Pakistani ultra-runner Waqar Ahmad Nasir has defended his championship title at the Seychelles Nature Trail Challenge, finishing first out of 150+ elite runners from 14 countries at the race’s third edition on Mahé Island.
Waqar completed the grueling 22-kilometer course in 2 hours and 11 minutes, finishing ahead of South Africa’s Daniel Claasen, who crossed the line just two minutes behind.
The Seychelles Nature Trail Challenge is widely regarded as one of the most punishing trail races on the international circuit. Runners navigate tropical rainforests, razor-sharp granite ridge lines, white-sand beaches, and steep coastal cliffs under relentless equatorial heat, all across 1,210 meters of vertical elevation gain.
The course winds from the luxury beachfront of Constance Ephelia on Mahé’s western coast all the way to the scenic shores of Grand Anse. It is as breathtaking as it is brutal.
And Waqar ran it all in first place.
Waqar represents the Margalla Trail Runners, the Islamabad-based running collective that has been quietly producing world-class athletes from the trails of the Margalla Hills. His victory is a direct reflection of the serious trail running culture growing across Pakistan’s capital, largely invisible to the mainstream but building real results on the international stage.
Wearing his Margalla Trail Runners kit on the podium and unfurling the green and white flag in front of a global audience, Waqar’s win was more than a personal milestone. It was a statement.
The images from the event tell their own story. Pakistan’s flag was prominently displayed throughout the closing ceremony, on the podium, in group photographs with Seychelles tourism officials, and in the crowd. Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, Ms. Amanda Bernstein, personally awarded Waqar his trophy at the ceremony.
In a world where Pakistan’s global image is too often shaped by narratives it didn’t write, moments like this carry genuine weight. A Pakistani athlete competing internationally under his country’s flag, winning a world-class event on merit, twice. That matters.
This victory arrives at a moment when Pakistani athletes are quietly making inroads across adventure and endurance sports internationally. From K2 expeditions to ultra-marathons, Pakistan is producing competitors who can hold their own anywhere in the world.
Waqar’s back-to-back wins in Seychelles are not a coincidence. They reflect dedicated training, a growing ecosystem of trail running in Pakistan, and the kind of competitive mentality that wins races in places far from home.
Now in its third edition, the Seychelles Nature Trail Challenge is an annual international trail race held on Mahé island and supported by Tourism Seychelles as part of its adventure and participatory tourism initiative. The 2026 edition drew over 150 elite runners from 14 countries across the 22km course with 1,210m of elevation gain.
In the women’s category, South Africa’s Emily Jock claimed victory in 2 hours and 51 minutes, with Sylvaine Cussot of Réunion Island finishing second.
Pakistan. On the podium. Again.
