Mumbai based Paediatrician Dr Ajit Oak is certainly an inspiration for ultra runners. The year 2018 will see Ajit running the Comrades marathon in South Africa, for a mind-blowing 8th year in a row.

Starting off with a modest 7K run at SCMM in 2004, he quickly progressed to his first half & full marathon runs in 2005 following which he has completed many full marathons in India and abroad. His first Ultra run was a 75K at the Bangalore Ultra in 2009 where he ended up on the podium with a runner-up medal. In 2010 and 2011 he successfully completed 100K runs at the same venue.

When he learned about the Comrades Marathon, it didn’t take much for Ajit to be convinced to run the race and made his successful debut in 2011. Ajit has completed 4 of the 7 Comrades events he has participated in so far. In the 2015 event, he had to pull out due to severe cramps and was hospitalized in Durban. In 2013 he missed the final cutoff by just 6 minutes! Ajit is truly bitten by the Comrades bug and aspires to complete 10 comrades events in order to qualify for the coveted Green Member tag.

Marathon running has given Ajit the chance to travel and run in multiple cities worldwide such as Berlin, Hong Kong, Singapore etc. He also enjoys the unique moments of meeting celebrities like Bart Yasso, Glenn McGrath, and Bruce Fordyce.

For his Comrades training, Ajit commutes three days a week to a hill at Matheran which is around 45Km from his place of residence. Over the years he has adapted his hill training to include a series of continually alternating long uphills and shorter downhill runs in order to mimic the race. He even plans his training to suit the South African time zone in order to simulate the actual event. For the 2018 Comrades event, Ajit’s training runs have included the Yercaud Hills Ultra in March and the recently concluded Two Oceans Marathon in South Africa. The OOTYULTRA will be his final long event prior to Comrades.

As a vegetarian, Ajit believes in a balanced and traditional diet supplemented by whey proteins and micronutrients. His cross-training activities include swimming and cycling.

Ajit is thankful to his running mentor, colleagues, friends, and family for their support of his running endeavours. His wife has recently completed her first 5K run and he hopes this is the just the beginning of a long-running journey for her.

OOTYULTRA team welcomes Ajit to the event and wishes him all the best for the 2018 Comrades event.