The fourth Anantapur Ultramarathon will be organised on January 24 and 25 in the district with people from all over the world taking part in the 170-km run across rural areas and arid landscape.
The sporting event will be organised by the Rural Development Trust, an NGO. The organisers said this is the only relay ultramarathon held in India. It is held in teams of four, each runner runs a full marathon (42K) in stretches of approximately 10 km. Vehicles will carry runners from one transition point to another, where they will be able to take rest, reprovision and interact with local communities. As a new category for 2019, the Anantapur 10K will allow participants to join the ultramarathoners on their last 10K until the finish line. The ultramarathon will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the NGO, established in 1969 by Vicente Ferrer and Anna Ferrer.
The ultramarathon is an initiative of Juan Manuel Viera, an ultrarunner from Spain and a volunteer of the RDT. Juan Manuel Viera, the promoter of the ultramarathon, is on a personal quest to run 1000 km across India.
Since the beginning of the month he has run several full marathons in Delhi, Varanasi, Kolkata and Mumbai. From there he is moving by road. He was in Nasik, Manmad and now in Hyderabad. He will go to Nellore and come back to Anantapur.
The funds raised during this year’s event will be used to reconstruct the Sundaraiah village in the district, where 57 families currently live in huts and tents without access to basic hygiene and sanitation facilities, said a release.
