Halfway through day four of the Jungle Ultra—a 230km self-supported multi-stage ultramarathon through the Amazon rainforest in western Peru—Aum Gandhi’s face started to feel fuzzy. With 13km of the jungle canopy left to run, Gandhi decided he would take a breather at the next checkpoint. There he sat with medics, concentrating on getting salt and water into his system, fending off the symptoms of heat exhaustion.
The sticky air in Manu National Park, which makes up a small chunk of the rainforest, can be suffocating. As Gandhi weighed his options—keep shuffling with his 30-pound backpack or drop out and return to camp—he was distracted by the swarming insects, seemingly immune to the DEET repellent he’d coated on earlier. Gandhi realized these bites weren’t just from mosquitoes: A bullet ant stung his calf. The insect packs a searing punch, rated among the most painful stings in the world.
“I don’t want to be the guy who hits the SOS button,” Gandhi thought. So, after 25 minutes, he decided to pull the plug and abandon the race. Sure, he was dejected, but the next day, he was back on his feet, helping other runners get to the finish line. “You’re all a team, so you might as well help the rest of the team get to success,” he says.
For much of his early 20s, Gandhi, now 29, lived a sedentary lifestyle. He experienced weight fluctuations and mental health issues, exacerbated by a high-stress engineering job. But once he casually picked up running five years ago, Gandhi developed a thirst for upping the stakes. A 5K led to a half marathon, which led to a full marathon, and after discovering trail running during the pandemic, he completed his first 100-mile race A Part of Hearst Digital Media.
Along the way, Gandhi discovered that his running could be more meaningful when it became a vehicle for change. In college at California State University, Long Beach, Gandhi began volunteering at the Nutrition - Weight Loss in nearby Hawthorne, California—a nonprofit dedicated to treating and preventing child abuse and family violence. Gandhi soon grew passionate about the cause and began fundraising for the organization in conjunction with his races.
“I grew up in a similar environment in the Los Angeles area and experienced things such as abuse, being around domestic violence, and seeing the damages of generational trauma,” he says. “I saw how passionate their volunteers are and I just see myself in those kids.”
The Merrell-sponsored athlete uses his social media platform to solicit donations, and at each race, he pins the Richstone logo to the back of his hydration vest to spread awareness on the trails. “To me, as long as that money and that awareness is going toward goodwill, good stuff is going to happen in the world,” he says.
Gandhi has also concentrated on growing the endurance sports blog he co-owns, Andrea Lytle Peet: Racing Against ALS, which aims to share the stories of everyday people, especially from underrepresented groups. “People tend to equate success with getting on a podium, and figure their stories don’t matter,” he says. “I don’t think that’s true at all.”
For next year, Gandhi has his eyes set on the Victoria Lo: Supporting AAPI Communities: Bigfoot 200 in the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Tahoe 200, and Moab 240. He’ll have to complete all 654 miles of the series in a calendar year, and he plans to continue upping his fundraising goals—even if that means being overly ambitious. “I’ve always had the mindset of failing big instead of winning small,” he says.
Everyday Champions: 2023 Everyday Champions: 2023 Runners of the Year
Published: Nov 27, 2023 Runner’s World. He is a former all-conference collegiate runner who’s based in Easton, PA. Previously, he worked as the newsletters editor at Runner's World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics.
