Thanks to the generosity of Geoff Todd and Barb Muise, from Runner's Choice in Waterloo, Ontario in 2001, Tshiring was on his way to becoming a world class marathoner! With only a rough sketch outline of Tshiring's feet Barb "fitted" him with 3 different pairs of shoes (to combat the challenging terrain of training in the Himalayas), socks, nutrition bars, recovery drink powder and a classic Runner's Choice singlet to wear around Kathmandu! We wereabsolutely smitten by this lovely young man whom we met as a boy in Nepal in 1999. We've followed him closely and have remained good friends. Here is a brief version of Tshiring's story:
We met Tshiring in his younger days when he attended Yangrima School, in a small mountain village located in the Helambu region of Nepal. He was only in class 8 but because of where he lived Tshiring was already on his way to being an athlete! Tshiring lived in Norku, a village located down near the river but he attended school in the village of Sermathang, a mere 1 500m higher. Each morning Tshiring would leave for school late, after having completed his chores of hauling water and feeding the animals on his parent's meagre farm. To keep his place in school however, Tshiring had to be on time so he took to running the entire way. It wasn't long before the school recognized his potential and entered him in the local inter-school running competition. To everyone's surprise Tshiring easily won the 5 km and shorter distance races! Tshiring graduated from class 10 in 2000 and passed his SLC (school leaving certificate) exams.
With the encouragement from his teachers Tshiring set out for Kathmandu, a 2-day walk away, to meet with a coach of the Nepalese Police running team. He was put to the test and endured trials and timed runs that would qualify him the privilege of training with this group. Tshiring was thrilled to be able to put his talents to work and vowed to work extremely hard. What Tshiring didn't plan on was what life in the big city would really be like. Kathmandu is expensive, especially for a village farm boy. He lived with his auntie in Kathmandu, but it wasn't long before the pressure to contribute to the household income mounted. Meanwhile, Tshiring ran everyday and worked on a variety of new techniques introduced to him by his new coach (who himself was being trained as a coach by the German Athletic Association).
While visiting Nepal with our group of Canadian students in 2001, Tshiring played host to us as our guide. This gave him the chance to revisit his village family and the school that he loved so much. We trekked in the mountainous region for 7 days, stopping along the way to help with the construction of another village school, before reaching Sermathang. We crossed a pass at 3,640m, headed back down 1,000m to the river and back up 1,000m on the other side before calling a day. After guiding us through that gruelling walk Tshiring donned his running shoes and brightly chirped "Just going for a short run miss, I'll be back by dinnertime!" We watched him disappear over a crest of the mountain, wearing his red canvass runners, before falling into a restful slumber.
He had to leave our tour early for when we reached Sermathang, the only village in the region with a telephone, a message was waiting that he had qualified for an Inter Campus Championship race in Kathmandu the next day. He said his goodbyes and left us at 4:00 am to make it for the first bus leaving the road head village at 9:00. He went on to place first in this race, still in his red canvass runners! Upon our return to Kathmandu we, including another teacher from our group, took Tshiring to buy his first pair of "training" shoes! He hasn't looked back since!
The last 10 years has given Tshiring a lot to be proud of. He represented Nepal in the World University Games in Korea and also participated in the Singapore International Marathon as a hopeful for Nepal. In 2004, Tshiring placed 3rd in the Pokhara International Marathon with a time of 2:25:43 and in 2005 Tshiring placed first in the gruelling Everest Base Camp Marathon!
When Tshiring heard that we were returning, this time with a group of runners, he jumped at the opportunity to give back to his community. Tshiring's dream is to raise enough money to start sports programs for the children of the Helambu region and to possibily give other children the chance he had. The money raised for our run will go to buy shoes, sports equipment and potentially provide a "coach", hopefully Thiring himself, the means to deliver programs to schools.
