Keen to make a start? Join our running groups in Delhi and Gurgaon as we meet every Saturday at 7:00 am.There are walkers, joggers, marathoners and more.... Basically come and enjoy the outdoors in the green lungs of the city. In 2008 we have a monthly 5km and 10km run in each of these locations. So come, have fun, and test yourself against yourself.
Registration at 6:15 am Leisure Valley main gate – 10K run starts 6:45 am and the 5k run starts at 7:15 am - behind Bikanerwala (facing Crowne Plaza Hotel) Sector 29 – it is quite cool at that time. This is a run where you can walk many stretches, run the whole distance if you want or do what you need to, to cover the distance – the objective is to have fun
GREEN RUN Gurgaon –Sep 7th
Registration at 615am Leisure Valley main gate – 10K run starts 645am and the 5k run starts at 715am - behind Bikanerwala (facing Crowne Paza Hotel) Sector 29 – it is quite cool at that time. This is a run where you can walk many stretches, run the whole distance if you want or do what you need to, to cover the distance – the objective is to have fun. A good way to start warming up to getting fit prior to the cooler part of the year. Make new acquaintances and catch up with old friends. Running is the next golf! And it’s open to all!
"Running
country is everywhere. Open your door, and you're in business....Run
in a schoolyard....at the beach....in a vacant lot."
Bill Bowerman, coaching great
If you are not in Delhi - e mail a few friends and start a running/ walking group. You will find links to running clubs in Chennai and Bangalore as you scroll down. If you are in another city/ country, and are a member of a running club, send us a link so that we can get our running community in touch with yours.
We are a group of people with varied goals and levels of fitness. We range from walkers to joggers to marathoners, all bound by the desire to run in the outdoors,work towards our varied goals, and build some camaraderie along the way.
All you need is yourself and a waterbottle. Bring some friends along and make some more, else land up alone and make some new ones.
Some
of our running locations have included:
Delhi
Lodi Gardens - Good bathroom, 2km flat loop
Sanjay Van
Nehru Park - Good bathroom - 3km mostly flat loop
Jahanpanah forest - 6.8 km loop with a few intermediate turn offs
Rose Garden and Hauz Khas Tank - Good bathroom, 2
km loop within the rose garden, an additional 3km loop
through Hauz Khas monument and around the tank
Buddha Jayanti Park - Reasonable bathrooms - 2-3
km loop - bit of up and down, good for practising hill
running
There is a runners group
in Chennai (Chennai Runners) - so for those of you who
live there and don't know about it yet, click
here and catch up with the group. For those
of who who are travelling over a weekend, do the same
and have some fun and make some new friends.
Runners for life is an
active runners club in Bangalore which would be great
for you to link in to, if you are in Bangalore for a weekend,
or if you live there, but have not yet started running
in a group. Start having fun and click
here and you will never be the same, as you
get fitter and are able to enjoy life more
The Greater Noida Fun Run was on APRIL 5TH 2008. It was a 10 km and 5km run through Knowledge Parks and other parts of Greater Noida. There were a large number of participants and cheering crowds. The Greater Noida Fun Runs was open to all age categories who want to run/walk/jog. While most of the participants were students in the Greater Noida Colleges there were also plenty of other residents of the area. The run was a huge success with over 1000 participants.This run was organised by NIET and Running and Living.
Chennai Marathon and other runs Feb 10th, 2008:
Another last minuter. Poor information for participants.A super enthusiastic running group in Chennai did not have adequate information a day before the event and I quote from an e mail
"Hi Chennai Runners
Nothing has come up in the Hindu about Chennai Marathon.
What about
timings/route/traffic regulations, water points etc.When do all the
chennai runners meet and place.
regards
Mahesh".
And another from a disapointed runner who came to know about it, too late - "How not to organize a marathon!
I believe there were 5,000 runners (i guess all from State Sports
associations), looks like it's an all sports bodies affair, the
public were not welcome.
FYI,
Regards
Siva"
This says it all.
Mumbai Marathon and other runs Jan 20th, 2008:
This was well organised for the sponsors as the coverage was good and the participation of the runners was good too. But as usual - the toilets were bad and missing in the most part, lines were long to get the timing chip returned, water was missing towards the last 10km for those taking longer than 4 hours to finish. We need to pull up our socks if we are going to be setting standards for the CommonWealth Games. It would be good to make it mandatory for the organisers to participate in the full marathon they organise
Bangalore Ultra Marathon Dec 16th, 2007:
This was a run organised by runners, for runners and was a great experience.
The first of it's kind - 26km, 52 km and 78 km runs along a scenic 13 km loop on the outskirts of Bangalore near Hessarghatta. A must for any running enthusiast every year
The Bangalore Marathon that was not. Also December 16th 2007
The headlines in the Times of India the next day said it all. DOGS, TRAFIC HALT MARATHONERS.. It's a pity that the organisers put this up in such a hurry. It takes at least 6 months of planning to put together a decent marathon, and a year , for a world class marathon event. I would
not recommend the Bnagalore marathon or half marathon to any running enthusiast unless there are some drastic changes in the way it is organised. This was it's third chaotic year. See what a world class event should offer,
as a benchmark 'Running Events' The
7km run should be fun. The marathon would be OK for die
hards as it is unlikely that it will be well
organised.
This was a run for the organisers and a few elite athletes. This should definitely not be a run that any running enthusiast should try to take part in - either the full, or the half marathon. The Pune Newline the next day said it all - "The same old story:
Event 'mis-managed' this year as well". No information on anything, no signage, hap hazard management pre event and during the event and.... The qualifying time for being allowed to go beyond the half marathon mark was 1 hour and 20 minutes!! The last female winer clocked 1:19, so why have this open to the general public?
