Over the course of two weeks, the 4x4x48pune team mapped twelve routes, spanning 4 miles each (6.4km) across the city, collaborated with three NGOs and managed to raise over Rs 1.5 lakh for their causes. Written by Reet Mulchandani
It’s 4am, Aundh road is desolate save for a 21-year-old who heaves for air as he runs. It’s his 37th mile in 28 hours. He gives a tired smile as he sees two people from his team sitting ahead, waiting for him to catch up. Fatigued as they all are, together their steps turn more determined, the blisters on their feet forgotten.
They are all part of the 4x4x48pune challenge — running four miles every four hours for forty-eight hours. Their cause is to raise awareness and donations for three city-based NGOs, Inspiring Pink, Aseem foundation and Ekalavya Nyasa.
“We wanted to make sure that our contribution can make a sizable impact to the organisations”, says Parshva Vora, a 19-year-old student of MMCOE. Vora is among the six college students and a young techie in Pune who are the faces and voices behind 4x4x48pune, an independent initiative.
Over 45 runners in the age range of 15-57 joined the two-day ultra-marathon, which covered 48 miles (77.2km) early this month. “Each NGO works for a different cause Inspiring Pink provides free sanitary pads and hygiene education to underprivileged women. Aseem Foundation works in the border regions of the country and has provided education for Kashmiri students. Eklavya Nyasa educates children of commercial sex workers, alcoholics, single parents and street children,” says Vora.
The idea sprung up when Shrey Bakhai and Parshva Vora, two running enthusiasts, discussed the challenge that was first conceptualised by David Goggins, an American ultra-endurance athlete. Cue the team of seven students, with five runners. Apart from Vora, they include Darsh Deshpande (21 years, MITWPU), Sudhanshu Mali (19 years, KCASC), Varad Joshi (20 years, Garware college), Kshitij Gaur (23 years, working at Accion labs) — and two support members; Samarth Tarkunde (19 years, MMCOE) and Kunal Likhite (20 years, MITWPU).
Over the course of two weeks, the 4x4x48pune team mapped twelve routes, spanning 4 miles each (6.4km) across the city, collaborated with three NGOs and managed to raise over Rs 1.5 lakh for their causes.
Over 45 runners in the age range of 15-57 joined the two-day ultra-marathon, which covered 48 miles (77.2km) early this month. “It was overwhelming to see the amount of support we received”, says Mali. “Our parents were the biggest help. They accompanied us to the runs, arranged for food and water and even surprised us with trophies after the last run.”
Says Antara Deshpande, Darsh’s mother, “Usually when they do an event, it lasts for 2-3 hours and then there’s time to recuperate. This time, they had to be on the go for 48 hours, with practically no sleep so we wanted to make sure their health and diet was taken care of. We distributed the work amongst ourselves and ensured a parent was on ground at all times.”
The 4x4x48pune team hopes to achieve their target for collection in a month and are planning to organise practice runs on the weekend. Sarang Gosavi, of Aseem Foundation, says “Everything from the concept to the execution was phenomenal. We are very proud of the students and are grateful for the contribution they will provide.”