Ladakh: Ladakh Marathon produced another incredible edition in 2026, with its various races drawing participants from across the country and captivating audiences in Ladakh and beyond. The event featured several high-octane races, including the 122 km Silk Route Ultra, 72 km Khardung La Challenge, a full marathon and many more. However, whenever an event of this scale takes place, one issue inevitably comes under the scanner: the use of plastic. At the Ladakh Marathon, though, despite multiple races being held over four days, organisers ensured that the environment remained a priority, while also sending a strong message against single-use plastics and raising awareness among participants.
They have to collect, and it’s like that’s their entry fee. Yeah. “So, right from childhood, I mean, young people, we really need to build that. If really our country needs to come out of that as a big garbage, you know, with the kind of litter we do all across, I think we need to start right from the young people in school, right at the foundation, to make our country clean, litter, you know, very sensitive to the environment. “The bottles collected through this exercise will be sent to a recycling plant, where they will be processed into recycled material and turned into products such as T-shirts. We want children to see that collecting a bottle is not the end of the exercise. It is the beginning of a cycle where waste can be recovered, reused and given a new purpose, carrying that understanding forward into the future. “So, I think this event is one of the best ways of creating awareness about that instead of looking at the negative side. I think it’s the way that now we have managed to, why we are banning all these things. I think it has created a huge awareness on the climate, global warming, and environmental front. So, we can use the Ladakh Marathon as a tool to create awareness about these issues the whole world is facing. And I think we have been successful in a big way, but we have many miles to go, and I’m sure we’ll be able to, especially the young people who are coming on board,” he concluded.
“We have this scheme where all these students who run this race have to contribute 20 PET bottles. They get the bib if they contribute 20 PET bottles. The 60-year-old said the initiative does not end with the collection of plastic bottles, as organisers are now looking at ways to recycle the waste and give it a new purpose.
So, they realise it’s going around the streets and the market and anywhere collecting bottles to get a bib for this race,” Chewang told Hindustan Times Digital in an exclusive interview. And the Ladakh Marathon, I think we were, we are pretty successful in creating that awareness, and we are very happy, but as I said, we need to do more in the near future,” he added.
