Tuffman Shimla Ultra & Half Marathon Mashobra 2025

I discovered Tuffman Mashobra through its social media and immediately wanted to make it my first mountain race. The timing worked beautifully. I had just finished the Rupin Pass trek and was already in the mountains, so instead of returning to Delhi only to travel back again, I came to Shimla and stayed for the week leading into the race.

That week near the Ridge was wonderfully unhurried. I worked from Shimla, met friends who were working there too, and fitted in a short run and hike up to Jakhu Temple. Two days before the race, a friend arrived from Chandigarh and we moved towards Mashobra for bib collection, staying at Zostel Mashobra.

The gathering around bib collection was almost as memorable as the course. We met other runners, made new friends, and spent the weekend with people I would later keep encountering at races across the country. It felt like my running world had suddenly grown much larger.

The race itself was completely new territory. I had never run on mountain trails or covered that much elevation, so I gave the course everything I had and tried to learn it while racing it. I finished ninth, a result that made an already exciting first trail race feel extraordinary.

We ended the day with a fun evening together before heading back. Between the week in Shimla, the mountain course, and the friendships formed around it, I knew I wanted to return. I eventually did for Tuffman Mashobra 2026.