Perfect outdoor escapes: Hit the trails, build a community

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Also read: Perfect outdoor escapes: In search of wild greens Trail running has shown gradual growth over the last few years in pockets of the country with plenty of races in the Himalaya and the Western Ghats, while a few runners like Kieren D’Souza and Sannat Sachdev have shifted base to the mountains to train and race internationally— Kieren moved from Bengaluru to Manali; Sannat from Jaipur to Bir. “The standards are very high globally and we are just about catching up. In other countries, there are loads of local races and trail running clubs.

So the barrier to entry is almost nil and a lot of people can try it out without any investment," Sachdev says. While hitting the trails in the Sahyadri range around Pune in 2018, Dighvijay Jedhe first arrived at the idea of organising a race in the mountains he saw around him. He soon founded the Western Ghats Running Foundation and launched the SRT Ultra in 2018, a race approved by the International Trail Running Association.

Some of the top Indian trail runners were a part of the 100km and 53km categories last year, while beginners got in their first 11km run. Roshan Surve, a Mumbai-based trail runner, recalls being part of the first edition in 2018. He was a regular on the road, but had never heard of trail races.

After that first race, he realised it was an extension of the hikes that he had been on in the past and he soon became a regular feature on the trail running circuit. Besides chasing his own races today, he has also been giving runners a taste of the sport as part of the Athlos Trail Running Club based in Mumbai, “Those who are new to trails have a very competitive streak and tend to run fast. But at the beginning, the entire idea of being on the trails is to