Ultrarunning
Meet Shubham Kajale, India’s youngest Ultraman
20-year-old Pune lad Shubham Kajale finished 36th at Ultraman Australia in May 2018 to become the youngest athlete to complete the race, and also India’s youngest-ever Ultraman.
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When Shubham Kajale lined up at the start of Ultraman Australia in May 2018, he was well aware of what it entailed to run a course that tested the best in the world. Though he was among the 50 competitors who had been invited to the race, he knew the odds were stacked against him.
At just 20 years old, he lacked the experience that others had gained after undergoing the grind of competition year after year. While he is considered a prodigy, succeeding at the Ultraman is not easy since the athlete must last three days while tackling a 10-km swim, a cycling leg of 421.1 kms, and a run of 84.3 kms.
When the Pune lad crossed the finish line in 31 hours 32 minutes and seven seconds, he had rewritten a number of records – the youngest Indian to finish an Ultraman, the youngest participant in the world to complete Ultraman Australia, and the second youngest in the world to go the Ultraman distance.
It was his moment to bask in the glory of the accolades. But while he savoured the moment as one of the youngest to complete an Ultraman, he knew that his success story had been several years in the making.
Different games
Far from the demands of a triathlon, Shubham’s first love was horses and the equestrian arts; a skill he mastered at the Digvijay Pratishthan Horse Riding Academy in Pune.
“I was about four when I first rode a horse and was just fascinated with the experience. After competing at various state-level equestrian competitions, I took on the modern pentathlon and even made the cut on the Asian Games squad, though India didn’t compete at the event eventually,” Shubham recalls.
Shubham Kajale
© Shubham Kajale
Alongside riding, he was thrown into the swimming pool at Tilak Tank by his parents, Jyoti and Sanjay, under the watchful eye of swimming coach Kalpana Agashe. It took little time for Agashe to transform him into a water baby – an affair that continues to this day.
“There’s just something about being alone in the water. When you’re swimming, you can’t see or hear anything for hours, so it’s a kind of meditation in itself which I enjoy a lot,” he says.
After excelling at local equestrian and swimming competitions in 2011, Shubham decided to add to his sporting skill set as he entered his teens. The Enduro 3 adventure race involved hiking and mountain biking in the Sahyadri Mountains, and he was on the podium in his first appearance at the event. The same year, he finished first at the Pune Bicycle Championship and was named the Best Cadet at a camp organised by Bhonsala Military School.
For the next few years, Shubham dabbled in various disciplines, while also handling the demands of education. But with supportive parents by his side, there was little pressure to excel at academics.
“I was an average student. My folks were happy with my performance since I was getting good results in sports. It would have been really hard to chase my calling without their support,” he says.
In 2014, Shubham competed in his first triathlon in Pune and finished third in his age category, despite a comedy of errors.
“At that point, I was still wearing glasses, so on the cycling and running legs, I had them bobbing up and down on my nose – a complete distraction. I was still fatigued from the swimming and was exhausted by the time the run came. I don’t know how I pulled it off, but at the end of it, I knew I wanted more,” he says.
New challenge
After finishing second at Rugged Sahyadri 2014, Shubham met race director Akash Korgaonkar, who had just finished Ironman Zurich. Till then Shubham had only heard of Ironman events, but he set his sights on completing one after speaking with Korgaonkar.
“Once I was home, I told my parents that I wanted to attempt an Ironman after my 12th grade examination. I had two years to train for it,” he says.
“What really attracted me was the challenge posed by an Ironman – a 4-km swim, 180 kms of cycling and a 42-km run. Then, of course, there was all the glamour associated with it once you finished a race,” he adds.
Besides the advice of friends who had participated at Ironmans in the past and physiotherapist Dr Avijan Sinha, Shubham was pretty much on his own as he trained for his first Ironman. He designed his own routine and followed a diet based on research on the internet. While most triathletes follow a scientific approach to training, Shubham designed his regime around his own experience on trial runs.
“I changed my workout every week based on results. Every two weeks, I used to do 1/4th of the distance, and then analysed my performance based on the timing and fatigue levels. You can call it a practical approach to training, rather than a scientific one,” he says.
