Rifles to running shoes: A 42-km Bastar marathon

ON March 22, the ‘Bastar Heritage Marathon 2026’ will unfold not merely as an athletic competition but as a living manifesto of transformation.

- EJAZ KAISER @ Raipur

Among the professional runners and local enthusiasts, around 200 participants stand out—men and women who were once Maoist insurgents but who have now traded the darkness of the forest for the sunlight of the social mainstream.The marathon begins at the historic Lal Bagh Ground in Jagdalpur (south Chhattisgarh) and stretches 42 kilometres to the mist-covered banks of the Chitrakote Falls, often cited as the “Niagara of India”.