Jan. 8: Sonalia Pal, 21, stumbled and fell twice. She also skinned her knees, something that had never happened to her in a road race before.

Sonalia ended up winning the 21km race, but neither victory nor the effort behind the reward is the reason why she would remember this as her "most special" running event of the season.

The young Alipore resident was among the 600 runners who participated in the Jai Balaji Group presents Kolkata Trail Run, in association with The Telegraph, on Sunday morning. The trail cut across the East Calcutta Wetlands, a route that most of them described as the most "scenic" or "unique" one they had seen.

"When you fall down during a race, there is a tendency to give up. I fell down twice, the second time on stony terrain. But when I got up and looked around, everything around me looked so beautiful that I just felt like running again," recounted Sonalia, who has just completed her undergraduate programme in mass communication at St. Xavier's College.

Sonalia, who plays rugby at CC&FC, had previously won the TCS half-marathon and Bhumi 10K and finished second in the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K last year.

Sunday's 5, 10 and 25km trail run, in its second year, started at the Godrej Waterside IT Park in Salt Lake's Sector V and entered the East Calcutta Wetlands within the first kilometre. For the participants, just the experience of running along a track flanked by wetlands and greenery transported them to a mindspace far from the madding crowd.

The East Calcutta Wetlands are a mix of natural and man-made wetlands to the east of the city and spanning 125sq km. The wetlands are nature's sieve, treating the massive sewage Calcutta generates. The nutrients in the water sustain fish farms and agriculture in the vicinity.

Everyone who was there today agreed that the dirt tracks cutting across the wetlands made the Kolkata Trail Run different from all other road races.

"I have run trail runs in south India, where the route cuts through forests. Similarly, in Delhi, the route takes you though hillocks. Now Calcutta is offering you something different... a run through water bodies and villages," said Bangalore resident Nagaraj Harsha.

The 26-year-old's favourite event is the full triathlon, in which a competitor has to swim 3.8km, ride a bicycle over 180km and run a 42.19km full marathon. The business executive was in the city only to participate in the Kolkata Trail Run.

The beauty of the route also scored with South City resident Kamlesh Kothari and wife Vinita, who ran 10km with him. "It was very romantic running in this serene setting in the morning. We decided to run the half marathon because we wanted the experience to last longer," Kamlesh, a 39-year-old dentist, said.

The couple said running was "a fun experience" for them and not about competing with others. "This is why we run together," Kamlesh said.

Of the 600 runners - this was the cut-off for race registrations - the 21K and the 5K had 150 participants each. The 10K had 300 runners at the starting line.

According to the organisers, registrations were restricted to 600 despite the demand for running spots because the paths between the water bodies were narrow and they did not want to disturb the residents of the area.

The villagers were happy to play hosts, though. Around 30 of them volunteered to guide the participants through the route.

In the 10K line-up were Saumya Didwania, 27, and her mother Sangeeta, 51, who ran together with a group of 25 from a gym called Skulpt. The group, comprising mostly women, seemed to be enjoying every moment as they swayed to the beats of the Zumba warm-up session and took time out for groupfies.

Many participants said the undulating track affected their race timings. By the end of the run, some of them were already planning to be back soon to "practice harder" for next year's event.

Have you seen the East Calcutta Wetlands? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com