How many people in India would think about running 5 km, 10 km, 21 km or 42.2 km for fun? Apparently quite a few.  For a long time, the health conscious in India focused on walking, yoga, gym. Today, amateur running is seeing a boom. Nearly every city is hosting an event named after it and runner groups are mushrooming. The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is now more than 10 years old and has seen registrations increase from year to year, drawing international athletes too.

Marathons in India

The first major running event was held in 2004,  the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, Pune led way back in 1983. In 2015  we have nearly 150 running events across the country.  India currently boasts of at least six world class marathons held in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with the SCMM, Airtel Hyderabad Marathon, TCS 10K Run Bangalore and Airtel Delhi Half Marathon being the bigger names. In 2009, the Delhi Half Marathon attracted 29,000 runners and in 2014 the number rose to around 32,500. The other events across India have seen similar increase in participation each year.

While city marathons continue to grow, another breed of running events have begun to emerge in the country and runners seem to be lapping up all the action. Players like Runners for Life, Globeracers have revamped the running scene in India with off beat events. Today, the calendar for running events includes the Run of Kutch, Himalayan Crossing, Mizoram Ultra, Nilgiris 100, Kaveri Trail Marathon, Satara Marathon, La Ultra- The High (Ladakh) etc. and young adventure and fitness enthusiasts from various cities have been jumping at the opportunity to run on difficult terrains with scenic beauty.

Why is Marathon called Marathon?

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles and 385 yards).  The name Marathon comes from the fable run of Pheidippides,  a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. On a hot summer’s day in 490 BC the he ran 26 hilly miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news that the Athenian Army defeated the Persians. Totally exhausted, he died after the good news reached the city.

When the Olympic Games were revived in 1894, Michel Breal, a philologist at the Sorbonne, thought it would be a good idea to have a race commemorating the Pheidippides legend – a 26 mile race from Marathon to Athens.  The first winner of the marathon in the Olympic Games was a Greek, Spiridon Louis. He received a silver medal, a certificate and a laurel-wreath. Spiridon Louis died in 1940. The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921. More than 500 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes as larger marathons can have thousands of participants.

Major Running Events in India

Running has taken the country by storm in the past few years. A running cultured has evolved amongst the young and old in India. But running has not remained as just a mere passion. Several high profile marathons are organised throughout the country, all round the year. With runners participating in thousands, the organisers have done an incredible job in hosting marathons with a professional outlook.You can check out the running calendar at http://indiarunning.com/marathon-calendar.html and you would be surprised  to see the number of races being held in India, a glimpse of which is given below

Here are few popular marathons in India:

Mumbai Marathon  The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, abbreviated as SCMM, is an annual international marathon held in Mumbai, India, on the third Sunday of January every year. The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is Asia’s largest marathon in terms of magnitude and participation.  With $350,000 offered as prize money, the event is also the richest marathon in India. The marathon has six different categories:

• Full marathon ( 42.194 km or 26.218 miles),
• Half marathon (21.097 km),
• Dream Run (6 km),
• Senior Citizens Race (4.3 km),
• Champions with Disability category (2.4 km) and
• Corporate Champions (42.195 km, 4-person relay).

Official site          http://scmm.procamrunning.in/

Delhi Half Marathon

Delhi Half Marathon sponsored by Airtel since 2008,is an annual half marathon held in November in New Delhi, India. Established in 2005, it is both an elite runner and mass participation event. Despite being only half the distance of a full marathon, the event attracts huge masses to participate. 32,500 runners took part in the 2014 marathon. In 2015   the USD 270,000 prize money event will also include the

• DHL Corporate Champions (21.097 km),
• Great Delhi Run (6 km)
• The Senior Citizen’s Run (4 km)
• The Champions with Disability (4 km).

Official site          http://adhm.procamrunning.in/about-the-event/race-categories/

Details of AirTel Delhi Half Marathon 2015

Chennai Trail Marathon

The Chennai Trail Marathon is one the most fascinating marathons in India.With the route based around a scenic lake, forest and canyons, the marathon is one of the most beautiful races in India. With the entire race taking place on a trail instead of the usual hard surface, the marathon offers various challenges. Organised by the Chennai Trekking Club, the marathon has three categories: Half marathon, full marathon and 50k

Official site                    http://chennaitrailmarathon.doattend.com/

Airtel Hyderabad Marathon

Hyderabad is quickly becoming one of the running hubs of India. The Airtel Hyderabad Marathon is the feature event of the city and is one of the most challenging races unique due to the hill-terrain of the city. As many as 14,000 runners today took part in the  5th Airtel Hyderabad Marathon on 29-30 Aug 2015. The event offers three categories: Full marathon, half marathon and 5k.

