Piyush Gudka had never heard of the marathon while growing up as a boy in Mombasa, Kenya. Migrating to London in 1972, a whole new world opened up to him, and after running his first marathon in 1994, Piyush got hooked to the concept of keeping fit and healthy and at the same time raising funds for good causes. What impressed him most was the whole sense of equality of the race, and how there were no class, race, prejudice, age or sex barriers. His Jain faith actively propounded respect for all living beings through the philosophy of Ahimsa. Actually, Jain monks are marathon walkers – they walk for miles every day, barefoot. Piyush knew that monkhood isn't for him but converted the walking to running.
In order to share his passion for running, he started to involve more people and train and run with them. With a 3:49 first marathon, Piyush could have gone to do sub 3:15 marathons, but his devotion to involving and guiding as many people as possible was far greater. He had inspired and trained 225 in 2018, 36% of whom are women. Many had never imagined they could achieve such a feat, but all have gone onto completing at least one marathon. Piyush’s record has truly impressed the London Marathon organisers both in encouraging and training runners to participate in the race as well as fundraising for very worthy causes. On an average, he gives 300- 400 hours of his time every year to advise, support and run with different people to help them realise their dreams and raise money at the same time.
In total, his group has raised over £800,000 and run over 50,000 miles so far – that is equivalent to going more than 2 times around the whole planet. Piyush is on way to run his 100th Marathon on 17 March 2019 – The Logicom Cyprus Marathon. He has run marathons on 6 continents and 30 countries, including the world marathon majors (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York) and is a truly global citizen. There were never any plans for 25, 50 or 100 marathons. The true desire, humility and sincerity of inspiring, motivating and training so many runners has led Piyush to reach his century of marathons. This dedication is a form of meditation for him.
For Piyush, the most important thing to remember about marathon running is the satisfaction of:
Participating in the race, enjoying the fantastic atmosphere, accomplishing “mission impossible,” collecting money for charities and endurance achievement of a lifetime. A Chartered Accountant by profession and qualified Personal Trainer by passion, Piyush very often says: “A marathon is a race without race, colour, religion, sex, prejudice, nationality, hate, where everyone starts as an equal, and everyone finishes as a winner.”
Asked where he gets his inspiration from, Piyush replies with one of Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quotes: “I claim to be no more than an average man with less than average abilities. I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.”
