Hill politicians and social workers are helping two Darjeeling farmers to compete at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championship scheduled from June 5 to 10 in Austria.

The five-member Indian team selected by the Athletics Federation of India includes Darjeeling farmers Som Bahadur Thami, 27, and Hemant Limbu, 26. A third, Sagar Khemani, 30, hails from Darjeeling but is based in New Zealand since 2015 as a social worker.

Thami and Limbu, winning national runs with ease, so far did not have passports.

“They now do,” said Vikram Rai, founder Vik-Run Foundation, who is helping the two runners, adding it wouldn't have been possible both without Darjeeling MP Raju Bista and the GTA.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bista got a letter from a commercial company working in partnership with the embassy of Austria confirming an interview for the duo for visa processing on Wednesday at 10am in Calcutta.

Their coach Mongia Sherpa said they were grateful to Bista but when they got the news it was 4pm and they had no way to catch a train or bus to Calcutta. That's when GTA Sabha member of Rimbick, Norden Sherpa, hired a taxi to take the duo to Calcutta from Rimbick.

“We reached Calcutta at 9.25am today (Wednesday) in time for the interview,” said Mongia.

Anit Thapa, the GTA chief, promised to pay the duo's airfares.

Khemani, on the other hand, said he was dipping into his savings and "getting help from the community" to mobilise resources to participate in the event.