Pinkathon 2014: Bigger, Better, Funner

So, it has been almost a whole year since the first edition of the Bengaluru leg of the Pinkathon. Last year saw over 3500 women  go Pink on the streets of Bangalore for this cause. Do feel free to read about the 2013 experience here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/timtim-sharma/pinkathon-how-i-saw-the-journey-/580020732016343.

With less than 5 days left for 16th Feb – the day of the race, I thought I should put across my viewpoint of the race, the thought behind it and the final product that we have in mind for this weekend.

To begin with – what is the Pinkathon all about. It is a 10kms International Run only for women. The objective of the event is to encourage women’s health and fitness. Pinkathon also aims to raise awareness about breast cancer, its causes and prevention. This event has been  bought to India by Maximus and Milind Soman, who is not only a celebrity but also a respected swimmer, runner and fitness enthusiast. Gul Panag, another celebrity and runner is the ambassador for this event.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths amongst women worldwide, in spite of it being one of the curable cancers if detected early. The key to controlling this disease therefore, is to create awareness about preventive measures for breast cancer. Pinkathon offers the running distances of 3K, 5K & 10K giving each runner an opportunity, to run in their comfort zone.

Although the 10K distance can be a challenge, it is not a daunting one. This race aims at promoting running as a lifestyle amongst non-runners. First timers with the right training for even 6 weeks can easily run the entire distance! And, in order to encourage these first-timers, Protons Running – a bangalore based running group has volunteered to provide the training programme required by these girls to rock their run. Not only will we be providing these girls with training, but will also provide one pacer amongst the crowd to take the girls to the finish line.

Since Pinkathon encourages all women to adopt running as an activity,there is also the 5k and 3k run which are shorter runs for those that are a wee bit more faint hearted. So, with this introduction to the race, let me also bring you upto date with all that has been happening in the last month to the build up of the race.

We have had 3 promotional events this time around. We started the promotional events in trademark style with our Beer Bash. The Beer bash was an 11K run from Forum Mall, Koramangala upto Opus, Palace Road marked by stops enroute to pick up runners on the way as well as have tiny photoshoots of sorts. The runners were all greeted with a chilled beer, milkshake and breakfast. The run was followed by an informative session by a renowned oncologist. This was followed by some music and a final cake-cutting for a very spirited young runner who also happened to be the birthday girl, Narayani – kindly take a bow.

The next promotional event was a test of endurance – the Treadathon. This time around there was two events – one was the 12-Hour Treadathon and the other was the 6-Hour Treadathon. The 12-Hour event had a team of 12 people with each member running on the Treadmill for a minimum of 15mins. Among the 12 members, they were all meant to last a total of 12 hours on the Treadmill. The 6-Hour event similarly had a 6 member team running on the Treadmill for a minimum of 15 mins each and surviving 6 hours on the Treadmill non-stop. There were a total of 3 teams which participated in the 12-Hour event and 6 teams which participated in the 6-hour event. In 2013, the Bangalore Runners team had created a record for this event which was broken by the Delhi Runners late last year. The Bangalore Runners team made a comeback to smash that record and  reclaim the title in 2014 at 189.38K – proud of you boys!!

The final promo event that was organised was the Duathlon – team event with a cyclist and a runner. 4 loops of 5k each to be covered by the cyclist followed by 2 loops of 5k each covered by the runner while being paced by his/her cyclist. This was a brand new event and a complete success. We got rave reviews by all the participants as well as the spectators and all of them were in fact happy puppies at the end of the event.

With the last few days left towards the build up of the event, I would like to give a shout out of thanks to a bunch of people – Milind – you are awesome, the team at Maximus – Radhika, Dhanraj, Khushboo, Aditi and all of you working behind the scenes with a smile on your face. From the Protons team – each of you have been so cooperative and helpful by being there at a single call of help. Special mention of Dharma – you have been coordinating things quietly behind the scene and made the entire plethora of events seem seamless. Superspecial mention of my very favourite man – Ankush Sharma, you are a machine. You have been the operations leader in the field work – right from route recces to cheerleading to motivational pep talks as well as providing everyday training to the Pink sisters and forming an individual bond with each one – all of this in addition to your ever demanding full time job – you are the epitome of quality and spirit – just what the protons represent. Thank You

Friday and Saturday marks the PINK Carnival which will be held at Forum Koramangala between 11am -9pm for collection of the Little Pink Bag ( which includes the bib, Pink sister T-shirt and timing chips). For those of you who have not yet registered for the event. Delay no further and come be part of this movement, come be part of this cult and experience the joy of endorphins with us.

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