At 60, Milind Soman can give people much younger than him a run for their money, quite literally.
For long, Soman and wife Ankita Konwar, also a fitness enthusiast, have been regular at marathons, triathlons and other sporting events across the country. The intention, he says, is not just to compete but to be fit at all ages. He says he has been fit all his life—he started swimming at the age of nine and was a national champion. He stopped swimming when he was 23, but fitness never took a backseat. At 48, he ran from Delhi to Mumbai. He did his first Ironman triathlon, which involves swimming, cycling and running, at 50. “So, I have been fit at every stage of my life, and it has always been fantastic,” says the supermodel-actor. “I don’t want to let go of it.”
Having spent 13 years together, his zest for fitness has surely rubbed off on his 35-year-old wife. She decided to learn swimming when she turned 32, and within a year signed up for the Ironman. She, along with Soman, completed the triathlon in Barcelona in October 2025. “He did it faster than me, but we did it together. It was fantastic,” recalls Konwar. “When you are with someone for so long and you see that he is incredible, not just as a partner but as a human being, and you see somebody push themselves beyond limits every day... you believe you yourself can do stronger things.”
Another person who has inspired Konwar is Usha, her mother-in-law. “She is incredible,” she says. “She started trekking at the age of 60 after she retired from college (she taught biochemistry). Just to give you a gist of how incredibly inspiring she is: we went climbing in Darjeeling, and she became the oldest woman to trek from Sandakphu to Phalut.” She was 82 then. Today, Usha stays fit by skipping and doing yoga and exercises every day. Soman believes she does more push-ups and squats than him and his wife. “It is very unusual for a person over 50 to be skipping and she is 86,” he says.
Having grown up around women (he has three sisters), Soman understands their need for space. And his Pinkathon initiative was all about that—giving space to women from all walks of life and ages to come together and run. The idea came to him when he noticed that not many women were participating in running events. And while he didn’t understand the reasons then, he wondered if creating an event only for women would make a difference. Thus, Pinkathon was born in 2012. “The response was incredible, not in terms of numbers, because there were only 2,000 women in the first Mumbai Pinkathon,” he recalls. “But the excitement was unbelievable.” The event returned this year after a six-year hiatus, with October 25 being celebrated as Pinkathon Day.
Covid-19 may have halted his event, but Soman never stopped running. His mantra in life: “The key is self-awareness. You have to understand yourself. It only comes with experience. You have to put yourself through different experiences in life so that you understand who you are.”
