Odisha’s Son Sets Marathon Record On Foreign Soil

On September 29, around 45,000 runners participated in the international Marathon organised in Berlin, Germany. Among them was 46-year-old Rashmikant Nanda, a person of Odisha origin, now settled in London.

For this 42 kilometres long Marathon, some three lakh runners from almost 150 nations had applied. But only 44,065 were picked to compete and Rashmikant was one of them. He covered the distance of 42 km in 4 hours, 37 minutes and 44 seconds.

The Berlin Marathon attracts runners from far and wide because of being scenic, flat and fast course.

However, this was not Rashmikant’s first go at running marathons. He had already participated in 17 marathons of 42 km distance, before it. And he is all set to participate in the marathon to be held in Chicago on October 13.

Speaking to the media, Rashmikant revealed that he had asthma as a child because of which he was not able to participate even in a 100-metre race. But, years of swimming and practising Yoga has helped him to run 42 kms without a break.

A native of Kendrapara’s Dhumat Panchayat, he did his schooling from Uditnagar High School in Rourkela. He the pursued Electrical Engineering from Bhubaneswar-based CET. After completion of his engineering, he did MTech from Bengal Engineering College in Howrah. After that he joined TCS and now, he has settled in London.