Samantha Gash, an endurance athlete from Australia, will begin an enthralling journey from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to Mawsynram in Meghalaya to raise funds for the education of underprivileged children in India. By Vijay S Kumar
Samantha Gash may be a topnotch endurance performer with a inch-tape discipline but even she too gets carried away by good old palak paneer. “I love Indian food. It would be a crime to touch palak paneer, dal and roti while I am here as I have to keep to a diet. But I think my team will help me strike a balance. I can’t just switch over to Indian food completely as my body is not conditioned to it, but I do plan on getting my hands on some yummies,” she told us.
Gash, an endurance athlete from Australia, will begin an enthralling journey from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to Mawsynram in Meghalaya to raise funds for the education of underprivileged children in India. Not only because she is altruistic but because she gets a unique opportunity to combine passion with mission. And in the process discover a country she had always wanted to.
Gash will run a staggering 3,800 km over 76 days. “This is the biggest challenge I have ever undertaken. It will take me around 76 days and I will take over five million steps. Honestly I don’t know if I am capable enough of doing this. But when you consider the challenges many children face, my task is easy”, she said.
It took her many days to train and prep. “It is more of a holistic training that makes me remain fit. I work on my endurance and strength. Considering I have to run in India, I need to get acclimatised to the heat here which is a switching over from the present winter in Melbourne. I have set up a treadmill in a hot yoga studio so that I can crank the temperature up to 40 degrees and get a sense of what things will look like in the real world. In addition to all this, I do yoga to balance myself”, she added.
Asked how she plans to pace the marathon, she said, “I won’t be running every day. I will take a day off or two because the idea is to be able to meet a lot of people, to understand them, absorb their culture and imbibe their lifestyle. In the process of developing bonds, I will try to create awareness about hygiene and sanitation.”
On the growing need to promote skill-based learning, she said, “Education empowers you and opens your world to infinite possibilities. But you also need to know how and when to get out and listen to your heart. I was a lawyer and I realised that I wasn’t being able to make the sort of impact that I wanted to. So I decided to push my mind and body to address issues which can make an impact,” she said of doing her bit for karma.
So how does she keep calm during the days of tough training and preparationIJ Well, the last couple of months have been really tough. I have not had time to be with my family, but yes, my sister will visit me one of these days and I have requested my parents to come and see me while I am here. Probably things will be better. The campaign has already raised over 80,000 Australian dollars and this is a positive sign considering that I haven’t even started running,” she added.
There is a lot of buzz around raising awareness and donating money. Cherian Thomas, national director, World Vision, India, said “This is an online campaign and people will keep getting updates. All the contributions will be accounted for.”