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Despite winter chills, the wee hours of Sunday saw Mumbai sweating buckets as it ran the 11th annual Standard Chartered Marathon.
The marathon, starting at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, saw participants across all age groups running for social causes, fitness awareness and for the sheer joy of running.
From a total of about 39,500 who registered, 3,600 ran 42 km and 14,200 ran 21 km. The rest opted for other categories such as Dream Run (6 km), senior citizens and differently-abled champions.
The annual event was graced by celebrity runners such as RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and top corporate honchos including Anil Ambani, Tina Ambani and N. Chandrasekaran of TCS.
Joining the event were film celebrities such as John Abraham, Diya Mirza and Gulshan Grover.
Vikas Singh, a fitness and running enthusiast who runs for the pacers club, where runners typically run for a fixed time period, finished the half-marathon (21 km) in 1 hour 45 minutes.
Last year, along with his team, Singh participated in a 100-km run at the inaugural Oxfam Trailwalker in Mumbai and secured the first position, defeating the second team by a margin of over 12 hours.
Singh realised his potential when he ran 5 km for the first time for an Indian Navy test and since then there’s been no looking back.
“Running makes me better at work and helps me with undisturbed sleep. It makes one look smarter, younger and also helps you connect with other people in a better manner,” Singh said. He will be attempting a Boston Qualifying run later this year.
the Winners
Though missing last year’s record by a second, 30-year-old Kenyan Evans Ruto completed the race in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 33 seconds to win the overall men’s title. He will receive $41,000 of the total prize money of $360,000.
Ethiopian’s Dinknesh Mekash, last year’s runner-up, swept the women’s title in 2 hours 28 minutes and 08 seconds while Lalita Babbar of Central Railway created history, completing a hat-trick of triumphs by winning the Indian women’s full marathon in a new record time of 2 hours 50 minutes 31 seconds.
Individuals from across the city came to participate and cheer the runners with a blend of dance, slogans and peppy Bollywood songs.
Senior citizens, differently-abled people and young children ran for more than an hour, showing solidarity with other runners.
The marathon stretch also saw many run in support for various causes such as saving the girl child, promoting child education, eradicating corruption, keeping the city clean and going green.
Broom power About 50 Aam Aadmi Party volunteers turned up with brooms, the party symbol, for a cleanup-drive-cum- election-campaign.
Contingents from various companies, banks, schools and NGOs participated in large numbers.
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