Entrepreneur’s wanderlust fuels marathon firsts for India

Ram Gopal Kothari insists he is not a runner but a traveller. And his insatiable hunger to explore has taken the Kolkata entrepreneur from the North Pole to one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands, Rapa Nui in Chile, where he became the first Indian to complete the Volcano Marathon.

Less than a year after becoming the first Indian to complete a marathon at the Geographic North Pole, the 45-year-old Kothari has scripted another first, this time on Rapa Nui, also called the Easter Island, famed for its mysterious Moai statues and dramatic volcanic landscape.

The journey involved travelling more than 24,000 kilometres from India. It was also the 80th country that Kothari set foot on in his eventful life.

“I have become the first Indian to complete the Volcano Marathon on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile, one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands. The journey involved travelling over 24,000 kilometres from India via Mumbai, Istanbul and Santiago before reaching Rapa Nui...,” he told PTI in an interview.

“As with my previous expedition, this journey was about pushing the boundaries of endurance and inspiring others to dream beyond limits,” he added.

The records are, however, merely significant milestones in a much larger journey.

“You used the right word, hunger. Now, it has become a little like hunger,” he said when asked what keeps drawing him to some of the world’s most unusual marathons. That hunger first took him to Antarctica in 2022.

While travelling there, he became fascinated by the idea of visiting the Geographic North Pole and stumbled upon a marathon organised in the Arctic.

The original event was held at 89 degrees North before participants were flown to the Pole by helicopter. When organisers later introduced a format that staged the race directly at 90 degrees North, Kothari signed up and became the first Indian to complete the event. But another destination still remained to be checked in his bucket list.

“Easter Island was one of my dream places. So, I had to go to Easter Island one day because I was seeing Easter Island for a long time. There are statues of Moai. Nobody knows who installed them,” he said excitedly.