Written by: Angel Dhimal - 25002, Grade X
Posted on: 02 December, 2022
A 33 years old Nepalese sky and trail runner, Mira Rai was born on 31st December, 1988 in a small remote village of Bhojpur in the east of the country. She belonged to a destitute family. When she was younger only her brothers went to school whereas she was at home helping her parents with household chores. She was just 12 years old when she left her education due to the family’s economic crisis. Usually in a Nepali society a girl reaches a specific age is married off and is made to have children but Mira had different plans. She would run 3 hours straight to the market carrying 28 kg rice bags and sell them and return to her village and earn some money out of it. When she was 14 years old she decided to join the Maoists Army Guerrilla. She concealed her decision from her parents but instead told them that she was going to a camp. She in her interview had also mentioned that her mother had tried to commit suicide after she did not return home for more than 7 months.
When the war ended in 2006, the Nepalese Army had discharged her as she was just a minor. After that she joined a government rehabilitation programme and continued running for fun. She had no money for food but she would still run. After Mira returned home she decided to do something for her family so she traveled to Kathmandu to pursue karate and running. After she moved to the capital city, she practiced running on ring roads. One morning when she was running in the hills surrounding Kathmandu valley she met a group of runners who were running in the same place. After seeing her running they asked her to meet them for the following week for a running race. Mira did not know what actually was an organized running race. When she reached there she found out that it was an ultra marathon race of 50km. It was the first time that she was participating in such a race. Despite no preparation, no proper food and clothes, Mira won the race and caught the attention of many people. The sports organizers were very surprised to see such a dedicated girl towards running.
Her mentor Richard Bull helped her a lot with her running. Mira always believed that she would be successful one day. She had also won the 200km Mustang trail mountain race. Mira was now an international and national face. She had participated in many races and won breaking records too. In 2016 she had faced a knee injury during a competition in the United Kingdom so she took a break for sometime. She entered the 82 km Mont Blanc Skyrunner World Series. It was one of the toughest races in the world. In 2017 she rejoined and participated in the September 2017 at the 120 km Ben Nevis Ultra Trail Race in Scotland, UK, where she won the race and set a new course record in a time of 14 hours and 24 minutes. Mira is our national personality. She has been successful in spreading her name all over the world and has also made our country proud. She is now an example for many young girls. Her story inspires us to do what we set our mind to as long as we are dedicated. If we want, we can do anything. She was just a normal village girl who had joined Maoist Army but because of her passion and dedication she has now become one of the famous faces in national and international places.
Reference:
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Mira_Rai
