Ex-army officer runs 160 km to mark Kargil Vijay Diwas anniversary

Mumbai: A former woman army officer has completed a 160-km run from Srinagar to Drass to mark the 25th anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas.

Lieutenant Colonel Barsha Rai (Retd) completed the run in four days. “I ran to honour our brave hearts who sacrificed their lives for the nation,” she told PTI.

Lt Col Rai, whose husband is an army officer in Kashmir, ran from Srinagar to the Kargil War Memorial in Drass sector. The run began on July 19 and ended on July 22. She was accompanied in stretches by the Chinar Warriors marathon team. On completion of the run, they paid tributes to martyrs at the Kargil war memorial.

She averaged 40 km per day. After starting from Srinagar, she moved to Wusan on Day 2, running to Sonamarg at an altitude of 9,000 feet.

Day 3 saw her surmount the 11649 feet high Zojila Pass on the Srinagar-Leh national highway, connecting the Kashmir valley with the Ladakh region, to reach Matayen, before reaching the memorial at Drass on Day 4.

“I was in class 7 when the Kargil war started and my father Colonel Keshab Rai, who retired 10 years ago, had then moved out overnight (to the border) along with his entire unit.

“For fauzi families like ours, what followed were days of uncertainty, loss and despair. This run was not just a personal journey for me, but a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the soldiers who fought valiantly during the Kargil war,” she said.

“The physical pain my body endured in this run pale in comparison to the hardships faced by our soldiers during the war. Through this run, my aim was to raise awareness about the sacrifices made by our soldiers,” she said.

Lt Col Barsha Rai is a fourth-generation army officer. Her great-grandfather was a Military Cross recipient. She was commissioned into the Army Service Corps in March 2010 from the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, where she was awarded the Garhwal Medal (gold medal in academics).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Ladakh on July 26 to attend the 25th anniversary celebrations to mark India's victory over Pakistan in the 1999 war.