City's runners on their marks

Runners and marathoners of the city are buzzing with excitement as the running season begins with IDBI Federal Half Marathon today. The race is anticipating an enormous response of 15,000 runners from Mumbai and nearby cities. The event began at 5:45 am from R2 Grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

Legendary sportsman, Sachin Tendulkar who is the face of the race will flag-off the race which will have three categories — 21k, 10k and 5k for various participants. From 77-year old Khusru Patel to kidney transplant survivor Shibani Gulati will be running side-by-side for the race.

Another hero who will take part in the race is Amarjeet Singh Chawla who is 62 years old and ready to take up any challenge, this year he is going to run the half marathon. Amarjeet started losing his vision gradually, at 13, and attained the condition of total blindness at the age of 40. He started running since the age of 49 and till date he has participated 70 times in half marathon and other runs in different part of cities in India. 

Living life with each moment and taking up challenges, Amarjeet says, “I have no perception of how things are around me. I use my impulse and other senses when I am racing. There are times when I dash into people while racing or I step into potholes but that does not stop me. Last week I ran for 55kms, I don’t feel any fatigue at all. I am a fighter and I will not stop running unless I cannot.”

Shibani Gulati will be the first kidney transplant survivor to enter a half marathon. She started walking to keep herself away from negative thoughts which further motivated her to take part in small marathons. “As I indulged myself more into running, my fear started going away and now I feel perfect,” says Shibani who also urges people to take part in organ donation camps.

The IDBI Federal Life Insurance Mumbai Half Marathon (21K) commenced at 5:45 am, the timed 10K run began at 7 am and Mumbaikar’s favourite 5K run will start at 7:45 am. More than 15,000 runners participated in the second edition of the marathon. 

The organisers had to face a major hiccup that was posed by the recent construction of metros around the city, due to which the venue of the race had to be shifted. To which, race director, Nagaraj Adiga said, “Marathon routes require permissions from multiple authorities. It would suffice to say permissions did not come from some part of the civic authorities for the original South Mumbai route. We respect the decision of the authorities. Our route through the old parts of Mumbai was a key draw for runners and we sincerely regret that they will not get to run on the same route. The one thing, though, we can promise is that the spirit of the race will not change.”