Nine years, 300 marathons: Khammam cop Pilli Raju lives for marathons

Raju, a native of Kostala village in Wyra mandal, secured the constable job in sports quota in 2009. His sports portfolio includes Kabaddi, Judo and Wrestling and he has represented the police department in annual national and state events and won over 40 medals

Khammam: A staggering 300 marathons in nine years and more lined up, still Armed Reserve Police constable Pilli Raju of Khammam police commissionerate believes that there is something magical about long-distance running races. And that is what he lives for.

Beginning in 2016, he has so far completed 300 national and international marathons all over the country bringing laurels to Telangana police. He finished India’s most prestigious night run, the 50 km Tata Ultra Marathon, a challenging run at an altitude of 800 metres in 6.15 hours covering the hills and valleys of the Sahyadri range, Lonavala, Maharashtra on February 23.

---

Speaking to Telangana Today, 40-year-old Raju said he started running at 1 am at midnight, through the most dangerous hills and forests with a torch on his head. Despite the difficult conditions and varying altitudes that put a lot of pressure on his knees, he completed the run to win the medal.

He also won a medal for finishing the 1.5 km Krishna River Cross Swimming Competition in Vijayawada organised by Aqua Devils on February 2, in 26 minutes and 8 seconds. In all, he has won over 300 medals in marathons and related events.

Raju, a native of Kostala village in Wyra mandal, secured the constable job in sports quota in 2009. His sports portfolio includes Kabaddi, Judo and Wrestling and he has represented the police department in annual national and state events and won over 40 medals. In addition to winning medals, he also motivates fellow police personnel to engage in physical activity.

He created WhatsApp groups with the name ‘Fit Police’ in all districts and is encouraging policemen to practice running daily. He himself spends two to three hours time daily running.

Raju has also been training youngsters from Khammam who applied for police jobs, whenever a notification was issued, to perform well in physical fitness tests, that too free of cost.

He thanked IGP (Sports) M Ramesh and Khammam Commissioner of Police Sunil Dutt for their support.He also won medals after finishing international events like South America marathon and North America marathon that were held virtually, wherein participants could run anywhere in the world duly following the event guidelines with the help of a mobile application.

Every time Raju finishes a marathon, he displays a flag with the Telangana police emblem and his name has become synonymous for Telangana police among marathon organisers.

He is now preparing for ‘Procam Slam’, an Indian running challenge that includes four consecutive races; Tata Mumbai Marathon, TCS World 10K Bengaluru, Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon and Tata Steel Kolkata 25K within a time limit.