Marathon is life for Shillong-born Ashis Roy and nothing – not even a spinal injury – can stop him from pursuing his passion at 81, says Rajib Roy
MEMBERS OF his family said his body was too old to take it. And his backbone had to be fixed with six nails following a spinal injury last year. But nothing has deterred Ashis Roy from doing what he loves best – run.
With age – he is 81 – the urge to keep running has become stronger for this former Wing Commander (physician cardiologist) in the Indian Air Force. But there was a phase when he had hung the running shoes; he took to running again to lose weight after one of his friends failed to recognize him in flab. Gradually he discovered it was the best exercise for draining out bad cholesterol from the body besides keeping him fit.
Roy had a few days ago visited Shillong to refresh memories. His grandfather, Rai Sahib Kailash Chandra Roy, was instrumental in developing Harisabha locality, having shifted to Shillong in 1888 from Sohra. He worked in the secretariat and built a house in Laban where Ashis was born. Rai Sahib brought Swami Vivekananda to this house where he stayed for 35 days.
Ashis’s father Sudha Sindhu Roy, a player and major sports organizer in the region who formed and led many sports associations, was also born in this house in 1894. During World War II the family had to shift to Sunamganj, Sylhet with other families due to heavy bombardment. The Laban house was sold it to a zamindar in Bangladesh for Rs 5,000. They returned in 1943 to be a tenant of Hajom Kishor Singh, the first Khasi judge, at Shibnath Tilla in Upper Laban for 25 years.
Ashis Roy studied in Mawkhar Government Boys’ High School. “I used to run every day to Mawkhar from Upper Laban covering three miles. I ran to St Edmund’s College too, and so did my siblings,” he said. After graduating in 1952, he completed his medical degree from Army Medical College (AMC), Dibrugarh in 1955 with specialization in cardiology and also went to get his FRCS degree from UK. During his higher studies he participated in long distance running events. In the first year in AMC he received a consolation prize of a bottle of cod liver oil. He won in the final year, defeating AMC’s best runner Prasanna Goswami in the marathon, covering 10 miles in one hour. “I was elated beating the institute’s hero and decided to join the IAF in 1957 hoping that I could go for the 1960 Olympics,” he said.
But his medical duty was such that the IAF could not spare him for sports; so he gave up running, but continued playing football and cricket.
During his tenure with the IAF, Ashis spent six years in the Northeast besides serving in Iraq for 1½ years, returning during the Iran-Iraq War in 1981. He took premature retirement after serving 21 years in 1978 and settled down in New Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park as a practicing physician cardiologist, but he likes being called a preventive cardiologist.
Post-retirement, Roy put on enormous weight and one day that incident where his friend could not recognize him on the street, happened. Hurt, Roy – he was 52 then – decided to start running again to maintain physical fitness and soon became the only Indian to have run more than 100 marathons, 115 to be precise. The year he started running coincided with the Asian Games in New Delhi (1983).
What started off as a health routine soon turned into a passion. Six months later, Roy was running his first marathon – the Delhi Rath Marathon. In November 1985, he ran the marathon in 3hours and 55minutes. In April 1986, he was selected by Veteran Athletics Association (VAA) led by its president Milkha Singh to represent India at the International Veteran Marathon at Athens where he stood third in his age group. He went on to eclipse every record on running. Of the 115 marathons he has completed, 40 were in India, 44 in the USA and 31 across 19 other countries including one in Pakistan (2005) to promote Indo-Pakistan bilateral harmony. He remains till date the only Indian to have ever run a marathon in Pakistan. “I continue to run abroad every year and all these 115 marathons were 42.2km each which is not only a record in India but also in South Asia,” said Roy.
A man of many firsts, Roy is the first Indian to have run a marathon race after attaining the age of 60 years as well as 70 years and the first Indian to have run three marathons on two consecutive Sundays – New York City Marathon (November 2, 1997), Rhode Island Marathon (November 9, 1997); Rotterdam Marathon (April 19, 1998), Wroclaw Marathon (April 26, 1998) and Prague Marathon (May 18, 2003 at age 71), Vienna Marathon (May 25, 2003). He is the only Asian to have run three marathon races in USA on three consecutive Sundays and stood first in all the three races in the age group of 65-69 years: Toledo Marathon (April 25, 1999), Cleveland Marathon (May 2, 1999) and Cincinnati Marathon (May 9, 1999). At the age of 77, he ran 13 marathons in 2009 and won the top three positions in as many as 43 marathons all over globe since 1986. He is also the first Indian to have been made a member of the Elite 100+ Marathon Club of North America and UK for running 100 marathons, a feat which is shared by few Japanese in all over Asia, and has been honored by Marathon Maniacs Club of USA.
