Sufiya had never been an athlete of any kind when she began running at age 31. Born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, she moved to Delhi in 2008, to pursue an aviation course. She then spent 10 years working with different airlines as ground staff.
One day, the grind of the routine and the tiredness from ever-changing shifts, began to tell on her. At 1.65 metres and weighing in the 50s, she was never overweight, but she felt the need to build strength and stamina. And just like that, inspired by her fiancé, a cyclist, she took up running.
Starting with five-kilometre runs, she found she enjoyed running so much, especially long distances and cross-country, that she decided to test herself in competition. Within six months she’d done her first half-marathon, where she covered 21 kilometres in two hours. A few months later, she ran an ultra (anything over the 42.2 kilometres is an ultra-marathon) and then several marathons and more ultras.
She found a sense of purpose beyond keeping super-fit and podium finishes. Sufiya (she uses only one name, because she believes surnames show one’s region of origin, religion, caste and the like, and she believes only in humanity) wanted to see what she calls the real India, meet people across the country, spread a social message, and share positivity to encourage them to be the change. This meant, she thought, attempting extraordinary feats, becoming what she calls a running ‘messenger of humanity and peace.’
So she ran what the tourism industry calls the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, a 720-kilometre circuit) in 16 days — this is now in the India Book of Records as the best by a woman.
Now, she’s on the brink of a much bigger challenge. On April 21, she will start off on Run for HOPE — which, she explains, means Humanity, Oneness, Peace, Equality — from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir all the way down to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. And to cover a bit more of the country, she has extended the route from 3,700 to 4,000 kilometres.
She will pass through Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka (skirting Bengaluru), and finally Tamil Nadu.
This won’t be cheap, more so since she gave up her job last month. She hasn’t secured a sponsor, and while she has managed to raise some money via crowdfunding site Ketto, it’s not even 10% of her ask. That isn’t a deterrent. “We want to complete this,” she says in rapid Hindi, “we don’t want to stop because of money.”
She has now scaled down her initial plans: instead of a caravan, the support vehicle will be a car, and there are fewer team members: just her fiancé Vikas (who also goes by only one name), her coach who will also be her nutritionist and physiotherapist, and the driver.
What they have got is the attention of the running and cycling communities across India, who have promised to run and ride with her when she is near their towns; at many of their stops there are also offers of accommodation and food.
Guinness Book of Records (to which she applied to see if she could set a record) has guidelines she must follow to be eligible for a record — photographic and video evidence, GPS tracking. They have given her 100 days to finish, which means she needs to average 40 kilometres a day.
She, however, plans to finish in about 85 days, and is aiming for closer to 50 kilometres. To put it another way, that’s more than a marathon every day for almost three months.
If more funds come via Ketto or sponsors, that would be welcome, but she and Vikas have decided that even if it’s him as her only crew, riding a scooter and carrying their clothes, they would persevere. “Whatever resources we have, we will take them and start on the date we’ve decided.”
After this article was sent to press, Sufiya said that the funding had not materialised and she can not afford a coach, car or a driver. So, for now, it’ll be Plan C after all: she running and Vikas accompanying her on the scooter.
Follow Sufiya at facebook.com/UnstoppableSufiya and support her on her page at ketto.org