Hill boy eyes long run

Uttam Bhujel with a trophy 

Rajeev Ravidas TT, Feb 07, 2018, Kalimpong: He is only 20 years old and less than five years into his chosen sporting discipline, but Uttam Bhujel is already setting the roads ablaze with his running, the latest coming at the Calcutta Marathon last Sunday where he finished first in the half-marathon.

The promising long-distance runner from the remote village of Tarayotar in Yangmakum under Kalimpong district has set an Olympian goal for himself, and in the manner he has been performing, particularly over the past year and a half, his may not be an unrealistic target.

"I am determined to first compete at the national level, and then represent my country at the Olympics," he told The Telegraph.

For now though, Uttam is only focusing on half-marathon, which is not an Olympic discipline.

"I first want to bring down my half-marathon timing to below one hour and five minutes before moving on to full marathon. I am only 20 and there is time yet for me to graduate to full marathon. The best marathon runners are in the age group of late twenties and early thirties," he said.

Uttam had completed the Calcutta half-marathon in a little over an hour and 14 minutes.

Uttam, who is the son of a farmer, said he had started long distance running in 2013. "Since my parents are poor, I worked as a coolie for about two months in Gangtok, and with the money I earned, I enrolled myself in SUMI (Scottish Universities' Mission Institution) in 2013 since the school has a strong sporting tradition," said the student of Class XII.

SUMI is based in Kalimpong.

And since then, he has been training very hard regularly.

"I must say that the school has been very supportive of me. I am allowed to participate in competitions throughout the country. The two sports teachers in our school are always encouraging. I recently trained for about six months under Basant Pradhan, who is a coach based in Gangtok," he said.

In the last two months, apart from the Calcutta Marathon, Uttam has either stood first or second in half-marathon events at Jaigaon, Darjeeling and Nimbong.

"Running is my top priority because I believe I was born to run. Over the years, I have begun to learn better running techniques. I believe I can only get better with more training and competition because age is on my side," he asserted.

Even though Uttam for now is concentrating only on half-marathon, he has participated in two full marathons.

"I stood second at the Kanchenjunga Marathon in Sikkim last November. It was a full marathon and was held at high altitude. There were international participants in that event, including five or six of them from Kenya," he said.

Kenyan long-distance runners are considered to be among the best in the world, if not the best. Young Uttam, too, hopes to be recognized as the best one day.