Kalpana Chawla awardee from Coimbatore aspired to join IAF, ends up as marathoner

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Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay handing over the Kalpana Chawla Award to Nausheen Banu Chand at the 80th Independence Day celebrations at St. George Fort in Chennai on Saturday. | Photo Credit: M. SRINATH

Twenty-four years ago, a young girl took a liking to running up the steps of a temple near her home in Erode district. Her quick breaths and giggles back then offered no hints of the heights she would one day scale.

Born in Coimbatore, 30-year-old Nausheen Banu Chand is the only woman athlete among 254 international participants to complete the full distance of the world’s highest run, the 42-km Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, for three consecutive years: 2024, 2025 and 2026. She had earlier completed a 22-km inline skating in Ladakh in 2023.

The remarkable achievement earned her the State government’s Kalpana Chawla Award for courage and daring enterprise for 2026, which she received from Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay during the Independence Day celebrations in Chennai on August 15.

Now residing in Coimbatore, Ms. Nausheen said running became a source of mental peace during a difficult phase in her life. “Running helped me cope with the emotional stress we were going through. What began as a way to find mental peace eventually became my passion. Achieving these milestones has brought me a great sense of peace and fulfilment,” she said.

Her journey was not without setbacks. An aeronautical engineering graduate, she aspired to join the Indian Air Force but was not selected. She later worked for a private company in Chennai while continuing to pursue running and adventure sports. She underwent mountaineering training near Tambaram in 2019, which marked another step towards her endurance-sport achievements.

Coming from a lower-middle-class family, she said financial constraints were a challenge, but government assistance and private sponsorship helped her pursue competitions and expeditions.

She said receiving the Kalpana Chawla Award was particularly encouraging as it recognised her journey and would motivate her to pursue further challenges.

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