Bengaluru Marathon Inaugural Run – 16th March 2014
- timtim1005
- Mar 20, 2014
- 3 min read
Bangalore has been long known as The Garden City. For those that are not aware, Bangalore is located at a height of over 3,000 feet above sea level and boasts of pleasant weather right through the year.
I know a lot of people will disagree with me when I will lay claim to Bangalore being the fitness capital of India – but I am going to do so anyway. Part of it could be because of the simple fact that it is the 3rd most populated city in India. Another reason is that with the IT boom came a sedentary lifestyle. This happened a decade or so back and it is only now that the ill effects of the lifestyle are being realised. Doctors are giving people the ” You better get fit or else” ultimatums. I have seen the fitness revolution gain momentum in this city in the last year and a half or so with my very own eyes. I will also add to this a statistical fact. There are 33% more runners in Bangalore than any other city in India.
We Bangaloreans are a spoilt lot – as runners we have the most awesome weather that a place can offer – pleasant right through the year. In fact, we whine about it being too hot or too cold all the time – that is – until we go elsewhere for an event – face issues of humidity and actual bad weather before we come to our senses and hail the wonderful weather that our city spoils us with. Add to that, we have trails such as Cubbon Park and Lal Bagh in the heart of the city which makes access very easy to runners ( not so easy for runners in other cities).
So, in all honesty, it is only a matter of fairness that Bangalore should have its own Full Marathon event. Insane number of runners, beautiful city with wonderful weather calls for a celebration and what better way to celebrate? And this weekend just gone by, that is exactly what we did, we celebrated the official announcement of the Bengaluru Marathon with a run.
19th October 2014 is the date to mark out in your calendars. Start preparing for this event because this is an event you will want to be part of each year. We have decided that we will make this a huge celebration for runners. And with this view in mind, we had the first promotional run for the Bengaluru Marathon this weekend gone by. This was done in great style too. There was a turnout of about 1000 runners in the wee hours of morning at Shriram properties in Sarjapura. We had RJ Danish Sait as the Emcee for the day – and boy was this guy a class act of the funnies. He had the entire crowd in splits within seconds of getting his hands on the mike. Kickstarting the event with a round of giggles, we then moved onto a high energy Zumba warm up by Jyothika Dwarkanath.
With every one warmed up and raring to go, the runners all marched onto the start point. After a few minutes delay due to road permissions, and release of pigeons representing freedom, the run was officially flagged off. Seven of us – Reeth,her daughter Shilkha, Narayani, Nabanita, Geeta, Rakesh and myself stood at the start/finish points as cheerleaders. As always, there were a few latecomers whom we cheered on and then was the wait for the finishers to come forth. There were two distances – 5k for the beginners and 9k for those that wanted to go longer. We had the 5k finishers trickling back within a 30 minute time frame and then it was just fun fun fun! Simply because there were a lot of familiar and new faces and it is just so fabulous to give the runners the energy for their last 100m sprint. Off course, Danish was there giving us company and keeping us entertained with his witty self the entire time.
The next hour or so, saw us waiting and cheering the finishers on. A lot of the runners came by and we had some candid conversations ranging from run experience to apparel, stretches, strengthening exercises and a whole range. The run was followed by a scrumptious yet healthy breakfast. A number of runners shared their experience and expectation of the Bengaluru Marathon. It was great to see runners and running groups from across Bangalore come together to support this initiative – the Protons, NRC, BHUKMP, Runners High, Pacemakers, Bee Gee Run Bugs, IISc boys – there was representation from each running group. This was followed by a celebration of Holi which added color to the already brilliant atmosphere. A celebration for sure, this was a grand launch for the Bengaluru Marathon. Do watch this space for further updates on the progress of this journey which has just begun.
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