Runners raise awareness at Mumbai Marathon

Mumbai: The Tata Mumbai Marathon 2019 (TMM), which was held on Sunday morning, saw hordes of participants from all walks of life, including amateur athletes, senior citizens, the differently abled and 16 war-disabled Indian Army officers who have been running at the event for eight years now. However, the glam quotient of the Dream Run this year was subdued compared to previous instalments.

Runners, decked in elaborate get-up and bearing life-affirming messages, thronged the start line for selfies at the venue. There were 17,661 participants in Dream Run, 1,005 participants in Senior Citizens’ Run, and 1,301 participants in Champio-ns with Disability event.

Eighty-two-year-old Maj Gen Ian Cardozo, who famously amputated own leg with his khukri after stepping on a landmine during the war of 1971, was a familiar face at the event. “Like every year, we (the 16 war-disabled Army men) are participating in the marathon. Our motto ‘Converting Disab-ility into Ability’ seeks to spread the message that disability is not the factor that holds one back,” he said.

Amid messages about the importance of mental and physical health, members of an NGO, SRLC, ran with a miniature bridge in support of the downtrodden. “SRLC conveyed its efforts to ‘bridge the gap’ by providing medical care to the poor tribal population of Gujarat via the construction of a hospital’,” said the spokesperson of the NGO Alpa Gandhi. Members of another NGO, Child Health Found-ation, ran in clown makeup in support of the girl child.

For 73-year-old Gita Bhatia, Sunday’s excursion was all about setting an example. “I’ve been m-aintaining myself so that I could be here to promote physical fitness, which is the true mantra for staying young,” she said.

A Class 8 student, Viraat Sinh, on the other hand, was there to bat for a greener tomorrow. “Def-orestation is a curse. We won’t be seeing forests an-ymore if this mass genocide continues,” he said.

A homemaker, Ami-ta Gupta, ran with multiple prosthetic hands, hig-hlighting the various rol-es played by women. “In today’s world, women play multiple roles, which goes unappreciated,” she said.