Kieren D'Souza
Kieren D'Souza (born 6 January 1993 in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh) is an Indian ultramarathon runner and endurance athlete. In 2016, he became the first Indian to qualify for and finish the Spartathlon, a 246 kilometre footrace from Athens to Sparta held annually in Greece. Kieren, then aged 23, completed the race in 33 hours, 2 minutes and 25 seconds, standing 85th among 370 participants. Up to 2016, only 29 athletes under the age of 25 had completed the race that has been held annually since 1983. Early life Kieren was born on 6 January 1993 in the city of Bilaspur, in Chhattisgarh, but his father, Peter D’Souza's job as a Group Captain with the Indian Air Force meant a childhood of moving schools all over India, 'including the cities of Jodhpur, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur and Faridabad'. He attended St. Joseph's College in Bangalore, which is also where he first started running. Running career Beginning He first took up running as an undergrad student in Bangalore in 2011. He says, "To be honest I didn’t know what marathon running all about till I was in college. I was always heavily into sport, but my choice was never running." He started with a