Kathmandu, November 4

Nepali ultra runner Mira Rai has been shortlisted for National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year Award. Rai will fight with nine others from the exploration, adventure sports, conservation and humanitarian sectors for the people’s choice award that will be announced in January.

“For 12 years, National Geographic has combed the globe to find the Adventurers of the Year, each selected for his or her extraordinary achievement in exploration, adventure sports, conservation, or humanitarianism,” said a post on official website of National Geographic.

Posting Rai’s photograph training in Chamonix before winning the Mont-Blanc 80 km race in France, National Geographic has written: “High-elevation racing phenom Mira Rai is on a mission to help the women of Nepal through sports.”

The Maoist combatant, who turned to athletics after she was disqualified during the verification process, Rai won gold medal in the Mont-Blanc 80 km race in June last year, besides securing second positions in the Salomon Ultra Pirineu in Spain and Tromso Ultra 45 km that helped her finish second in the Skyrunning World Championships.

Rai will compete against park protectors Pete McBride and Kevin Fedarko, rock climber Ashima Shiraishi, Cave Diver Krzysztof Starnawski, celestial circumnavigators Hokule’a Team, ocean advocate Shannon Switzer Swanson, kayaker Semit Lee, paraglider Antoine Girard, wilderness defender Kristine McDivitt Tompkins and mountaineer Colin Haley.