A British Indian woman recently made history, when she ran a 42.5-kilometer marathon in Manchester, all the while, wearing a traditional, crimson Sambalpuri saree! Madhusmita Jena Das completed the marathon in just four hours and 50 minutes.
The official Twitter account of ‘Friends of India Soc Intl UK’ shared a video that showed Das running energetically alongside the other contestants. She is seen waving to the camera.
Das, however, is no stranger to running long-distance marathons. In an interview, Das, who is a school teacher by profession, revealed that she was the only participant in the marathon wearing a saree. “Running for such an extended period of time is in itself an uphill task, but doing so in a saree is even more difficult. But I am happy I was able to complete the entire distance in 4.50 hours”. Hailing from the Kusupur village of Orissa, the 41-year-old revealed that she is inspired to wear a saree by her mother and grandmother, who used to wear sarees regularly while doing heavy labour. Dismissing the notion that it is difficult to run while wearing sarees, she said, “Many believe women cannot run wearing sarees, but I proved them wrong by doing the task draped in a Sambalpuri handloom. I anyway wear sarees during summers in the UK,” she said.
The post gained over 47K views and 1,044K likes. A Twitter user shared the posts and wrote, “An Indian, living in Manchester, UK, ran the UK’s second largest Manchester Marathon 2023 wearing a Sambalpuri Saree What a great gesture, indeed! I loved her spirit!
Many Indians took to the comment section to gush about Das’s monumental achievement. One Twitter user wrote, “Nice, now we can hopefully find people wearing patta saree. Another user described the type of saree Das is wearing and called it a ‘Manibandha Khandua’ saree.
Another person commented, “Completing a 42-kilometer marathon itself is a very big deal, and that too in a traditional Indian saree is an extraordinary achievement, I must say. Weldon Madhuji!”