New Trend: Mountain runs that take you away from the urban smog.
Taking the high road
Promising you the sky, even in a promo, may seem quite over the top. But the gruelling Hell Race series of mountain runs in the Himalaya-and other Indian mountain races-definitely deliver the goods. Mountain runs that take you away from knee-jarring tarmac, poisoned air, jostling hordes, and the dull skyline of the city are beginning to draw Indians away from conventional urban marathons.
Multi-day stage races range from the Sandakphu 70 miles Himalayan Race near Darjeeling to the short but brutal 16 km ascent of 10,000 ft in the Khalia Challenge in Munsiari, Uttarakhand. Further south, the Paradise Trail run in Goa, the Nilgiris Ultra, the Malnad Ultra and the Munnar Marathon traverse distances up to 100 km. Those distances and altitudes are daunting. But most trail runs in India involve a combination of dirt-tracks, cobbled paths and alpine trails. Only a handful are pure trail. And most runners will walk up steeper sections of a course. If you've been running long distance for some time, set a goal in 2018.