Our Correspondent
Kohima, Nov. 7 (EMN): Flight Lieutenant Rishab Jeet Kaur Bhatia of the Indian Air Force, who was the only women participant in the ‘Kargil to Kohima glory run (K2K)-an ultra marathon’, said that women should not consider themselves weaker than men.
The team, dubbed ‘air warriors’ started the mega-marathon from Kargil War Memorial, in Dras (Jammu and Kashmir) on September 21 and culminated in Kohima on November 6, covering more than 4500 km in 45 days.
During the reception programme in Kohima, Bhatia told reporters about her experience and challenges of being the only female runner in the marathon. “The only thing that I would say to the rest of the women is that you should not consider that we (women) are weaker, or we are separate, or we are left out over somewhere,” she said.
Throughout the run, she said, no special treatment or attention was given to anyone. “Everybody was doing the same job, running the same distances, despite of the age or the gender barriers,” Bhatia said.
She went on to add that the team overshadowed the barriers of age and gender. There were certain moments when she encouraged the men in the team, Bhatia said.
The technical officer described the experience as “motivating”. Getting to see people motivated by her participation, she said, was a source of inspiration.
The major hurdle, according to Bhatia, was running on high altitude where oxygen level was low, ‘as people cannot stand even for a few minutes’.
When the news of her selection reached family members and friends, “they were really happy” and advised her to “be the toughest among them”, she said shared.
Born and raised in Patiala, Punjab, Bhatia was selected to participate in the mega-marathon after getting through the ‘endurance trial run’—a six hours run, conducted by the Indian Air Force. She had joined the Indian Air Force in 2016, in the Aeronautical Engineering Branch.
Warrant Officer IP Singh (51), who was the oldest among the 25 runners, also said that age does not matter for one to participate in the marathon.
The team was flagged off by Air Vice Marshal PM Sinha on September 21. They ran through the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, and Nagaland. On November 6, Nagaland Governor RN Ravi flagged in team, and was received by Air Marshal RD Mathur AVSM, VSM, AOC-in-C Eastern Air Command in Kohima.
