Panikot 2026 - The Race I Thought I'd Never Run Again

When you’ve run a bunch of races, there comes a time during one of these races that you tell yourself, “Never coming back here again.” Now, that could be because of various reasons – you feel undertrained, the terrain is more challenging than you expected, there’s a gear malfunction, or maybe you simply didn’t sleep that well the previous night.

For me, Panikot 2025 was one of those special races where I told myself that I’d rather run anywhere but here. Why? We’ll get to that later - but Panikot 2026 was a wholly different story.

Drawn Back to the Trail

The Panikot trail is one of the most beautiful trails I’ve ever run across in the NCR region. With a mix of marked trail to give you the illusion that you’re on the right track, rolling hills that will question your lower body’s strength while trying to run uphill, mesmerizing views of the quarry and the beautiful lake that will make you want to stop for a picture, and enough patches of jungle where you will definitely get lost.

Having done this race before, I had a pretty detailed list of dos and don’ts which I planned on following to the last dot at Panikot 2026. For starters, getting a good night’s sleep was the most crucial aspect. I’ve stood on enough starting lines feeling groggy and regretting not getting enough sleep, and that’s not the right state of mind to kick off something as arduous as a trail run. Luckily, with the changes I made to my schedule, falling asleep early was not really a challenge anymore. And the decision to stay closer to the venue was a good one as it reduced unnecessary chaos.

The race starts and ends at the Saras Damdama Lake Resort, which is about a 40-minute drive from Gurgaon. At the start line, I was greeted by familiar faces, and everyone was all geared up to meet this challenge head on! There is a certain sense of calm, mixed with a bit of nervousness at starting lines, with each participant in their own zone. With a bit of friendly chatter here and there, mostly about how much they’ve trained, someone’s getting on with their stretches and then there’s someone jogging around to “warm up” before the flag-off. Everyone seems to have their very own pre-race ritual. I am yet to figure out what mine is.

For the pre-run brief, all the participants were informed about what to expect from the trail, the possible obstacles, disclaimers about wildlife, checkpoints, and the mode of tracking the time. Each participant was assigned a bib number that they had to call out at the checkpoints, and the volunteers would mark their time accordingly. Since the race had two categories – short: around 11 km and long: around 22 km – the route had to be explained clearly. Though the race would flag off at the same time for everyone, the people running the short category would run up to Checkpoint (CP) 1 and turn back towards the starting point again to finish their 11 km, while the rest would go on to CP 2 and CP 3, and finally come back to the resort, making a full loop of 22 km.

A Fast Start, A Fragile Plan

With a few minutes until 6:30 AM, all of us gathered at the main gate of the resort and waited for the countdown. And in almost no time, you could hear, “Three, two, one, GO!” Out of the gate, we turned left onto the main road that would take us to the trail. The plan, as it should be, was to ensure that I did not get carried away and go faster than I should. But unfortunately, there were quite a few dogs who wanted to be part of the race! Since I’m not a very dog-friendly person, the plan for a slower start was out of the question, as I wanted to ensure that I had a bunch of people around me and at the same time crossed that patch as soon as possible.

As we entered the trail and encountered the first uphill, I finally realized how my body was feeling. I did a quick check – legs felt all warmed up and the uphill strides felt easy and strong, I wasn’t completely out of breath, and whenever the trail evened out, I found myself pacing to ensure that I was tagged to the person in front of me. For two reasons mainly: one, so I knew which direction to take without having to check the GPX file, and second, the unease of another possible encounter with more dogs.

Once on the trail, the initial crowd dissipates, and you are only left with one or two people who match your pace. In case you are chasing a specific timing, it becomes important to find the right people to tag along with. Right before the race, I had a chat with Rohan, where we tried to set a realistic target for finishing the race, and based on some calculations and consideration, both of us thought that a 3-hour finish should be what we chase. While Rohan seemed confident about this, thanks to the training and the recent trek he did, I, on the other hand, definitely sounded a little delusional agreeing to this time. That’s because the last time I was here, I finished the race with exactly a minute to spare for the cut-off. The cut-off was 5 hours.

The first section of the race up to CP 1 had a clearly marked trail for the most part, and not a lot of elevation. Though the sun was up, the heat had not settled in yet, so the weather was favourable. I was surprised by my pace, but I continued following Rohan. Though the trail was flat, it was filled with bare rocks protruding out. One had to be very careful as every step needed to land on a safe patch of land, else risking an ankle twist. While I was aware of the dangers of a misstep, I tried my best to concentrate on the trail, but I somehow found myself drifting into my thoughts and just like that, I was flat on all fours with a hard thud. Luckily, I did not land on any rock, but the sheer shock of tripping and falling like that was more than the pain. I quickly picked myself up and carried on, worried that I might lose sight of Rohan. Through the bushes, I spotted him and went on hard to join him.

