Pen-based Rutuja Sakpal, 21, has won several marathons. However, her gold medal effort at Sunday’s Pink Marathon in the city was special. She overcame a series of obstacles before reaching the start line, proving right the event’s tagline—Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon.
Sakpal, who secured first place (in the 18 to 35 age category) in the 5km run, clocking 19.03 minutes, is yet to tell her parents, mum Shivani and dad Jaywant, that she slept on Marine Drive the night before the race. “I have not yet told my parents that my brother and I spent the night on Marine Drive. I’m afraid. I don’t know how they will react. We had no choice other than sleeping by the side of the street though,” Sakpal told mid-day on Tuesday.
Rutuja Sakpal outside her Pen residence on the scooter that she won on Sunday
Accommodation refused
Sakpal and her elder brother, Karan, 23, were forced to sleep on Marine Drive after arriving in Mumbai on Saturday evening as they were refused accommodation at some of the hotels they approached. “No one was ready to give us the room because they might have felt that we were a runaway couple. We even showed them our Aadhaar cards. Then, we went to Khau Galli near Cross Maidan and had some street food around 10pm and came to Marine Drive, but the police chased us from there around midnight. We walked away, but returned around 3:30am [by which time the cops had left]. I then slept till 5:30am, while Karan stayed awake. I then headed for the marathon at 6am,” Sakpal explained.
The athlete was almost denied a late entry to the race. “Around 7:30pm when I approached organisers to register, I was told that it’s too late and all entries were closed. I pleaded with them and when another athlete, Kranti Salvi, requested them saying I had come all the way from Pen, they agreed,” added Sakpal, who was awarded a scooter and a smartwatch on winning the race. Interestingly, she took part in the race with the aim of winning the scooter as it would help her in her daily commute to and from the training venue in Alibaug.
35-km journey to Alibaug
“I returned home from Lucknow after attending the national trials on Saturday and was in no mood to come to Mumbai for this race. But when I heard that the first prize is a scooter, I decided to participate.
There is no training ground in Pen so I used to undertake a 35-km journey to Alibaug daily. This scooter will make things convenient,” added Sakpal, who now aims to win representing the country and win medals at the international stage.
“My aim is to win medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. I had a good selection trial at Lucknow where I expect to get selected for the national camp which will be held in Ooty soon,” Sakpal signed off.
