Alfiya Shaikh/Beed

There was no pair of running shoes on Ramabai Ranveer’s feet when she stood at the starting line. There were no expensive tracksuits, no professional training and no promise of victory.

There was only a mother’s determination—and the school fees of her two daughters weighing heavily on her mind.

When the race began on August 29, Ramabai ran barefoot on the rough, tarred road of Beed district. Every step brought pain. Stones bruised her feet and blisters began to form, but she kept running.

She was not running merely to win a marathon. She was running for her daughters’ education.

Ramabai comes from a financially struggling family in Beed, a district known for drought, poverty and the hardships faced by sugarcane workers. For her family, even arranging two meals a day can be a challenge. Finding money for the school fees of two daughters seemed an even greater burden.

But Ramabai was unwilling to let poverty decide her daughters’ future.

She believed education could help them break free from the cycle of deprivation that had constrained her own life.

When the Bharatiya Shikshan Prasarak Mandal in Ambajogai announced the ‘Amrut-2 Marathon’ on August 29, Ramabai learnt that the winner would receive a cash prize.

For many, it was simply a race. For Ramabai, it was an opportunity.

She arrived at the starting point alongside participants wearing running shoes and sportswear. She did not even have a simple pair of slippers.

Ramabai Ranveer running barefoot in the marathon

But she had something more powerful than footwear—the determination of a mother who had decided that her daughters would continue their education, whatever the cost.

As the race began, Ramabai ran over the unforgiving road with bare feet. The pain grew with every step, but so did her resolve.

She kept her eyes on the finish line and her thoughts on her daughters.

When she finally crossed the finish line, she had left the other competitors behind.

Ramabai had won.

But her victory was about much more than a marathon. She had won a small battle against poverty and uncertainty, with her daughters’ future as the prize she cared about most.

News of the barefoot mother who had run to pay her daughters’ school fees soon spread across Beed district and went viral on social media.

Her story eventually reached the district administration.

Beed District Collector Vivek Johnson organised a special felicitation ceremony for Ramabai at his office. With the initiative of Resident Deputy Collector Shivkumar Swami, a relief fund of Rs 50,000 was raised and handed over to her.

The Collector became emotional while speaking about her journey.

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बेटियों की फीस के लिए 47 साल की मां नंगे पैर मैराथन दौड़ीं, चप्पल छूटी तो भी नहीं रुकीं, पहला स्थान जीता और 3 हजार रुपये का इनाम जीता। #beed #maharashtra #ambajogai #ramabai #mother #marathon pic.twitter.com/icAMo2M0mV

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He described Ramabai’s victory as a triumph of a mother’s love, sacrifice and determination to secure a better future for her children. Her story, he said, was a powerful reminder of the extraordinary lengths to which a mother can go for her daughters.

For Ramabai, however, there was no talk of heroism. There was only relief.

The assistance brought tears of joy to her eyes. The burden that had weighed on her heart—the fear that her daughters’ education might have to stop because of poverty—had become a little lighter.

With gratitude, she said the financial assistance would help ensure that her daughters could continue going to school. And perhaps that is the most moving part of Ramabai’s story.

She did not run for fame or applause. She ran because two young girls were waiting for their school fees to be paid.

Her feet may have been wounded that day, but her determination never faltered.

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From the drought-hit soil of Beed has emerged a story that has touched hearts across Maharashtra—a story of a mother who turned her pain into strength and ran barefoot towards a better future for her daughters.