Tata Mumbai Marathon: City puts on running shoes

Mumbai: The Tata Mumbai Marathon, previously kno-wn as Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, which was held on Sunday morning, saw enthusiastic participation of persons from all walks of life including amateur athletes, senior citizens and the differently-abled. However, the glam quotient this year was weak as compared to the 14 previous instalments of the event.

Ethiopians Solomon Deksisa and Amane Gobena clinched the men’s and women’s races, clocking times of 2:09:34 and 2:24:49 respectively.

The marathon has six race categories: The Marathon (42.194km), Half Marathon (21.097km), Dream Run (6km), Senior Citizens Race (4.3km), and Champions with Disab-ility category (2.4k-m) and the newly added Timed 10K run. In all, 44,407 runners of over 30 nationalities had registered for the event.   

Many runners were seen taking selfies before, during and after the run, which started at 5.40 am from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

The young runners, mostly collegians, were running with a big smile on their faces, and waiting at every ‘Insta frame’ booth installed by the marathon organisers. Several corporate honchos and Bollywood celebrities also hit the streets to take part in the marathon. They included N. Chand-rasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons; V. Vaidyanathan, CEO of Capital First; as well as actors Mandira Bedi, Milind Soman, Maria Goretti, Naina Bachchan, Kunal Kapoor, Shailesh Lodha, Gulshan Grover, Saiyami Kher and Kajal Agarwal to name a few.

Many participants were spotted eating oranges and salt from the stall of a private company to maintain their energy during the race. To give runners respite from the sweltering heat, a private water firm had placed a shed at Haji Ali with sprinklers. Along the route, small stages were erected by NGOs to spread awareness about cancer.     Some participants were also found carrying placards, spreading messages pertaining to violence against married men.

Payal Karnia (23), a fashion designer, said, “This is my first marathon, and I am very happy that I participated. I never expected to complete the Half Marathon, but I did.” Bornes Kitur, a regular at the Mumbai Marathon and runner-up in Sunday’s instalment, said, “I’m happy with my performance and to have finished second.”

Thomas Philip, a runner who  participated in the marathon for the eighth consecutive year, said, “The management and weather have been superb!”

After the marathon, plastic bottles and cups were found strewn on roads, and though people were deployed to collect the trash, they were few in number. Most of trash was collected from the Worli Sealink stretch.