Pune man who ran to lose weight completes 85.77km ultramarathon in record time

4 min readJun 16, 2026 12:44 PM IST

Sanap eclipsed Devarao Chaudhari's record for fastest-ever Indian in the event, set last year. (Image via special arrangement)

Pune’s Yogesh Sanap, 39, becoming the fastest-ever Indian finisher at the prestigious Comrades Marathon in South Africa, clocking a remarkable sub-seven-hour finish in the 85.77-km race on Sunday.A three-time Boston Marathon qualifier, Sanap clocked 6:59.57 hours in what is widely regarded as the world’s oldest and most iconic ultramarathon. He eclipsed Devarao Chaudhari’s record for fastest-ever Indian in the event, set last year.

This year’s race — the 99th edition of the Comrades Marathon — was an “Up Run” from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, including five major climbs. Breaking the Indian record has still to sink in for Sanap, who ran the marathon at a brilliant pace of 4.54 minutes/km. “All this seems like a dream,” Sanap told The Indian Express from South Africa.

Adding to India’s impressive showing were Sanap’s fellow Pune runners Saarth Sable and Dr Yogesh Satav, who completed the gruelling race in 7:15.08 hours and 7:24.46 hours respectively. According to the International Association of Ultrarunners, as many as 21,633 runners took part in the Comrades Marathon, with George Kusche winning among the men in a new “Up Run” record of 5:15:56 hours and Gerda Steyn’s finishing first among women in 5:49.46 hours. The official cut-off time for the Comrades marathon is 12 hours.

Kashyap Mody (46), ambassador of the Comrades Marathon in India, himself completed the race for the tenth time to earn the highly coveted “Green Number”. He said the participation of Indians in this top-level race is growing. “We had 279 Indian runners participating in the race this year. Of the more than 20 Indian woman runners, Dr Aarti Brijmohan Zawar from Latur was a top finisher with a time of 8:45.37 hours,” he said. Mody observed that the community of endurance runners is growing in the country. “It would be nice to see 1,000 Indian runners taking part in the 100th edition of the Comrades Marathon next year,” he said.Sanap, who had clocked 7:26.58 hours at the 2025 Comrades Marathon, said he had focused a great deal on his training to finish faster this year by nearly 27 minutes. “I would average at least 260 km per week along with speed sessions, hill training and strength training. My physiotherapy team played a key role in keeping me injury-free. All this helped me in going under the seven-hour mark,” he said.

Took up running initially to lose weight

Hailing from a family of farmers in Andhera of Buldhana district in Maharashtra, Sanap completed his graduation in pharmacy from Pusad in Yavatmal and decided to relocate to Pune for better job opportunities when he was in his early 20s.

Over time, a corporate job and lack of exercise resulted in his weight shooting up to 88 kg. “I was 31 and would experience this niggling sciatica pain. In 2019, I decided to take up running initially to lose weight,” Sanap recalled.

Running soon became a passion. In addition, he also went on to become an ultra cyclist with two Super Randonneur titles under his belt.

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Sanap, known as coach Yosa, has now devoted himself fully to training runners both in India and abroad, many of them online.

Sanap is full of praise for the other Indians who excelled at Comrades. “It is particularly heartening to see so many women participating in this top-level race. Most of them are married and it is encouraging to see how supportive their families are,” he added.

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Anuradha Mascarenhas is a Senior Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With a career spanning three decades, she is one of the most respected voices in Indian journalism regarding healthcare, science and environment and research developments. She also takes a keen interest in covering women's issues .

Professional Background

Education: A gold medalist in Communication and Journalism from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Master’s degree in Literature.

Author: She authored the biography At The Wheel Of Research, which chronicles the life and work of Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist at the WHO.

Key Focus: She combines scientific accuracy with storytelling, translating complex medical research into compelling public and human-interest narratives.

Awards and Recognition

Anuradha has won several awards including the Press Council of India's national award for excellence in journalism under the gender based reporting category in 2019 and the Laadli Media award (gender sensitivity -2024). A recipient of the Lokmat journalism award (gender category-2022), she was also shortlisted for the RedInk awards for excellence in journalism-2021. Her debut book At The Wheel Of Research, an exclusive biography of Dr Soumya Swaminathan the inaugural chief scientist of World Health Organisation was also nominated in the Popular Choice Category of JK Paper AUTHER awards. She has also secured competitive fellowships including the Laadli Media Fellowship (2022), the Survivors Against TB – New Research in TB Media Fellowship (2023) and is part of the prestigious 2025 India Cohort of the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey.”

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Anuradha is known for her COVID-19 reportage, where she was one of the first journalists to provide detailed insights into the Covishield and Covaxin trials. She has a dedicated interest in gender diversity in health and science, often profiling women researchers who are breaking the "leaky pipeline" in STEM fields. Her writing style is scrupulous, often featuring interviews with top-tier scientists and health experts from various institutions.

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