Assam cop is longest barefoot runner in world

Guwahati, April 17 (IANS) A 22-year-old Assam Police constable was Tuesday officially entered in the Guinness World Records as the longest barefoot runner, having run 156.2 km in 24 hours.

Abhijit Baruah, who hails from Jorhat in Upper Assam, created the feat January 30 this year when he started his run at 3.56 p.m. and ended it at 3.56 p.m. the following day, covering a total of 156.2 km distance.

On May 28 last year, Abhijit -- also a black belt in karate and kickboxing -- had run 150 km in 26 hours and 31 minutes and entered his name in the Limca Book of Records.

Chandrasekhar Tiwari, one of the Indian representatives of the Guinness World Records, supervised the run by Abhijit.

"The Guinness World Records authority in India called me up and informed that I am officially certified for the record. I am very happy to have scored the record. It was my dream from early years to do something great and today I have done that," said Abhijit while talking to IANS on Tuesday.

The Assam government announced an award of Rs.2 lakh to Abhijit, and the cheque for the amount was handed over to him by Congress MLA from Jorhat constituency Rana Goswami Tuesday.

Abhijit thanked his friends and the Jorhat district administration for the achievement.

On January 30, about 100 volunteers including those from district administration and other clubs in Jorhat kept sweeping the 10-km stretch on the National Highway (NH) 37 in Jorhat district where Abhijit completed his run.

The young man had bagged several gold, silver and bronze medals in many national-level martial arts competitions.