The girls, hailing from the mountainous Leh-Ladakh, will explore their talent on the streets of the concrete city — Mumbai — in the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.
It is said sports is the best way to develop friendship. And, Indian women elite runners Jigmet Dolma and Tsetan Dolkar are proof of it.
The girls, hailing from the mountainous Leh-Ladakh, will explore their talent on the streets of the concrete city — Mumbai — in the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.
It will be the third instance when the duo will take part in the country's richest marathon and they are excited to be a back again, aiming for better timings this year.
While Jigmet finished third last season in the Indian elite women section, her running partner Tsetan came fourth, three seconds behind the former.
The two are proud of their friendship, with their faces lighting up while talking about each other.
"We became friends in 2011-12 while running. From then on, we always train together. It's tough but we enjoy running," Tsetan said.
Tsetan does most of the talking while a shy Jigmet giggles when asked soft questions.
"Our parents are into farming and they support us a lot. They want us to do better. Our aim is to represent India one day," she added.
Their parents live in a remote village, with the two studying in Leh and training together. They experience difficulties as far as nutrition is concerned when it snows.
"The roads get blocked due to snow in winters. We face some troubles as we don't get fruits and some vegetables during that season, which becomes an issue some times," Jigmet said.
Former marathoner and coach of the duo, Savio D'Souza, is happy with their progress. "They want to go higher, but they have a long way to go. They run well in the mountains but when it comes to streets, they lack speed. They are more endurance runners but soon they will catch the speed too," said D'Souza.
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