A woman with breast cancer had her last radiation session on October 19.
On December 17, she will be guiding a group of amateur runners in eastern India’s biggest road race.
For the second year on the trot, the 10K segment in the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K, partnered by The Telegraph, will have an all-women pacers’ team.
A pacer, or a pace-setter, is a veteran runner who sets a steady pace throughout the course and leads a group of runners from the start to the finish at the predetermined time.
In running parlance, a group following a pacesetter is called a bus. The pacer must finish just a few minutes before the promised time. So, if you have joined the sub-2:30 bus, the pace-setter will look to lead you through the finish line somewhere between 2:25 and 2:29 hours.
Many of the pacers took to running rather late in their lives but cannot think of a life without running shoes now.
One of them is Jhilum Sarkar, a 47-year-old yoga teacher.
At the start of this year, Sarkar was preparing for the Comrades Marathon, an 88km ultramarathon held annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It is one of the oldest and most challenging races in the world.
In the run-up to the preparations, Sarkar was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Had I not been into running, I don’t know how I would have coped with it. Running is about facing challenges and overcoming them,” said Sarkar, who had to undergo eight chemo and 15 radiation sessions, the last of them on Panchami (October 19).
Sarkar has been running since 2018. She paced the 60-minute bus in TSK 10K last year as well. She has run multiple 10K, 21K and five full marathons and the Tata Ultra 50K in February 2023. She also ran from Pune to Mumbai in a 165km intercity run in 2019.
On December 17, her target would be to finish 10K in 75 minutes.
“Running means positivity. I want to spread that positivity among my fellow runners,” said Sarkar, a mother of two.
Another pacer loves running and Calcutta with equal vigour. No wonder then that TSK 25K, which celebrates both, is special for her.
“One of the biggest attractions for me is to run past some of the amazing Calcutta landmarks with my fellow runners,” said Rupa Das, a 43-year-old marketing and public relations professional.
Sarkar started running to lose weight and lost 28kg in two years.
Her tryst with running started in 2017 after a regular medical check-up in the office. She “literally lived on junk food”.
A regular health check-up in the office showed she was 83kg. When a doctor advised her to work out to lose weight, she said she was “too lazy” and asked for a “magic pill” instead.
Six years later, she is a different person. She gets up while it is still dark and makes it a point to run every day. During lockdown, she would run in her terrace
because it became a way
of life.
Das has taken part in multiple marathons. Apart from Calcutta, her favourite place to run is Darjeeling.
The 10km category is the second longest after the full 25km stretch in the TSK run and the stepping stone into serious running for many.
In the past, several participants graduated to the 10K segment after taking part in the 4.2km Ananda Run of TSK.
The slots of all categories other than the 4.5km Ananda Run and the 2.3km Champions with Disability Run are filled up, the organisers said
In the two remaining segments, the registrations will remain open till 11.59pm of November 26 or till running slots are filled, whichever is earlier, at tatasteelkolkata25k.procam.in, they said.