Hi Muscle!A big hello to all mumbaikars who have woken up with instant messages from muscle groups that have lifted their painful heads from nowhere, mumbaikars who have realized simple activities like walking to the car is painful enough and there should be a way for the car to come to you rather than the other way around and that lifting your morning cuppa is a team effort from every muscle and sinew and ligament of your arms and shoulders - in essence hi all Mumbai Marathon runners. Hope all of you had a good, enjoyable, injury-free run.
This is the first time I ran a marathon, ok ok the 6 km dream run but, since that is the most popular section of the race (14000 out of the total expected 30000 participants, though it seemed much more), I am assuming some of you were running beside me, or struggling to find space to run, in the 6 km stretch. And kudos too to all those who ran in any of the other categories.
For all those who were spectators there, who did not run and decided to watch it on the telly, or those who slept late (after all it was a Sunday morning!), smart choices all. But participating in this carnival of a marathon is a unique experience. Maybe you should try it next year. Yes, yes brand visibility exercises was on full blast, still the excitement in the air, the floats, the cheerleaders and the enthusiastic groups in costumes (special mention to an extremely cute kid dressed as ‘Hanuman ji’) made it a great weekend experience. To be honest the Mumbai Marathon is about a million things other than running. There is just so much to see and experience you just don’t realize that you are spending a weekend morning marching out six kilometers under an unforgiving sun.
The race set me thinking, especially since it involves no physical activity with thick crowds and hardly any straight line room for running, about marathons, how they became such institutions and also, more specifically, about the Mumbai Marathon and what the hoopla is about.
The original Marathon
The word ‘Marathon’ comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier (though some sources claim he was a professional runner), who ran without a stop from the town of Marathon to the city of Athens to convey the momentous, yet short, message “Niki!” which meant victory. He collapsed the very next moment and died. The victory that he talked about was the victory in the battle of Marathon, of the Greeks against the Persians.
French linguist and historian Michel Breal suggested the inclusion of a long-distance race of 40 kms (24.8 miles) in 1894, when the international revival of Olympics was being discussed. The first Olympic marathon was held on April 10, 1896 from the Marathon Bridge to the stadium in Athens.
The distance for the marathon was not fixed for decades, varied distances from 40 km to 42.75 km were used during the period, and the distance of 42.195 km was finalized by the International Amateur Athletic Federation in 1921.
The Mumbai Marathon
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The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is one of the 4 legs of a virtual relay race that the sponsor bank calls the Greatest Race on Earth (GROE). The other 3 legs are in Nairobi, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Winning the full relay, with a team of 4, can win you the biggest prize pool in world athletics, a pretty whopping USD 1.5 Million.
The Mumbai Marathon 2007 is expected to have 30,000 participants; this includes people from different nationalities and also includes professional athletes. With a total prize pool of USD 230,000 or more than INR 1 crore, its big money by any standards. Even those of popular TV gameshows!
Charity
But the Mumbai Marathon is about much more than competitive athletics. If it was not you would not have thousands upon thousands of everypeople registering for the even weeks in advance. You would not see companies actively encouraging employees to run at least a respectable 6-km Dream Run.
For at the heart of this race is a fun attempt to raise money for charity.
The Marathon in an entertaining, and healthy, way of raising funds for your favorite charity or just your way of contributing for the charitable cause. The marathon last year helped raise around Rs. 4 Crores for various causes. Over 100 charities have participated this year. The potential for increasing contributions and raising funds is unbelievable, you can raise pledges from friends, colleagues or your organization. This give you both a motivation not to chicken out mid-way and also the opportunity to become a ‘channel for giving’ to a charity of your choice.
But the impact of the Mumbai Marathon is still just taking shape. The 35000 people, who run for the London Marathon each year, raise GBP 35 million, an astonishing Rs. 250 crores every year. The Mumbai Marathon still has a long way to go.
So next year don’t hesitate to sign up for the Marathon. Not only is it a great way to spend a weekend morning with all the music and dancing and costumes and celebrity, but it is also a unique way to do your bit for the less fortunate sections of society.
And lose a few calories in the process.