Seven is heaven

It is mission accomplished for marathon man Dhananjay Yellurkar as he has now run a marathon on all seven Continents, post heart attack and bypass surgery

As Dhananjay Yellurkar, 59, crossed the finish line of the marathon in Santiago, Chile (South America) called the Maratón de Santiago on Sunday (May 14) it was mission accomplished… the 42.2 km distance demolished. Yellurkar has become one of the extremely rare, or perhaps the only person, to have finished a marathon on all continents post heart attack and subsequent bypass surgery in 2009.

Chile hilly

Yellurkar said from Santiago, “With this run, I achieved my goal. I completed the run in my target time of less than six hours. The route was tough with inclines for the most part of the race.” Chile, was well, not quite so chilly after all. Yellurkar, a Bandra native, added, “The sun was blazing and there wasn’t much tree cover.”

Yellurkar said that he “expected the route to be flat as per most of the city marathons but the inclines for the better part of the race made it one of the most challenging city marathons. It was tougher than I thought it would be.” However, the merciless Mumbai mercury, which seems to be on a perpetual incline quite like the Santiago race route, turned out to be a blessing.

Yellurkar said with a laugh, “Training in the hot and humid weather of Mumbai helped.” The senior working professional who gives life to the axiom: ‘The best way to realise your dream is to wake up’ said he religiously followed a 20-week training program in Mumbai and controlled his diet. “I refrained from sugar and even lost 7 kg in weight during the period.”

Also Read: Vande Bharat train: Mumbai to Goa in just 7 hours

Race face

The Yellurkars—Dhananjay, his wife Reshma, son Ishan and daughter Neeti—reached Santiago just one day prior to the run. Dhananjay said he was jet lagged, but since he had followed a gruelling training schedule, he was confident of completing the run and finishing strong. “I anyways had decided to just enjoy the moment and give my best. The race had 10 km, 21 km (most popular choice) and 42 km runs. For the 42 km run, there were around 3,700 participants, mostly from Chile. I did not see any other Indian participants. The race is not as big as the Mumbai Marathon and is still evolving. The most challenging part was that all instructions were in Spanish and it was difficult to understand. No one spoke English so that made the entire experience tougher,” he said.

Some thoughts

Through the race, other thoughts went through Yellurkar’s head, like with the completion of the run he would be creating a record (of being a rare person who had run full marathons in all seven continents post a heart attack and bypass surgery). “Though it had taken me 14 years, I was proud that this was a huge feat for a former non-athlete. Also, it had taken so long since I was straddling work, building my nest egg and saving to fund taking part in these marathons (I have never availed sponsorships or engaged in public relations). So, I was extremely happy with all blessings in my life,” said Yellurkar.

There is even more happiness beyond cracking the continents. According to Yellurkar, his son debuted with the 10 km run at the same event and his wife and daughter were there at the finish line, carrying the Indian flag. “My daughter got special t-shirts made to commemorate my completion of the 7th continent marathon which we wore after the race and for the celebratory dinner.” In the end, Yellurkar wrapped up, “I had written a book/memoir called #FuelforMyJourney, during COVID downtime. It is time to add another chapter about the Santiago marathon and re-release my memoir.”

Continent Conqueror

NORTH AMERICA
NYC Marathon: 2010

EUROPE
Berlin Marathon and Paris Marathon: 2011 and 2012

ASIA
Mumbai Marathon: 2012, 13, 14, 15

AFRICA
Big 5 Marathon: 2014

ANTARCTICA
Antarctic Ice Marathon: 2018

AUSTRALIA
Gold Coast Marathon: 2019

SOUTH AMERICA
Santiago Marathon: 2023

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