Bengaluru’s Kieren Dsouza has become the first Indian to complete the Spartathlon, widely described as the “world’s toughest race”. The 23-year old completed the 246.6 km distance in the 2016 edition , in 33 hours, one minute and 38 seconds.  The Spartathlon is an annual run between Athens and Sparta in Greece, with a reported success rate of 50%.
Wearing Bib number 209, Kieran had been training for this race since 2012 and became the first Indian to qualify this year. Prior to this run, he was a designated Ultra Marathoner, who ran 160 km events. In fact, last year, he became the fastest Indian to run above 100 miles by winning the Salomon Bhatti Lakes Ultra Marathon.

However, this was not always his profession of choice.
Before leaving for India, Kieren had spoken to Sportskeeda about the race. He said, “To be honest I didn’t know what marathon running was till college. I was always heavily into sport, but my choice was never running. I signed up for a half marathon and found myself to be decent and also able to push my body. Since then, I’ve just tried to be a better runner.”

Kieren has been in top form, heading into the Spartathlon. Last year, he completed the 222 km La Ultra in Ladakh, and again became the only Indian to do so. However, he believes that running is the easiest part of his sport.