His most memorable moment of running life was in 1986 when he met his idol and hero Emil Zatopek, the famous Olympic champion of 5000 and 10,000m race and marathon in 1952 Helsinki Olympic, at Athens. “We became friends thereafter sharing greetings. In 2003, when I went for the Prague marathon, I decided to dedicate that to my hero who died three years ago. I was introduced to his wife Nina, the discus throw champion of 1952 Olympics, who presented me a picture of Zatopek at the opening ceremony,” he recalled.
In 1996, at the 100th Boston marathon out of 40,000 runners he was the only Indian who was given the Indian National Flag by the Mayor of Boston for the friendship run of 8km prior to the main marathon and ran with the heavy tricolor. In 1997, he was handed over the Indian National Flag by the UN Secretary General and was the only Indian to run on the streets of New York in an International Friendship run organized by the United Nations.
In 2005 January, the Pakistan sport fraternity organized a marathon there. Roy got a call from Lahore for his participation and was asked to contact the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. On landing in Pakistan, he was asked by inquisitive journalists how he felt coming to Pakistan against whom India have fought three wars. He said, “I am a doctor and I do not fight with any arms and during these wars I have treated Pakistani soldiers.” A representative of NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation) named Qayoom wanted to make a feature on him. “I ran with elite runners of the world and I was the oldest at 73. After the race started people started lining up on the street and threw flower petals and clapped seeing that I was the only Indian,” he said.
In 1997, the VAA in New Delhi arranged a trial marathon for him for selection for World Veteran Games at Melbourne. He ran bare body for 17 rounds at Nehru Stadium and finished at 3hours and 10minutes (55+ age group), an Indian national record still unbroken. “This unbroken record is the closest and best time of my life since I ran in 38 to 40 degree Celsius temperature,” he said.
Prior to that, in February 1994, at 5 degree Celsius temperature at Delhi Rath Marathon half an hour before the race he was warming up with heavy clothing on. However, when the marathoners were asked to line up for checking of chest numbers he fell down unconscious due to an attack of syncope injuring his right forehand and gained consciousness after 5minutes. “My family and doctor advised me not to run but I trained so hard for this marathon for the last six months that I could not let it go and decided to run after giving a declaration that I was doing so at my own risk. I finished the marathon at 3hours and 24minutes beating a least 7 runners above 40 years, which is a memorable moment,” said Roy who promises to run till his last breath.
He completed his 100th marathon in 2010 at the Standard Chartered Marathon held in Mumbai. Having run all the major marathons in the world, he was felicitated by the Assam government in 2002 and was conferred the ‘Best Sports Person of the Year’ by the Union Ministry of Social Welfare in October 2012. To inspire Indians – who he complains are lethargic about fitness – to take up running, Roy has written a book ‘Joy of Running’ that sold more than 30,000 copies worldwide. The idea of writing the book, dedicated to his father, came when he ran his first marathon in 1984. The book is a storehouse of records of all the marathon races he undertook with minute details on his preparations and his experiences such as coming across a competitor, about to die, who wanted to bid goodbye by running a marathon with bandaged hands and feet as well as a pregnant woman competing with others. It also contains scientific facts about the benefits of running along with advice on how to train for running. Roy’s is the first ever book on marathon by an Indian marathoner.
How would he be liked to be remembered, as a cardiologist or marathoner? “I want to be to be remembered as a marathoner since I got name and fame through my running career,” he said. He gives lectures during his yearly visits to USA and Canada (where his two daughters stay) on medical benefits of running and also participates in marathon during his stay there. His son works in a major European bank in London.
Roy’s running record
Mumbai Marathon, 2013, age 80+
Potomac Marathon (USA), 2011, age 70+
Sunburst Marathon (USA), 2010, age 75+
Harrisburg Marathon (USA), 2009
Niagara-on-the-lake Marathon (Canada), 2009
Self-Transcendental Marathon (USA), 2008
Edmonton Marathon (Canada), 2007
Lahore International Marathon (Pakistan), 2005
Prague International Marathon, 2003
Pepsi Millennium Marathon (Burlington), 2000
Asian Veteran Marathon (Kuala Lumpur), 1990
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