Ladakh Marathon 2013 - Personal Experience

I traveled around Ladakh for the first 2 weeks of September and during that period, I ran the Ladakh Marathon on 8^th Sunday. I must admit that it was truly phenomenal to run at an altitude of 12,000 feet; it’s tough but a soul connecting experience!

This year was Ladakh Marathon’s second year since its inception and is an excellent drive by Rimo Expeditions to encourage the local Ladakhi folks to take up running as an active sport. And, the participation has shown great running stalwarts, who have proven that they can easily live up to tough mettle. It is to be noted that the event is at more than 12,000 feet with lower oxygen and moisture content in air, and very cold weather conditions – not a “get into your running shoes and start running” environment. It demands great level of fitness, planned training and a strong will to face the odds.

I reached Leh about a week in advance to acclimatize and managed about 3 training sessions before the race day. On the race day, half marathon kicked off minutes after the full marathon was flagged off at 6am, with temperatures hovering well below 8 degree Celsius. The attached elevation profile clearly says it all that approximately the last 6km were a killer. I ran close to 17km and had to walk the last 4km with the final few hundred meters of sprinting! I must say that I finished it strong in 02:23:38 (category rank of 152), well below my personal target of 02:30:00. I felt accomplished and very happy at the end!

I’m also highlighting below the winner’s timings which are simply superb owing to the difficult terrain conditions.

Half Marathon (21km): Stanzin Norboo in 01:25:53

Full Marathon (42km): Shabir Hussain in 03:25:33

Kardungla Challenge (Ultra Marathon 72km): began at 3am from Khardung village (14,000 feet) with the route involving a gentle but steady climb to the Khardung La, one of the world’s highest passes (18,380 feet) before the route descends to Leh, the capital of Ladakh (11,562 feet). The winner finished it in 06hrs 55mins; and this in my opinion is a killer timing!

Truly Mediterranean Heart

[Work In Progress]


How does one choose to visit a city or a country? This is one of the most frequently asked questions. And the answer would be - inspirations from another friend's travel, a television travel show, a photography exhibition, accidental online information or it could even be a movie! Yes, this time it was a Tamil movie called Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya. The cinematography was simply fabulous & Malta immediately made into my list of must-visits. I even kept talking to many, promoting Malta’s beauty; but it seemed a little distant before the actually travel could materialize.


Everything started to fall into place in August, when I was asked to work out of Germany for a few months & to my luck there was one long weekend I could consume within that stay. This said, work kept me busy & guessing if I could really travel. My optimism paid off on time & I landed in Malta on a direct Air Malta flight from Düsseldorf on the night of 29-Sept. Everything seemed perfect for the long weekend – weather forecast sunny with temperatures less than 25°, an annual night long cultural & art festival called Notte Bianca scheduled for Saturday, mesmerizing landscapes, delicious cuisine & fabulous scuba dive sites. I only had to unearth the exisitng great adventures at my own ease.

The night I arrived was pretty late and the last bus to my destination had departed already. The only option was to take a taxi from the airport counter at an expense of €20. It took roughly 20mins as the taxi driver knew my hostel exactly. Otherwise, it might be a little painful to locate your hotel for the first time especially if it is a night. On arrival at my hostel - NSTS Hibernia Residence at Sliema, I was welcomed by closed doors & none at the reception. Thankfully, my friend had arrived couple of hours earlier & had figured out the room which was apparently in a different building. It was clean & value for the paid fee; but could be better. Later, I understood that this hostel mostly serves the students who come to the island for English courses. After a round of discussion on things-to-do for the coming days, we decided to visit Dive Systems (reference from a dive master) & to plan our activities depending on the available dive schedule.

[Day-1]

The first morning at Malta started with a walk towards the Balluda Bay which opens up to the sea with great colors - blue sea & beige architecture. Then our walk continued along the promenade with Dive Systems right at the coast. Unfortunately, they were fully booked & we were directed to another dive center called Dive Shack. Thankfully, they had vacancies & promised us a dive on Saturday morning; leaving us behind with the first day for sightseeing! Thanks to the elderly person at Dive Systems who offered us a ride all the way to Valletta, close to the center of public transportation. The public transportation is managed by a private organization called Arriva, which is probably the most affordable I have seen till now. We picked up a day ticket of €2.60 for the main island & headed to the ferry port of Ċirkewwa. Surprisingly, the bus took nearly 2 hours & on arrival had to wait for another 20 odd minutes before we could board the ferry to Gozo. We were advised to buy the tickets on our return at Gozo & the return ferry costs only €4.60.


The ferry ride was short & comfortable for about 20 minutes. On arrival at Gozo Ferry Terminal, we boarded the bus 301 to Victoria (Gozo center) & bought a day ticket of €2.60 on the bus, for use within Gozo. We decided to proceed to Dwejra where a natural rock arch of Azure Window stands tall in its elegance. The next bus 302 to Dwejra from Victoria was scheduled to depart in another 50 minutes. That allowed us to take a leisurely walk around Victoria, the most prominent being Saint George's Basilica. Then the bus took roughly half an hour & the drive along the island was fabulous. The walk down to Azure Window is through an interesting rocky terrain that paves down to a beautiful natural arch formation surrounded by serene clear blue waters. One of the beautiful places I have been or seen & was special as I had not seen anything of such geography till then. We spent good time immersing ourselves in the mesmerizing natural beauty; must say the walk around the area was also very interesting. As the Sun sunk into colorful twilight, we retraced our day's journey back to the hostel (Dwejra > Victoria > Gozo Ferry Terminal > Ċirkewwa Ferry Terminal > Sliema).


To understand the architectural & natural beauty of the island in more detail, visit the album: The Heart of the Mediterranean - Malta.