Kochi: He has fire in his belly to run and create a national record in 10,000m, and more importantly to outrun the penury that is stalking his family at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

Sanjay Agarwal is an avid long-distance runner, and was the winner of the Spices Marathon and the Kochi Navy Marathon.

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Sanjay, who is now working in an ice-cream parlour inside the Naval Base here, had participated in the 3,000m events in National Junior Athletics, 2012 in Lucknow and National Youth Athletics, 2015 in Panaji. He won the 3,000m gold in the under-18 championship organized by the Delhi Athletics Association in 2014. Moreover, Sanjay had podium finishes in many cross-country championships.

Though Sanjay got admission to the Pune Army Sports Institute after completing his Class XII, he couldn’t continue his studies after his father, Satheesh, who was running a small shop, died. Sanjay moved to Kerala for better job prospects as his mother was jobless and he had a sister studying in Class IX and a brother studying in Class VII.

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Sanjay became a runner to secure a job and now aims to set a national record in 10,000m. He is sweating it out to realise this dream and trains for three hours at the Maharaja’s Ground, and also makes adequate changes in his diet regime.

“It is necessary to train for close to 8 hours to participate in a national meet, and one should go to bed at 8pm,” Sanjay said. But his long working hours from 11am to 11pm don’t give Sanjay that luxury.

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Sanjay is ready to represent Kerala in national championships, if he gets an appropriate job that suits his training schedule.

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