Running Away from Poverty: Child Marathoners.

By Alex in Sports on Oct 20, 2006 at 1:05 am

Inspired by four-year-old Indian boy Budhia Singh’s feat of running 40 miles in seven hours non-stop, a bunch of children have taken up running to escape poverty:

Budhia Singh’s run catapulted the little boy from the sleepy eastern state of Orissa into the national limelight and controversy with the country divided on the hazards of allowing children to run marathons.

Emboldened by his feat, other children in the state are running long distances for fame and money.

Take for example, 10-year-old Anastasia Barla, a tribal girl from a remote village in the Sundargarh district.

She recently ran 65km and then, after a break of five minutes, went on to complete 72km (45 miles) – all in eight hours. Her target was to cover 105km (65 miles).

Link

Previously on Neatorama: Budhia Singh, India’s Forrest Gump.

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Derrick
Oct 20th, 2006 at 2:44 am
So let’s get this right: 137km or 85.6m in 8 hours – that’s an average of 5:36 mins per mile.

Considering Paula Radcliffe did her world record marathon (a mere 26.2m) at a pace of 5:09, I’m thinknig there may be some holes in this story…
Moon
Oct 20th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
She went on to COMPLETE 72km. She only did 72km total in 8 hours, which is about 10 minutes/mile. She didn’t hit her target of 105km, that’s how I read it.

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