How Bairagna has become India's breeding ground for race walkers

A government school in Bairagna, which is 12 kilometers from Gopeshwar on the Mandal route in Chamoli (a part of Uttarakhand), has been churning out quality race walkers on a regular basis.

16-year-old Aditya Negi is the latest prospect from Bairagna’s stable. In February this year, he won bronze in a 10km race walk event in the boys’ under-16 group at a junior national athletics meet held in Guwahati, Assam.

Aditya is among 33 probables selected in the boys’ group for the three-week-long junior and youth national athletics camp starting July 23 in Patiala.

Apart from Aditya, Paramjeet Singh Bisht is the second race walker from the Bairagna region selected for the junior national camp.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Gopal Singh Bisht, a physical education teacher at the school said:

“Inclusion of Aditya and Paramjeet in the national camp will encourage other students to stay focused and give good results in future."

In the past six years as many as six students from Bairagna have won medals on the junior national circuit, including the National School Games competition.

The 18-year-old Paramjeet also won bronze in the 10km race walking event at the 2019 Asian Youth Athletics Championships held in Hong Kong.

Manish Singh Rawat, Rio Olympian in men’s 20km race walk, has been the most successful of the lot. He was also a student of Bairagna’s government school.

Manish is the first athlete from the Chamoli region to reach the international stage. He finished 13th in the men’s 20km race walk at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

According to Gopal, the upcoming national camp in Patiala will be a good platform for both Aditya and Paramjeet to improve their performance.

“Good facilities in Patiala will give them a chance to improve their performance and to stay in contention for the next month’s World U20 Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya,” said Gopal.

He went to add:

“Manish’s success story has inspired youngsters. Since he got a job through sports quota in the state police department. Upcoming athletes too want to follow in his footsteps,” points out Gopal.

Young athletes, said Gopal, are generally from remote areas with humble backgrounds in Bairagna.

“Almost all the teenagers in the region aim to get job in the Army. But I think they also have an option through sports now,” added Gopal.

What makes Bairagna the breeding ground for race walking in India?

Aditya Negi

To begin with, the school teacher is silently working to keep his students busy in their leisure hours. The school teacher said:

“We don’t have good facilities for sprinting or jumping. We thought race walking would be the best way to keep the students busy in their leisure hours.”

In addition, the school is at an elevation of 1600-metre above sea level. Clean crisp cool air in the summer months is an advantage for endurance events in Bairagna.

Furthermore, students have to walk a couple of miles each day to school from their nearby villages.

“Walking daily to school and back home makes them strong and sturdy. Since there is no proper playing field in the region, race walking is the only option to excel in sports,” explained the school teacher.

The school teacher sometimes also has to financially support the students. Physical fitness, said Gopal, has been made mandatory for all students from sixth class onwards.

“But the specialization for race walking starts from ninth class. The results have been good,” said the school teacher from Bairagna.