Durshet Forest Marathon 2017

The love affair continues.

By Veloscope

February 18^th, 2018

You sign up for much more than a run in Durshet Forest marathon, you’re invited for a 'run'dezvous with nature. Lush green dense forest cover and a steady flowing river alongside, stunning scenery of mountains, machine and technology free village life, fresh air in abundance and a beautiful challenging trail to run on- Welcome to Durshet Forest Marathon 2017.

Level up your expectations

Explaining the beauty of the place in selected few words here is so unfair. The place is magic and it leaves you spell bound.

The start line opens up into a vast green stretch. River Amba, runs parallel to the route. It’s quiet, just the sounds of flowing river, early morning bird chirping and runners footsteps with the early morning mist on your face. You run along the large spread paddy fields. You run over the river bridges. The forest leads you into a village, untouched from modern civilization and waking up to the sunrise and slowly but hustling into the morning chores. You run into the grazing cattle for a small stretch.

The uphill trail through the village lead to open grasslands and the beauty of the Shayadri mountain ranges around the valley with waterfall formed at almost every face, touching your soul softly. All this while you have finished 32 km.

Challenge is relative

‘Pain is sweet. Challenge is good. I am tough.’ – Yes please! Repeat this to yourself multiple times while you run to the finish line. This route had everything, most of it was on the road, with rough slushy patches here and there, gradient throughout was good enough not to be underestimated, rocky terrain with lose gravels and muddy uphill to test your grit but a relaxed descend down to the finish line. Although it was the monsoon time, weather gods decided to not rain on the race day – Is that good or bad? We leave it to the runners to decide.

Durshet Forest Marathon 2017 offered 4 categories of run to the participants to register and run - 32 km, 21.1 km, 10 km and a 5 km run. First edition of this Forest marathon happened in the year 2015 and since then the number of registered runners over these 2 years have only quadrupled – speaks LOUD of its good reception in the runners community!

You are not running alone

Running is hard. No it actually is! It’s not just one feet in front of the other. It’s also about shutting down those teeny tiny voices inside your head which scream aloud to give up and tell you that it’s okay to walk or may be stop. And that’s why you train to not just physically be able but also be mentally prepared for the distance and challenge. While running here, you might slip into deep thoughts of the power of nature and battle with the tiny villainous voices in your head, you are never running alone. You have support of multiple volunteers and the runners own support crew, family and friends, village kids and spectators who cheer on you while most of them are engaged in their early morning chores. The experience is raw and lovely.

rewind back the ages.

About 7 kms from the start line, along the banks of Amba river is a small village (Chavani), where life is simple and villagers live in co-existence with nature. They rear cattle and live on subsistence agriculture. Children have considerable freedom of movement and due to their non-exposure to the urban industrial communities and population, there is so much innocence and rawness intact in their behavior. You could briefly scan through a developing nation’s village life while running those marked miles of your registered distance and re-evaluate your privileges and urban comforts. Village life could turn one into a humble being.

Durshet Forest marathon experience is so pure in its nature. There’s nothing in the world that matters when you’re out there. You are not thinking about a bill payment, or an illness, or work. You don’t process anything else than your singular focus of trying to finish the race and soaking yourself in the nature’s beauty. While the course is an optimal physical trial on your body, nature is a good distraction.

Run Buddies club is a community of strong experienced runners who are determined to get the runners reconnect with the nature, strengthen the social and family bonding as their running events are an entire family engagement program. Post run celebrations are the most fun while you feel yourself immersed in the grandiosity of Mother Nature.

THE BriDGE.

Durshet remains one of our most loved places to go to and cover a marathon. The event nonchalantly bridges the gap between the modern us and the tribal village in the forest.From the first year's concerned and skeptical gazes to hugging the runners, the villagers have accepted the event as their own, well almost.