Racer sharp for the trail

For someone who grew up in a remote settlement in 1970s Andhra Pradesh, Kavita Kanaparthi has definitely come a long way. The founder of Globeracers, a company that organises endurance runs across the globe, she is now all set to star in a new four-minute film as part of a collaboration with Turkish Airlines.

Filmed against the gorgeous backdrops of Ooty, Yelagiri and Bengaluru, the video is part of the airline’s Delightful Stories project that shines the spotlight on an inspiring story each month. “I was gifted my first cycle when I was eight-years-old. There has been no looking back since,” begins the runner and cyclist, who has crossed continents on her bicycle and has run over 100 kilometres in one go.

It was at 15 years old that Kanaparthi’s life took an unexpected turn, one that changed it forever. On her way to a friend’s house at 5 in the morning, she was hit by a bus, sustaining injuries so serious that she was unconscious for three weeks. An aspiring pilot, her dream of flying an aircraft had to be forgotten for good. “I can say it was as dramatic as shattering my dreams. But, it was much more. It felt as if someone sentenced me to languish in a dungeon where a ray of light seemed far fetched. Overcoming that meant dreaming a different dream but how does one create a dream? It took me a long while to believe that life does not end there.,” says the brave athlete.

Currently based in Michigan in the United States, Kanaparthi recalls her early life in India. “Our life was always full of activities since childhood. In the school that our father started, Little Angels Public School in Jaggayyapeta, AP, there were swimming classes, Bharatanatyam classes (taught by a teacher who traveled 3 hours one way every weekend from the nearest town, Vijayawada, just to teach 4 students), cycling, stick fighting, running, and art lessons. This is in the late 1970s in a village in AP. We didn’t think it was unusual but took that as the norm for a school that small with barely a few students besides my sister and I,” she shares.

With her family and friends having moved to Bengaluru, she shares that she has a special place in her heart for the city. “Bengaluru is home when I am in India. It’s a home away from home and my days there are packed lunch, dinner and coffee dates with friends and family visits,” she tells us.  Next on her agenda is a trail, which she says has been eluding her for past few years. “It’s a trail in the Himalayas, that I has eluded me because of bad weather or paths closing. On the cycling front, we are working on two races, a Trans Himalayan Ride, a 3000-km cycling race,  and a Race Across India event, that have been in the works for over 3 years and will be launched in 2017,” she signs off.