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A Tibetan athlete, Lobsang Tharchin, finished third in the Pangong Ice Ultra, an ultra-marathon on a high altitude frozen lake that rides the Ladakh region in northern India and Tibet.
About twenty runners participated in the 55-kilometer race (34 miles) through the snow and ice at an altitude of 4,274 meters (14,000 feet) and at temperatures that fell to less than 20 degrees Celsius (-4 F).
Tharchin, 33, of the Tibetan colony of Sonam Ling in northern India, finished Wednesday with a time of 5:19:10, proudly holding the Tibetan flag on the finish line.
It marks the first time that a Tibetan has finished in the first three of Ice Ultra, which is a new addition of this year’s event, called the Gelé Pangong marathon. It took place in Ladakh, a mountainous region administered by India.
“Running on ice for the first time in this freezing time was both an incredible experience and a big challenge,” said Tharchin.
“Without special preparation, obtaining third place is a great honor,” he said. “As a Tibetan, being able to wear the Tibetan flag and show it filled with immense happiness.”
The event was organized in 2023 to promote winter tourism around Lake Pangong and to raise awareness of climate change and specific challenges against the Ladakh region, said the organizer of the Jampa Tseten event.
“As global temperatures increase, the merger of glaciers in Ladakh becomes an austere reality,” he told Radio Free Asia. “It is crucial to encourage the local community to live in harmony with the environment.”
The event was organized by Adventure Sports Foundation du Ladakh and is also called “the last race” to draw attention to the merger of glaciers. The theme of this year’s publishing was “Save Water and Save Glaciers”.
During its first edition in 2023, the event was officially recognized by the Books Guinness of the world record as the first marathon on the frozen Lake of Asia and the highest in the world.
Another Tibetan Namgyal Tsering, 27, won third place in the shorter 21 -kilometer category (13 miles), called the Lake Frozen Pagong marathon, organized by Adventure Sports Foundation du Ladakh. Ladakh is a mountainous region administered by India.
Among the 300 who participated in the event, about half were the Ladakhis, while others included Indian soldiers and about 30 Tibetans. The youngest was 7 years old and the 60 seniors.
The marathon has received support from the Ladakh Union’s territory administration under the Jal Jeevan mission, an initiative of the Indian government to provide safe and adequate drinking water thanks to individual household tap connections with all households in rural India.
Translated by Tenzin Palmo for RFA Tibetan. Published by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.