On Sunday around 38500 + people ran the most awaited Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2010. This was the seventh edition which Mumbaikars have enjoyed. John Abraham, the Brand Ambassador of the Marathon along with thousands of people came to cheer the runners.
This year sea link has changed the route of the Mumbai Marathon. The Marathon was held in five main categories -42 km full marathon, 21 km half marathon, 6 km dream run, 4 km senior citizens’ run and the two and a half km wheelchair event.
The registrations were started in July 09. The entry fee was 500/- INR. This event is held every year on the 3rd Sunday of January.
When I came to know about the Marathon I was highly excited to run but unfortunately the registrations were already closed. Seriously I was very upset but then Amit (from Mumbaikar.com) made my dream come true by giving me a chance to run with the team Mumbaikar.
So finally I was with Mumbaikar team, who were running for Mumbai. We all along with the MD of mumbaikar.com who had specially flied to India for the marathon were going to run Dream Run of 6km, which starts from Azad Maidan. At around 7.30 the area near the Azad Maidan was fully crowded. Only participants were allowed to enter Azad Maidan. A crowd of around 1000+ was present at 7.45 on the ground. Many events had already kicked off by that time. At times I was confused with marathon and Fancy dress because people were dressed like they were there for fancy dress competition and not for Marathon.
At 9.10 the Dream Run started. As soon as we got out of azad maidan we started shouting our “On the spot slogans” (Save water, Mumbaikar) & (Mumbaikarrrr Mumbaikarrrr).
It was so crowed that we could barely run in that crowd at the start. Many news reporters were busy taking snaps and shooting the whole event. Almost everyone who participated in dream run were trying to promote their causes, while some even tried promoting organization. I could see Colgate, Bank of Baroda, LIC, TCS, McDonald, etc. promoting themselves in the Marathon.
Every dream runner was also cheering the other category Marathon runners as they were about to complete their race. There was also a live band playing rock music throughout the event. Only some who were not in any group literally ran while others were just walking, promoting their cause. Actually we just ran for about 1.5km – 2 km while promoting our cause. Some causes that others promoted were save water, save environment, Child abuse, Educate girl child, Save girl child, etc.
In around 2 and half hours team Mumbaikar completed the Dream Run. Everyone was quite excited that we successfully completed the marathon even when the Sun was at its peak. We’re hopeful that the causes promoted during the Marathon won’t be ignored and would be taken seriously by every Mumbaikar.
The Team Mumbaikar that participated in the Dream Run are:
Dinesh, Amit, Ramnik, Nilesh, Kishore, Pradnya, Neha, Ganesh, Manoj, Sachin, Pritesh, Mihir, and myself (Vishal)
Be First to Comment