What’s the story?
In what will remain as a watershed moment for sports in India, Sagar Baheti overcame all odds to become the first visually-impaired Indian to complete the world’s oldest and most competitive marathon, the Boston Marathon.
The 31-year-old Bengaluru-based Baheti completed the race in 4 hours, 14 minutes and 7 seconds to finish at the 18th spot in the visually impaired category. When he reached the finish line, holding the Indian tri-colour up in the air, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
In case you didn’t know…
The historic Boston Marathon first took place in 1897 and is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. It is widely considered as one of the most difficult marathon courses around the world.
The heart of the matter
Baheti, who is a businessman by profession, was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease in 2013. This disease is a type of genetic muscular degeneration which causes progressive deterioration of the central portion of the retina and ultimately leads to legal blindness. However, he did not let the disease deter him and chose to raise awareness on visual impairment in the country.
Being a sports enthusiast from his childhood, he always wanted to indulge in a physical activity that could challenge him while being minimally skills-based. Running became an obsession and he ran a few marathons in the country.
Eventually, it led him to the Boston Marathon. He became the first visually impaired Indian to qualify for the marathon and was one of the 30,000 runners who took part in the race on a blistering Monday morning.
In fact, this year’s marathon has been recorded as the second hottest Boston Marathon in the last decade. But overcoming odds is almost second nature to Baheti. Assisted by two sighted guides, one of them being an old friend from Boston, he completed 42.195 Km distance without any complaints.
What’s next?
Baheti hopes that his participation will help him raise $10,000 for Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI), an organisation that makes daily travelling easier for the visually impaired by building advanced low-vision devices.
Author’s take
This is absolutely incredible. It is not an easy task to complete a marathon in about four hours in the sweltering heat and imagine how much harder it might have been for a visually impaired person. Plaudits to Baheti for pulling this off and hopefully he will be successful in his campaign to raise awareness on visual impairment in the country.
