For the record

Kranti Salvi’s checklist for the Berlin Marathon included a few items seldom found in a long-distance runner’s kit. Her shoes and socks were there, of course, but in one corner of her bag was a neatly folded navvari sari, with matching earrings, a traditional nose ring, a packet of bindis and artificial flowers for her hair.

There wasn’t a wedding to attend after the marathon, nor were these gifts for friends in Germany. The nine-yard sari traditionally worn by Maharashtrian women and the accessories were her outfit for the 42.195-km run on September 16.

The 50-year-old Mumbai resident had a mission — she wanted to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest marathon runner in a sari. She sailed across the finish line in 3 hours, 57 minutes and 7 seconds, shattering the previous mark by an hour. And along the way, she also made a statement on just what was possible in a navvari .

Salvi, who ran 800-metre races in school, gave up the sport to chase a career in engineering. But once her son had started his first athletics lessons under trainer Dinanath Maurya, her feet started to itch again. She began training under Maurya, too. In 2012, she was doing the rounds of Priyadarshini Park near her Malabar Hill home. And soon she had signed up for her first half-marathon race in Mumbai.

She finished fourth, and went on to sign up for her first marathon, where she outraced all the women in the 40+ category. It egged her on to further focus on her old passion, and she was soon finishing first in various races. To understand the science behind running better, she even pursued a certification course from the American College of Sports Medicine conducted in Bandra.

“It was great to come back home with a medal every time. But my husband said that if I really wanted to test myself, I should target a race such as the Boston Marathon,” recalls Salvi, who runs a computer and digital hardware supply company.

Every vacation thereon was planned around an international marathon, which would allow her to attain the qualification timing needed for the Boston run. After two unsuccessful attempts in Mauritius and the Philippines, Salvi finally clocked 3 hours 47 minutes in the Gold Coast to make the cut. The following year (2017), she had a finisher’s medal from Boston around her neck.

It was during one festive run that Salvi arrived at her next objective. To celebrate the Maharashtrian new year, or Gudi Padwa, in April, the Girgaum Runners planned a special run. The organising team decked up in their traditional attire and Salvi stood at the start line in a navvari sari to flag off the race. But the feet wouldn’t stay put — soon she was sprinting in her sari alongside friends.

“A lot of people wondered who this mad lady was,” she says.

Around the same time, she adds, Guinness confirmed that a woman had set a new record of running in a sari at the Mumbai Marathon. “A friend tagged my picture on social media and suggested that I have a go at the record. As I had registered for the Berlin Marathon, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take the navvari to the world,” she says.

After multiple mails to and fro with the authorities at Guinness, Salvi’s “costume” was finally approved. To gear up for the attempt, she took on the half-marathon at IIT-Bombay, where the heavy August downpour made it difficult to run in a drenched sari. She was still the first across the finishing line.

The stage was now set for the record attempt. On a rather scorching September morning, she dazzled the crowds in her pinkish-red navvari , a peaked cap and a belt stashed with hydration gels.

Wearing a sari had its flipside. “While a tail wind is of great help for runners, in my case, it only ballooned up the sari, forcing me to stop every few kilometres to adjust it. I would tuck it into the socks and the shorts, but eventually had to stop again to fix it. The sari didn’t allow me to maintain my usual stride, which I made up for with increased cadence,” she says. Running tends to lead to chafing, and the sari made it worse. “It was only when I showered after the race that I realised the cuts and rashes I had on my body,” she says, smiling.

All along, a drone tracked her progress to ensure that it was a legitimate entry for the record books. As she crossed the finish line, she had a record to her name. Guinness World Record now describes her as the “Fastest marathon dressed in a sari (female)” on its website.

Salvi, back in Mumbai, now wants to take part in the New York City Marathon. This time around, though, she plans to leave her navvari behind. After all, she was given an inch, and took nine yards.

Shail Desai is a Mumbai-based writer

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