Five-Year-Old Marathon Runner From Bhubaneswar Another Budhia Singh In Making!

Paradip: Budhia Singh had become the world’s youngest marathon runner by covering 65 km at the mere age of five in 2006. And now another wonder kid from Odisha is emerging as the new marathon star.

Five-year-old Buddhaditya Swain from Bhubaneswar participated in a mini marathon here on the occasion of Paradip Port’s foundation day celebrations, reminding people of Budhia.

Buddhaditya, accompanied by his father Debadutta Swain, had travelled all the way from the state capital to participate in the 17th Paradip Marathon, 2020 here on Friday.

But the marathon organiser, Gopabandhu Krida Sansad, did not allow him to participate officially because he was underage.

“We didn’t have any objection to Buddhaditya’s participation. But we were supposed to obtain permission from Paradip Port Management as the child is underage and hence should be allowed subject to his health condition. This marathon belongs to the age group of 18 to 41 years and we had to abide by it,” said Gopabandhu Kreeda Sansad working president Bablu Sikdar.

However, Buddhaditya ran in an unofficial capacity to the end of the 14-km-long run, taking all, including the participants, by surprise.

Buddhaditya’s father said he decided explore his child’s full potential as he had started running 25 to 30 km since the age of three. The kid also has a record of running 72 km in seven hours.

“I decided to train him further. Now, he runs 65 km from Palasuni to Puri at one go. When he gets tired, he slows his pace but does not stop,” said Debadatta.

Apart from running events organised by Odisha Police, the wonder child has also participated in similar events organised in Goa and Hyderabad.