Shubham alongside another participant at Ultraman Australia 2018
© Shubham Kajale
The learning continued in competition. At the Chennai half Ironman – where he was the youngest participant – Shubham had to deal with crosswinds and headwinds, and temperatures that hit 45 degrees Celsius. At an event in Mysuru, he lost two cycle tyre tubes due to flats and was left stranded in the middle of nowhere; his father delivered a borrowed bike so he could complete the race. His father was his sole sponsor and support back then.
At the Ironman, Shubham would need a tri-bike and approached his father in December 2015. A jewellers’ strike at the time meant that his shop was shut for a month (his dad works in the jewellery business) and there was no income. This meant digging into savings so Shubham could purchase a new bike which cost a whopping Rs 3 lakh.
“My parents have had a role in every success of mine, it would have been impossible to pull off anything without them,” Shubham says.
By the time Ironman Australia arrived in May 2016, Shubham had gathered enough expertise to take on the race.
“I was advised by the experienced guys to save time wherever possible, including the toilet breaks. As per their suggestion, I relieved myself on the bike and while on the move. And it wasn’t easy! The moment I got to the next aid station, I needed a lot of water to wash it all away. After that, I decided that I would never go again when in the saddle,” he laughs.
“The rain really tested me on the running leg and the last 10km were sapping,” he adds.
Fighting back
Shubham finished 16th in his age group (18-24 years) which was a call for celebration. But the discipline demanded by the sport had also become too much for the teen. And just like that, he quit the daily grind of the last few years to live the life of an average collegian.
“The Ironman had been very taxing on the body, and I just wanted to rest. I used to wake up late and go to college, eat junk food, and hang out with friends – normal things like any other guy,” he says.
Then one day, just out of the blue, he sent an email to the organisers of Ultraman Australia, who informed him that the minimum age for participation was 18 years.
“There needs to be a gap of 18 months after an Ironman to run an Ultraman. I hadn’t thought of participating in one until [I was] 21, but their response changed everything. It motivated me to start training again,” he recalls.
But those months of idling had made things difficult. He now struggled with the distances that he would routinely pull off during training. It took two months of unwavering focus for him to get back to his previous endurance level. Once he was comfortable, he started increasing his mileage and worked toward converting weaknesses into strengths.
“I used to always avoid running, just like a schoolboy avoids homework. I decided to make it my strongest skill after that,” he chuckles.
Shubham was joined by crew mate Arshad Jacob for 60 kms of the run
© Shubham Kajale
He began taking on trails and highways around Pune regularly, besides extended swimming sessions. He also underwent gym and physio sessions for strength training. In February this year, he took on the role of a 50-km pacer at the Kolhapur Ultra. A day before the event, he rode the 230-odd kilometres to the event to add to the mileage. The stage was finally set for the Ultraman challenge.
“They invite just 50 athletes to participate [at the Ultraman]. It gets quite lonely out there as compared to an Ironman since everyone is spread out over the route,” he says.
Creating history
Many had tried to deter Shubham from competing in the Ultraman; thoughts which rushed back to him during the race.
“They said my muscles hadn’t developed enough to tackle it. But I knew my body well and wanted to give it a shot. If I failed, it would only be a great learning experience,” he says.
The crew comprising his mother and two friends lost their way on Day 1. The second and final day was also difficult, but crew mate Arshad Jacob ran with Shubham for 60 kms to keep his morale up.
“After 150 kms on the second day, I was the last participant, though I had finished in the top-10 on Day 1. The guy I was tailing was 45 minutes ahead of me, but I recovered to bag 35th position by the end of the second day,” he says.
The recovery was made tougher when Shubham took a wrong turn and went off the course about five kilometres before the finish.
“I had to pick up the pace, locate the hotel where I was staying – since I knew the race ran past it – and was finally back on track. I thought of all the hard work that I had put in – surely one wrong turn couldn’t end my dream,” he says.
When the Indian tricolour was handed to him, two kilometres from the finish line, a different energy surged through him. On 14th May 2018, Shubham made history for India when he crossed the finish line in 36th position at Ultraman Australia, becoming the youngest athlete in the world to complete the race.