Kalpana Chawla awardee from Coimbatore aspired to join IAF, ends up as marathoner
Nausheen Banu Chand, an aeronautical engineering graduate and marathoner, was awarded the Kalpana Chawla Award for her endurance achievements in the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon. Despite facing career setbacks and financial challenges, she has become a prominent athlete and inspiration for overcoming adversity.
Why it matters
The story showcases individual resilience and the impact of government recognition on athletes from modest backgrounds.
Twenty-four years ago, a young girl took to a liking to running up the steps of a temple near her home in Erode district. Her quick breaths and giggles back then offered no hints of the heights she would one day scale.
Born in T.N. Palayam in Erode district, 30-year-old Nausheen Banu Chand is the only woman athlete among 254 international participants to complete the full distance of the world’s highest run, the 42-km Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, for three consecutive years: 2024, 2025 and 2026. She had earlier completed a 22-km inline skating in Ladakh in 2023.
The remarkable achievement earned her the State government’s Kalpana Chawla Award for courage and daring enterprise for 2026, which she received from Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay during the Independence Day celebrations in Chennai on August 15.
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