Retired Lieutenant Colonel Barsha Rai, a former woman army officer, successfully completed a 160-km run from Srinagar to Drass to honor the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas. She finished the run in four days, averaging 40 km per day, and was accompanied at times by the Chinar Warriors marathon team. The run commenced on July 19 and concluded on July 22 at the Kargil War Memorial, where tributes were paid to the martyrs.
Lt Col Rai, whose husband is an army officer in Kashmir, aimed to honor the bravery and sacrifices of soldiers who fought in the Kargil War. Starting in Srinagar, she ran to Wusan on the second day, then to Sonamarg at 9,000 feet altitude. On the third day, she crossed the 11,649 feet high Zojila Pass on the Srinagar-Leh national highway to reach Matayen, and finally reached the Kargil War Memorial in Drass on the fourth day.
Reflecting on her motivation, Lt Col Rai recalled how her father, Colonel Keshab Rai, deployed overnight to the border during the Kargil War when she was in class 7. She described the run as a tribute to the soldiers’ indomitable spirit and a means to raise awareness about their sacrifices, emphasizing that the physical pain she endured was minor compared to the hardships faced by the soldiers.
Lt Col Rai, a fourth-generation army officer, was commissioned into the Army Service Corps in March 2010 and received the Garhwal Medal for academic excellence from the Officers Training Academy in Chennai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Ladakh on July 26 to participate in the 25th-anniversary celebrations of India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1999 war.
