Long-distance runner Lalita Babar, 25, bought her first pair of shoes after she was prevented from running barefoot at a national track event in 2005. She went to a local shoe store in Satara district, where she was born and raised. Unaware of the brands that fellow athletes used, she bought a regular pair which cost Rs. 1,200 and pinched her pocket.
“I hadn’t even heard of Adidas, Puma and Reebok. I still remember those shoes. They were of a local company called Pama. It was much later that I started buying branded shoes fit for running,” said Babar, who successfully completed a hat-trick of titles at the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday [in January 2014]. She also set a new course record among Indian women athletes by clocking 2:50:31. Her demeanour a day after, however, personified humility and poise, as she answered congratulatory calls and messages. She wants to use the prize money to sponsor her youngest brother’s education.
Born to farmer parents in the Mohi village of drought-ridden Maan taluka of Satara district, Lalita has not been a stranger to hardship. But her parents tried to shield her from everything that could come in the way of a budding career in sport. “If there were days my parents went hungry so that my stamina wasn’t compromised upon, I did not know,” said Babar, the oldest of four siblings.