I carried a water bottle with me, being aware of the illustrious history of this marathon. I saved another 4 runners from dehydration as I caught up with them at the 30km mark. Anyway, I made 4 acquaintances. This is another event I would not recommend for a running enthusiast unless there is a serious change in the way things are run - definitely not recommended for the marathon or half marathon.
The Vodafone Delhi Half
Marathon October 28th 2007. A success in numbers but a
disaster in participant satisfaction
Pre event, event and post event
operations were poor from a runners perspective. Several
mishandled registrations, no communication, leading to
painful delays at the expo, were common. The runs were
at a terribly inconvenient time for runners - great for
those who were flagging them off. The half marathon
should have started no later than 630am and the 7k run
no later than 830am, but they were both 1:15 hrs later
than that. Toilets were conspicuous by their absence
with people peeing on the cloth dividers in the holding
area as well as other areas, with women painfully
looking around for a quiet spot. This was 'sick' for
"The world's Richest Half Marathon" Would be good to
have the organisers and race oficials run these with
their family members- not as a VIP, but experience what
each of the 30,000 runners experienced. Maybe that will
get them to focus a bit on quality next time around. The
queues for the medal, certificate and chip return were
horrendous. It was gruelling for the 3 hour runner to
stand in a q for another 2 -3 hours, the so called
refreshment kits were well hidden at another end of the
finish area. Quite clearly showing the inexperience as a
participant, of the organisers.
I am copying a
letter received from an 11th standard student and his
younger sister who were to take part in the 7km run but
along with hundreds of others, were flagged off at
around 8:40 and they ended up running the 21K!!!
"hi im ishaan arya
today me n my sister
(mallika arya) went for the great delhi run and well
there was a major screw up we were sent to the holding
are at 8 40 as was scheduled but we werent tod wat to do
where to go etc and ppl just ran
so our event started
at 840 instead of 9 45 we started running on the 21km
path as officials told us(they were standing outside the
gate 2 where the race was supposed to begin) so we
continued down the route for the 21km runners there were
many hundreds of runners we all kept runinng
there
was supposed to be a U-turn of some sort at safdarjung
bridge but there was no one to point us in the right
direction or tell us what to do so we continued on the
route for the 21km runners
at india gate we realized
what had happened and since the officials said they
cudnt help us we continued on the route for the 21km
runners there were a few hundred of us we continued and
completed the 21km race even though all of us had
registered for the 7km race me and my sister mallika
completed the race(21km) in 2 hrs 10 mins"
The 1st Delhi
International marathon: that wasn't: Feb 2006
This event in mid February
was a disaster in every which way. The dates were delayed
at short notice, the route was modified the day before
race day, marathon participants had to climb over a gate
at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in the dark to get to
the starting line, women had to pee in the open, water
points toward the end were devoid of water, traffic was
not regulated in the 2nd loop of the full marathon, medals
were not available to the finishers, signage was not clear
along the route and a cousin of mine was lost for a while,
the finish line was not clear ...
It is a crying shame
that event organisers in India still think of organising
events like marathons - like organising a party for 15
people. It's high time they realise that it takes 4-6
months for someone to train for a marathon and takes at
least 9 months for getting the macro and micro organisational
aspects to execute this event, in place. A good way is
to ensure that one of the organisers takes part in the
full marathon just like any other participant and realise
the pain and the issues involved so that it can truly
be improved upon the next time around.
It's time that organisers
realise that there have been over a 100,000 marathons
conducted so far and it would be good for them to learn
from the best practices of some of the big ones and use
them as a benchmark. Excuses that this is the first time
this is being done in Delhi are just not acceptable! With
the 17 marathons I have run in different parts of the
world, there are some tips listed for organisers, which
runners should use as a guideline of what to expect in
a run. If this is not provided, feedback must be given
in to the organisers, so that they can improve.
Marathons
in India should be held ONLY in the Winter months -
Nov-Feb and that too, should start no later than 7am,
and if possible 6am.
The
2nd Bangalore marathon: Sep 2006
This event was held
in September and was without sponsors and it showed
in the organisation and execution of the event. Though
better managed than the Delhi marathon, the traffic
management was a disaster. The run , supposed to start
at 5am, was postponed to 6am a day before, because it
was too early for the city's traffic cops!! I ran the
latter third of the marathon alongside polluting autorickshaws
and buses, I may as well have been smoking a few packets
of cigarettes that day!
A marathon is a running
event that should involve the whole city, energise those
along the running route, and generate a whole load of
economic activity. The Chicago marathon for example, has
opver 1 million spectators, 40000 runners and a similar
number of volunteers and generates over $150million in
revenue for the city. I think we could well learn from
some of these mega events and make running a health and
wealth driving machine
The
2nd Delhi Hutch Marathon: Oct 2006
By far the best organised
running event in the country so far. Portable toilets,
road signs and bandobast, crowd support and an atmosphere
of fun and gaeity, getting the medal and certificate
on finishing the race...and more. We're 95% there to
being world class
The event got the winner close to a world record -
now that would definitely get Delhi and the sponsors
on the world map. Next year, if the race is run in the
last week of November instead of in October, that would
definitely help in shaving off a muinute off the winners
time. Some food for thought
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So
Get Fitter, Younger, Refreshed and Energised, to Unleash
your Potential
Or to cut a long story short
Get FYREd UP!
Start running and living today!!
