Category Archives: trail running nepal

The posts under this category make older material, previously published elsewhere, available.

spectacular talent deserves support

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This was originally posted on October 31, 2014 on my previous blogsite

Mira Rai is starting to make her mark internationally. A couple of months ago she showed up at the start of her first ever 50k and did remarkably well for a girl that hadn’t run much beyond 5 and 10k races. Richard Bull, a driving force behind the development of trailrunning in Nepal, started a crowd funding initiative to support her development as a budding athlete and that of other talented female runners. He invited her to join the second edition of his Mustang Trail race (female winner), and managed to get her to follow the footsteps of Upendra Sunwar and Phu Dorjee Sherpa whom his crowd funding efforts has brought to Europe recently. Two straight wins later, after some recovery time in Nepal, she was supported to travel to Hongkong to compete  in the MSIG HK50 and was victorious again.

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trail running Nepal

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Content-wise, the trailrunningnepal.org site, in its early days, was a co-production of my friend Richard and myself (design and all the technical stuff: all Richard). Much of what I I contributed  didn’t age very well but some of it still seems relevant and the point of this compilation post is to make those easily accessible.

And be ready for some mouth-watering visuals of Nepal’s stunning trails!

Back in 2010, we co-wrote a destination guide, trail running in Nepal, for  what is now one of the trail running world’s most important hubs, irunfar.com. Amazing, how much has changed in eight years time.

Same year I speculated on Why running trails in Southasia are not yet a popular form of adventure tourism? in the regionally focussed Himal Southasian magazine. Would certainly have to write a different article now, although some of what I came up with remains valid.

In 2011 we promoted fastpacking Nepal’s trekking trails first time round.

And that same year I kicked off my pedestrian overthinking with a first try at navigating the conceptual space of all those variations of ‘running’. It holds documentary value for me, and shows that I haven’t progressed much since in trying to create clarity in my fuzzy mess of thoughts.

I reviewed 2013 for trail running Nepal and could point to quite some positives. The review also included some general observations about ultra-trail running world-wide.

In 2014 I wrote a post about (the need to support) upcoming local talent Mira Rai. It only appeared on my now defunct personal blog, but was was shared in various ways among the growing circle of those interested in Nepalse runners, and running in Nepal. To make it accessible (again) I have reposted it on this blog.

My involvement with trail running in Nepal ended years ago, and I can claim no role in the amazing changes that Richard and friends have brought about and nurtured: the array of spectacular events, effective support to amazing local runners (who have made full use of the opportunities they got), the visibility of Nepal as a running destination, and the recognition its talent receives now receives from local media and authorities.  But they certainly make me very happy!

Enjoy the visuals: