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"Age is just a number,” said long distance runner Pervin Batliwala when speaking at the function organized in her honor by the World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO) India at the Freemasons Hall on August 26, 2023. She was felicitated by the Organisation in continuation of its program to recognize community achievers. "Normally women don’t like to disclose their age but this lady proudly announces she is 68 years old and getting younger by the day,” stated Kersi Limathwalla, president of WZO India when introducing the marathon runner. 
"I started everything late in life. At 40, I started going to the discos. At 45, I married him,” Pervin pointed to her supportive husband Kushru Batliwala sitting in the audience. "When I was 50 I started running and have not stopped since. Running has become my passion now,” she remarked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the last 18 years she has won 57 podiums, after completing 15 full marathons (42 km), 51 half marathons (21 km), two ultra marathons (Comrades in South Africa, 87.7 km up run and Khardungla Challenge, starting the 72 km run at 14,000 ft, going up to Khardungla Pass at 18,380 ft and ending in Leh at 11,000 ft) and 11 shorter races of 10 km. In March this year the runner completed her sixth major marathon, in Tokyo, with a timing of 4 hours, 33 minutes and nine seconds. Of the six major marathons she completed — in Boston, London, New York, Berlin, Chicago and finally Tokyo — she posted her best timing in Boston in 2017. With 30,074 entrants in the event, she covered the 42 km distance in 4:16:13, ranking 79 in her age category.
Eight years ago when she competed in the Comrades at the age of 60 years she ranked 15th among the 66 women in her age group. At that time there were 65 Indians participating in the Comrades. This year there were 400 Indians in the event. To many of them she was an inspiration for they felt if she could do it at 60 years, so could they!
 "Where you stumble and fall you will find a pot of gold,” believes the runner recalling the first half marathon she ran in Bombay when she "hit the wall” (the point in a race where the body runs out of energy) at Babulnath on the return leg. Her husband tried to convince her to return home but the intrepid runner insisted she would complete the race to claim her deposit on the chip that recorded the timing. "I learnt so much from this race,” she admitted, remembering the observations of her coach Savio D’Souza that she started out too fast and was over confident. Later that year she ran a race in Delhi and earned a podium that stoked up the need to keep improving her performance.
Knowing that her mother suffered from arthritis and her own bone density was low, Pervin was initially cautious but over the years she has realized that exercise has helped maintain her bone density and even marginally improve it. Dispelling fears that knees can get worn out with running she maintained that even couch potatoes are known to need knee replacement so she would rather do something that she enjoys and let her knees get worn out rather than sit at home and see them deteriorate. While continuing to participate in marathons, Pervin who has retired from Hindustan Unilever after 34 years of service now plans to "concentrate on swimming and may take up cycling,” she told Parsiana.
Since the Parsi community is known for its longevity, she advised those present at the felicitation to start with some form of exercise. "If nothing else, walk. We do not stop exercising because we grow old. We grow old because we stop exercising,” she reminded the audience. Health is like a bank account, she impressed on the gathering. The returns depend on the investment one is willing to make in it.