The pandemic has pushed the city’s marquee running event to the height of summer; amid mixed response, running community advocates utmost caution
An athlete during the Mumbai Marathon in January last year. File pic
The Tata Mumbai Marathon, Mumbai’s blue riband event on the city’s running calendar, is to be held on May 30 this year. The announcement has surprised runners, mainly because of the heat during the month, but organisers, Procam, have also added some tweaks.
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Satish Gujaran, veteran marathoner
They have said there will be limited participation, and only three events — the full marathon (42 km), the half (21 km) and a 10-km run. With more details expected at a later date, Mumbai’s running community’s reactions range from an ‘are you serious?’ to ‘just do it’.
Most challenging
Celebrated runner Kranti Salvi said, “This should be the most challenging of all my Mumbai marathons, the full 42 km, because of the high heat and humidity. I have been running the race since 2013 and even though May does seem daunting as of now, I would not like to miss the opportunity this year.”
Salvi’s best ever is a very impressive 3 hours 47 minutes at the 42-km run in Gold Coast, Australia. “That was in ideal running conditions, it was in July and the temperature was six degrees Celsius,” she recalled. “Now, of course, the onus is on runners to start training in the heat,” she added. Salvi added, “There has been plenty of chatter about the marathon in the city’s running circles, with some hoping it will be held in July. In May, the relatively better time to hold the on-ground event will be a 2.30 am start, but of course that would not be possible.”
Celebrated marathon runner Kranti Salvi
SoBo’s seasoned runner, who runs in the veteran (50 to 55 years) category, said, “It will be very important that runners avoid dehydration. The organisers will have to increase the water stations, there will have to be more ice and sponges, after the 20-km mark, rather than the 30-km one.”
For Charni Road’s Suresh Rathod, “It is a marathon in May? No way.” Rathod has run the full 42-km Mumbai marathon six times but even if given a chance, he prefers to skip this one. He says, “I see a lot of runners hitting a wall earlier than they usually do, even collapsing if the heat gets unbearable. Ideally, this should have been held in the rains.”
Strong minds
For veteran marathoner Satish Gujaran, 57, punishing conditions can be conquered if one trains in similar scenarios. “While training for this race, runners will have to begin a little later than usual, and on weekends when many runners do their long, practice runs, then they must run in the heat.” The Mulund native has done several multi-days runs, like running from Vashi to Satara over two days and finishing off with the Satara half-marathon (21 km) earlier. All three runners reflect the fierce debate in the running community, spanning the gamut from caution, to rejection and one that says – the 42-km run can be done.
Suresh Rathod on a training run
Speaking to mid-day, Dr Sunil Rajadhyaksha, head, Dept. of Transfusion Medicine, Tata Memorial Hospital, said, “I want to tell runners to build their mileage gradually. These are COVID times, and though I have seen runners get back on the road gradually, they may not still have hit those distances that they had earlier. So, get into the groove slowly but surely. Get your body accustomed to the load it is going to take on, but do not just leap into what you were doing earlier, because COVID had meant that there was a disruption in running routines.
Mumbai’s well-known running coach, P Venkatraman, said, “Your body must get used to the heat and humidity, so you need to train in that weather. Regular runners do train during the summer months. For instance, we have the Comrades race in South Africa in July, runners are training through April and May for the same.”
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