Gurgaon woman is the only female finisher in gruelling 300-km ultra run

Gurgaon resident Aanchal Sehgal has been into running for years now, graduating from smaller distances to ultra run over the years. Having made a habit of finishing 100 km ultra runs routinely, Aanchal set out to conquer a new challenge last week- finishing a gruelling race of three 100-km runs back-to-back in three days.
The Hell Race was held virtually last week, seeing participation from 300 runners from all across India, all of whom had to finish one 100-km ultra run per day for three successive days."It was an exclusive event. After you applied, the organisers would see your past racing and running history to determine if you were fit enough to attempt this. Only 300 participants were selected from all over India," Aanchal tells us. In the end, after three days of running, just 17 managed to finish the required distance. Aanchal was the only woman among them. "It was tough," she says, adding, "Before this, I had only ever done 100 km runs. This was thrice. Initially, my target was just to attempt as much as I could but after I finished the second day, I knew giving up wasn’t an option."

A number of runners from Gurgaon participated in the run apart from Aanchal and they all ran together for the three days. The unusual thing was the timing of their run. "Because of the heat and humidity, we ran from midnight to morning, trying to finish the 100 km distance by noon as it got too hot," says Aanchal. Even though she ran during the night on deserted stretches of the Millennium City, Aanchal says she felt quite safe throughout.