Since there were multiple trails, we did lose our way a couple of times but quickly rerouted. Thanks to the GPX file, we did not lose a lot of time finding the way. We arrived at the first checkpoint and were greeted by the volunteers who didn’t waste any time noting down our bib numbers and our timing.

Getting Lost, Finding Rhythm

For the next phase of the race, we stepped into a much denser part of the forest where the trail got narrower and the thorns got sharper. Naturally, we had to slow down a little and sometimes had to walk as well to navigate the tricky sections. Slowly, we moved to the edge of the mountain and started our descent towards the village. There are some parts of the race where you feel like you’re on a proper trek instead of a race where you’re supposed to be running, and you wonder if this section is even in the NCR region.

After safely descending, we made our way to the village. The inhabitants had been briefed regarding the race and did not seem to be surprised by a huge group of people running across, while most of them were just waking up. The road through the village was paved with cement, and we made our way across to the other side and took a sharp left to hit the trail again. And in no time, we found ourselves standing at the foot of another hill. But this time, there was no visible trail, and we had to double-check the GPX file to confirm that we had to climb on, as the ascent looked like it was steeper than it should have been. Everything pointed upwards, so we began the climb.

Once on top, the real challenge started as there were multiple trails and the density of thorns increased significantly. And for some reason, the GPX file never coincided with the trail that we were on. After every few meters, we would either end up surrounded by dense thorny shrubs with no way through, or we’d be at the corner of the cliff. So, we retraced our steps back quite a few times to find the correct route. These kilometres turned out to be the most time-consuming. With some effort and a lot of wrong turns, we found our way and decided to make up for the time lost.

Right after this, we started the descent towards the abandoned mines, with lakes on both sides of the trail. As you come out of the forest, the whole view unfolds all at once, and it is a sight to behold! From the vantage point above, one could see some of the runners ahead of you, and that was enough for us to push harder. The energy levels rose and we dashed downhill. Running through the mines, as the lakes passed by one after the other, it felt like you had been transported to a completely different place!

The Section That Stayed With Me

As we made our way to the next checkpoint, fear slowly crept in. Checkpoint 2 was located right at Panikot Lake. Rohan and I had been a part of the race last year as well. He was a volunteer who was stationed at this very checkpoint, and I was a runner. We were a part of an unlucky group of people who were the unfortunate victims of a bee attack. Everyone who was present in that area was stung by wild bees. In fact, a lot of people even jumped into Panikot Lake and decided to stay there because the bees were relentless.

Right before the approach, we decided not to stop for rest or anything in the area. We kept our heads down and kept moving ahead. This was certainly the most picturesque section of the race, and deciding not to stop to take the view in was unanimous as both of us remember the pain of getting stung quite well. The checkpoint came and went; we just did the formalities and moved on quickly. After a kilometre or so of crossing the checkpoint, we had to finally stop as one of my shoelaces got undone. With the most haunting part of the race behind us, both of us heaved a sigh of relief.

The Grind to the Finish

The trail enters back into the forest and you’re again looking at a steep uphill climb, which does not seem to end. More so because by this time, the fatigue starts kicking in and the sun is also fully up, so you start feeling the heat. Beyond the climb, the trail flattens out and you are on an unpaved, muddy road that’s wide enough for cars. And it stays like this until the checkpoint, which is around 4 kilometres away. By this time, I started feeling drained. Though the toughest part of the race was behind us, this section had to be cleared too. We checked our watches and realized that we were not going to make it in 3 hours. And if we kept stopping for “walk breaks,” we would push the finishing time further out.

So, Rohan took on the responsibility of pushing us through. He kept pushing me to run, while I’d be the one trying to convince him that we’d walk a little after every 200 meters or so. After some negotiations, we eventually decided that we’d run for 500 meters and walk the next 200 meters. While it seemed a little unfair to me, as I was completely exhausted, I knew that if I didn’t stick to this plan, I was not going to finish this race in good time.

With this strategy in place, we jogged on and finally reached the third checkpoint. Realizing that we’d be clicked here, we switched gears to ensure that we at least looked athletic in the pictures. So, we ran past the volunteers with renewed energy and hope that we’d have some good race pictures! (And we certainly did, thanks to all the volunteers!)

The last stretch home is the most exciting part as there is a long downhill section that we had been eagerly looking forward to. So, we skipped the “run-walk” strategy for this and continued running. We were on a paved road now and there were a few bikes and cars that passed by. Though the exhaustion was still there, the excitement of knowing that now each step taken would get us closer and closer to the finish line kept us going. With the heat becoming a bit too much now, we carried on and before we knew it, we were back at the gates of the Damdama resort, ready to be greeted by all the super volunteers and fellow runners!

Finishing this race in one piece and with a time of 3 hours 20 minutes felt unreal. It started with doubts and fear and ended with joy. It is very difficult to put into words what something like this feels like, so you’ve got to run this one and feel it for yourself!

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This post was voluntarily written and shared by a CapitalTrails member, and all experiences and opinions shared in the race report are the author's own.

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