting from Leh the race route goes along the Indus (Sindhu) river on the highway to Srinagar. The route goes past Sangam and Lamayuru to the highest point on the race at Fotu La, through the world’s most dramatic landscapes.

Descending from there to Kargil the lowest point 2,676Mts (8,780ft), the 600km racers followed the Suru river through green valleys, to Drass the second coldest inhabited place on earth. This is truly a race of Extremes! After a Mandatory halt at Kargil, the next morning all the racers faced the longest ascent, climbing from the lowest point on the race, over Namki La 3700Mts (12800ft) to Fotu La for the second time. The 600km racers went past Leh to Thiksey and returned to Rover’s Den to Finish.

RACE REPORT

This year, the fifth edition of the World’s Highest Ultracycle race was flagged off from the Leh entry gate on 26h Aug by Divya Tate, first woman from India to be qualified for PBP, founder of Audax India and Inspire India and Sundar Moorthy an elite ultracyclist, PBP2019 finisher, and the first person to finish all 3 Inspire India races in Self Supported format, on whose name Inspire India created an Ultracycling Award.

This was the first edition of theSolo 600km Self Supported RAAM Qualifier Race, and the 2 racers, Rohan Mandhre and Vinit Kumar wereflagged off at 4am on 26th. They were followed by the first ever Woman participant in the Solo 600km Crew Supportedcategory, Shirin Kekre and 444km Self Supported racerDevanand Meshram. At 6am, The 600km Crew Supported Solo racer Raj Sharma and the RAAM Style Relay team of Niharika Reddy and Sudhakar Reddy were flagged off, right after the 4 racers in the 444km self supported category! They all did well in the cold grey morning with all of them passing throughLamayuru control 115kms at 3500 mts (11520 ft), well within the cut off timings

From here the racers continued up Fotu La at 4100mt (13479ft), climbing about 600mts (2000 ft) in 15 km, and faced a crazy headwind as they continued down and then up over another pass called Namik La. Things got even more challenging for the racers on this stretch with a cold rain adding to the extreme conditions.After this the route descends to Kargil Control 220kms, where the first to arrive was the 600 km Self Supported racer, Rohan at 4:04pm, followed within 25mins by Vinit. They took short breaks and left for Dras, the second coldest inhabited place on the planet. The rest of the crew supported racers doing 600kms arrived into Kargil between 5:50pm and 6:25pmand continued towards Dras.

Dhrv leading the race of the Self Supported Solos in the 444km category arrived at Kargil at 6:30pm having covered the 220km in 12 and a half hours. The rest trickled in over the next 1 and a half hour, Naresh Raju and Raghvendra riding together, arrived at 7:36pm followed by Devendra and Kirupakar at 7:55pm. They had the night to eat, recover and rest at The White Castle Hotel, till the next morning.

The 600km racers faced the challenging section of Kargil to Dras and back, through the evening and into the night. Rohan arrived there just before 9pm maintaining a lead of 21mins on Vinit, which he extended to a 35min lead on his return to Kargil. Raj, Team Praturti and Shirin turned around in time and reached back at Kargil within cut off timings, for a much needed 3 hour mandatory rest break.

Rohan left Kargil at 4:02am being the first to head back for Leh, climbing over Fotu La once again. This is the longest ascent section of the race, 90km of climbing 2200mts (or 7200ft) except for a short descent after Namik La. The Team Praturti left at 4:30, followed by all 5 of the 444km racers who were flagged off at 5am. Vinit left at 5:21am giving Rohan a lead of 1hr 19mins, followed by Raj and Shirin. The day turned out to be a glorious day, with a little cloud cover but no rain and a bit of sunshine which turned harsh towards afternoon for those still climbing to Fotu La

Dhruv was the first to the top of Futu La, followed almost immediately by Rohan and Team Praturti, who all continued down to Lamayuru right away, reaching around noon and continued onwards towards Thiksey and Leh. Naresh and Raghvendra checked in at Lamayuru next, followed by Vinit who was still 1hr behind Rohan. Except Shirin who was battling an upset stomach since morning, the rest made it well within their cut off an Lamayuru. Shirin arrived at 4:04pm and took a rest break, hoping it would give her the necessary recharge to finish the distance.

Dhruv a Pune Randonneur, the youngest of the Solo racers who had come 4th in Deccan Cliffhanger last year, raced to win the 444km category in a Race time of 26hrs 1min reaching the finish at Rover’s Den at 6:32pm. Raghvendra Rasamsetty finished second in a Race time of 28hrs and 43min, followed by Kirupakar who came third in 29hrs and 50mins. Devanand Meshram who was also battling an upset stomach, won his age group in 444km Self Supported in 31hrs and 16mins. Naresh Raju who very unfortunately was struck by a motorcycle near Magnetic hill about 30kms before Leh, struggled on, walking uphill sections to finish a little over the time limit in 30hrs and 18mins.

Amongst the 600km category, Sudhakar Reddy Gade and Niharika Reddy of Team Praturti turned at Thiksey and finished at 8:53pm, which with a 45min penalty put their finish time as 36hrs and 35mins, just outside of their cut off. Niharika Reddy the youngest participant ever, also became the first Woman to finish at The Great Himalayan.In the 600km Self Supported Category, Vinit had caught up with Rohan and the 2 turned around at Thiksey together and finished the race together to share the win of this first edition of the Self Supported RAAM Qualifier! Raj Sharma, who was yet another racer facing stomach issues and not responding well to the extreme cold finished in 38hrs and 5mins missing the RAAM Qualifier cut off.

Shirin who was the last racer out of the road, had managed a good pace from Lamayuru after a break, got slowed down later at night, needing another rest break. At this point, race committee, crew and she agreed that it was inadvisable for her to continue under the circumstances, putting herself and crew at risk from exposure at High altitude. We are confident that Shirin who RQed at Deccan Cliffhanger last year will be back to close out on this unfinished business!

With the completion of this edition Inspire India Team felt that it’s mission for this race was once again achieved.

“India has a rich and diverse landscape, and the Himalayas are unbeatable in scale and beauty, especially in Ladakh. We want to create events that will grow into truly international races, showcase the magnificence of our natural and cultural wealth. An extreme race of this kind is an opportunity for Ultraracers from all around India and eventually the world, to experience the grandeur of the Himalayas, enhance interactions with the wonderful people of this region and experience their own transformation.”