Woman's sari marathon record 'inspires others to run'

A woman who set the Guinness World Record for running the fastest marathon in a sari said she was inundated with messages from people inspired by her feat.

Madhusmita Jena, 46, from Stockport, smashed the previous record by more than 12 minutes as she ran the Manchester Marathon on Sunday in a time of three hours and 45 minutes.

The mother-of-two, who set herself the goal to show people that women from all ethnic backgrounds could race in whatever they felt comfortable in, said she was bowled over by "amazing" support she got on the day.

She said she had other people of South Asian descent "messaging me, from places like Stockport, Manchester, all saying they now want to start running".

Madhusmita was interviewed before the race for Radio Manchester's BBC Sounds series - 26.2 Ways To Run A Marathon, and said some who listened had got in touch to say they were inspired by her story.

Madhusmita, a SEND teacher who has run 42 marathons, beat the previous record set by Kranti Salvi from India, who ran the Berlin Marathon in Germany in three hours, 57 minutes and seven seconds in September 2018.

She told BBC Radio Manchester that at 21km she was thinking "keep going, don't get excited".

But by the 30km mark she decided she could "push through" and mount a challenge for the record.

"So many people came to me to take selfies with me and said, 'oh you were on the BBC'.

"Indian men told me their wives wanted to run after listening to the podcast, it was amazing."

She also raised £2,300 for specialist school equipment at the site she works in Stockport that helps SEND pupils with conditions like cerebral palsy communicate with teachers.

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