Hyderabad: City’s Uma and Krishna Prasad Chigurupati have not only managed to complete this marathon of marathons, but they have also become the first couple in the world to do so. They participated in the half-marathon category (21 km) of the first edition of what is called the World Marathon Challenge.
The Challenge is organised by Richard Donovan of the Polar Running Adventures, which holds the famous North Pole Marathon, considered to be the “World’s Coolest Marathon”. Richard is an avid marathoner and he holds the official world record for running marathons on all seven continents at 4 days 22 hours 3 minutes.
The marathon flagged off at the Union Glacier in Antarctica on January 17, the Chigurupatis next flew to South America to run at Punta Arenas, then Miami in North America, Madrid in Europe, Marrakech in Africa, Dubai in Asia and sealed the challenge in Sydney, Australia, on January 23.
The couple not only completed the challenge, they also bagged top individual honours. While Uma was the winner of Women’s Overall Half-Marathon category, Krishna won in the Men’s category. They ran more than 150 km in 6 days and 18 hours.
This means, for a week, they were only eating, sleeping, running and catching flights. They would start running an hour after they touched down at the airports, complete the marathon and then get back to the airport. Of course, they had packed light and carried seven different changes for seven days of marathon. Let’s not even get started on the jet lag and crazy weather differences. That’s why the couple arrived in Antarctica four days before to acclimatise. No wonder, only 12 runners from around the globe decided to enroll for this challenge, which costs each of them $36,000.
Daughter Priyanka, Chigurupati who accompanied them to one of the marathon venues, says, “It was an exhilarating feeling. At the end, they celebrated with wine with fellow runners."
