You know it’s the marathon morning when over 40,000 Mumbaikars give up their well-deserved Sunday morning sleep just to travel from Fort to the Bandra-Worli Sea-link. And even after 13 years of existence, the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, which has now become a much-awaited annual fixture, never ceases to impress as a spectacle of human effort and determination. Stars and elites of the track and field from all over the world descended on Mumbai’s unusually empty roads and the footpaths soon got jam-packed, thanks to the enthusiastic cheering squads of supporters. The city, south Mumbai to be precise, wore a vibrant look that is unique to only this day of the year.
While the celebrities (many of whom have been regulars at the previous editions of the marathon) gave the event a miss, the event saw a stellar show of a different sort, as big names of the sporting world such as Jackson Kiprop, Gideon Kipkater and India’s very own ‘golden girls’ Sudha Singh, O.P. Jaisha and Lalita Babar took centre-stage and gave onlookers enough to cheer for.
There were people running for fitness, or to uphold a cause they believe in, and they were across ages and strata of society. Some ran just to run and nothing more, to perhaps stand up to the challenge posed by the humid Mumbai air, and the uphill tracks in the Kemp’s Corner and the Peddar Road stretch.
As is customary, there were complaints about the heat, the loud music and more practical concerns about the lack of water booths at certain points. But everyone, irrespective of whether they were elites or amateurs, sported a smile of satisfaction as they skipped (or tottered in some cases, albeit triumphantly) across the finish line.
It turned out to be much more just a sporting event. and like every year, yet again it was a reflection of the innumerable facets of the maximum city.
Costume crazy Race like the Mahatma ‘Is it the marathon or the Dandi march ’ wondered a few as they rested their eyes on Upendra Thanawala who was a convincing image of Mahatma Gandhi, replete with his dhoti, walking stick and a dedicated fleet of followers. “I do it just to promote harmony,” says the senior citizen, who has dressed as Gandhiji several times in the past editions of the marathon, right since 2007. Speaking to us about how the idea behind his costume came about, he said, “Well, my friends told me I look a lot like Gandhiji and what could be more inspiring than the Mahatma I have been doing this for a long time in a lot of events.”
The green plea Another costume that grabbed many eyeballs was the one donned by Borivali-based Shantilal Desai, who came dressed in a costume made of money-plant to spread the message: ‘Go green —save the earth’. “It is high time we take notice of the damage we do to the planet. We need to stop global warming and environmental degradation because we only have one planet and we can’t afford to lose it,” he said.
Numbers speak 261 and counting Hartmann Stampfer is the big daddy of veteran marathoners. And 261 is not a count of how many days he’s trained or how many minutes it took him to finish the 42 km-long marathon, but is, in fact, the total number of marathons that the sexagenarian has run so far. Here in India for the first time ever, Hartmann has already ran a whopping four marathons since the start of this month. “I’ve never run the same marathon twice,” he says proudly, signifying that he has so far run in over 261 unique venues. While his favourite may not be Mumbai (It’s his home-town Rome), Hartmann says, “Mumbai is definitely very high on my list. It is a beautiful event and the people especially are very warm and welcoming.” And although we won’t be seeing him again in the marathon next year, he says that he is far from done with India, where he has plans to run the marathon in other cities.
Cause alert Go Meninism! Women empowerment has long been a favourite buzzword at marathons. This edition saw the men get even. With a 120-plus strong contingent, social welfare organisation Vastav used amusing props to fight for men’s rights. There was an ATM machine with the message: ‘Husband is not an ATM’ and evocative placards which highlighted the plight of men who are victims of gender inequality. Telling us about the campaign, Varun Gupta, a volunteer for the group says, “At the very outset let me make it clear that we are not against women empowerment. But in the fight for empowering women, they are sometimes given undue advantage. When a woman is a genuine victim of rape she should be afforded all the help, but what about times when the accusation is false The life of the falsely accused man is destroyed. Women empowerment should be done by uplifting women, not by suppressing men — that’s all we want to convey.”
