Mumbai: Swati Goswami, 23, a hurdler and winner in the women’s competitive category, had always thought of herself as fit till she participated in the Devil’s Circuit on Sunday. “I did not know my weaknesses unless I took up the challenge. I realised my upper body is not strong enough to take up such challenges. Now, I want to work on that so that I can win in the remaining three races at Mohali, Goa and Delhi as well and earn maximum points to win at the Finale. I would not like to take second place and will work more for the Finale. Where ever I am, I make sure to attend these races and I dot want my efforts to go in vain.”
Boasting a five-km-long track with 15 hurdles for adults and a 1.2-km one with 10 hurdles for kids aged four to 16 spread across 20 acres, Devil’s Circuit is certainly not for the weak. This year, the competition was organised at Raheja Universal in Juinagar, Navi Mumbai and saw 4,500 adults and 250 kids participating — nearly double the 2,500 registrations last year when it was held in Panvel. The event has competitive and non-competitive categories, but most registrations are in the latter. The upper limit for number of contestants in the competitive category is 450.
The challenges included scaling high net walls, crawling through barbed wire, climbing a wall, a balance test and a swim across a pond filled with 20,000 kg of ice at the end.
The kids’ course had similar obstacles, except for the ice pond. Winners in the men’s competitive section were Sanjay Negi, Pratik Patil and Aaron Eipe John, while Swati Goswami, Tamanna Sharma and Ravinder Preet Kaur took top honours in the women section.
Ms. Goswami, who has won in the Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai events and finished second at Chennai, said her father and grandfather are wrestlers and wanted her to join the sport. She chose hurdling instead. “I did not wish to break my ears and nose, so I took up athletics. In my family, everyone except me is into wrestling, but I’m happy with what I’m doing. I urge that even unfit people should take up such challenges to discover their weakness.”
Wadala resident Nihal Dhavale, 11, was happy to have finished the race despite being bruised after a fall while climbing a wall. “I was not happy with the climbing challenge as I fell down, but that did not make me quit. I went ahead and completed the remaining challenges. I’m coming back next year with my younger brother and parents, and hope to finish all challenges,” he said.
Among the youngest contestants, an exhausted Kian Seth, 4, rested in his mother’s lap after the race. The excitement, though, was unabated. “The climbing part was difficult and I kept tripping. I will now ask my dad to take me to gardens for climbing activities so that next time I don’t trip,” said Kian, who said he’d be back next year.
“When I came to India in 2011, I realised there aren’t any sport events for amateurs who wish to do something adventurous without the pressure of coming first. Along with my co-partner Adnan Adeeb, we started Devil’s Circuit. It’s been four years of this sports journey in India across various cities, and our second year in Mumbai. The challenges and responses have just been increasing,” Zeba Zaida, co-founder, Volana Entertainment and Pvt Ltd said.
“We liked the whole concept of the event when we heard and we agreed to give our land for conducting the event for no profit. We have our own 150 employees taking part in the event,” Kamal Khemani, Assistant Vice President-Architechture from Raheja Universal said.