Official site          http://www.marathonhyderabad.com/

Pune International Marathon

The Pune International Marathon (42.195km) is an annual marathon foot-race held in Pune, India. Pune International Marathon was the first Marathon Race of the Country. The first edition of the race was begun in 1983. The Pune International Marathon has four categories: Full marathon, half marathon, 10k and charity run.

Official site          http://www.marathonpune.com/

Auroville Marathon

The Auroville Marathon is an annual marathon (42.195 km or 26.219 mi) event that courses through the city of Dawn Auroville,in  Pondicheery since 2008 on Second Sunday of February. They also have Half Marathon (21.0975 km or 13.1094 mi) and 10k runs added.

Official site           www.marathon.auroville.com

Why pay money to run a marathon?

A question has bugged me is why does one have to pay money to participate in these run? The biggest expenses in a running event are on water, T-shirts, glucose, timing chips and medals for the runners and then there is marketing too. Even with donations from charity and partnerships with other brands, who might donate or give hefty discounts on water or food for those goodie bags, the costs soon add up. Yes, there will be plenty of kind volunteers offering their services for nothing, but there will probably be paid staff too. Then there’s the clean up costs afterwards. Depending on the nature of the event and its marketing, a marathon can be successfully held for as little as Rs. 2 lakh.

• The upper limit in India is set by the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. They spent Rs.7 crore in 2004. In 2013  it cost them Rs.15 crore.
• On an average, the 2013 Hyderabad Marathon spent Rs. 1,000 on each runner who participated. The total cost was Rs. 1 crore.

As per Guardian’s Running Costs, What are the world most expensive marathons. Washington Post had a breakdown of the costs of the Marine Corps marathon (a relatively cheap US one at a mere $99). They reckoned that the 2013 entry fee of $99 per person was spent as follows:

• $36 for course operations – toilets, buses, chip timing, rubbish and the like.
• $34 for event enhancement – that’s entertainment, advertising and the pre-event expo.
• $34 on security.
• $22 on other ops – staff salaries, utilities, vehicles etc.
• $13 on your bling – the race numbers and pins, T-shirt, and medal.
• $12 on food, including the aid stations within the race (and doughnuts, apparently, which doesn’t sound like an entirely health pre- OR post-race snack).
• $6 on registration, which is likely to include whatever online registration system they use.

The total cost per runner adds up to greater than the $99 (to $158 in fact) because sponsors contribute the rest, in either cash or provisions.

Is running an expensive hobby?

All you need to run is a pair of shoes right? Is running an expensive hobby ?Like most things in life, the answer is it depends. It’s like going out for dinner you have a whole range from a 50 Rs  fast food meal to a 1000 Rs  meal at a fancy restaurant. For the most basic running, you need a pair of shoes, shorts, and a shirt.  But the way one thinks is if you throw money at something, you can automatically do it better. Buy a better racquet, get better at tennis. Buy better shoes and run faster. We are suckers for whatever the shoe companies tells us. And You can indulge in buying gadgets and accessories, or do it with the bare minimum basics. The image below shows an excerpt from how to choose a running shoe

For running theoretically there’s no need for expensive memberships or equipment.  But now groups of runners have begun networking on forums , forming their own running groups in cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Chandigarh etc. The idea is to exchange stories with other runners, discuss different terrains and techniques of running.

So costs associated with running are:

• Shoes
• Socks
• T Shirt
• Shorts/Pants
• Watch  basic or the GPS enabled one like Gramin.
• Water bottle
• Hat
• Sunglasses , Sun Block
• Gels and Ointments  depends on how much you run and need
• Music
• Extra Food to meet all that extra nutritional demands
• Race Entry Fees
• Souvenir race shirt

Commercial Interest in Running in India

The running phenomenon that started has grown into a movement that has spread. There are many reasons, increasing urbanization, more awareness about health and fitness and the means to pursue those goals, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and the efforts to counter that, and just a general momentum. The more races are organized, the more people get interested in running them

Running is serious business now,  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Airtel and Wipro are among the biggest supporters of running events. TCS sponsors marathons in Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin and Amsterdam, the New York City Half Marathon and the Mumbai Marathon. Wipro is the title sponsor of the San Francisco Marathon and Chennai Marathon, and an associate sponsor of the Sydney Marathon. TCS’s sponsorship outlay for the World 10K Bangalore, for which they are the title sponsors, alone is about Rs.4-6 crore, while for the Puma Urban Stampede, the sportswear giant shells out about Rs.20 lakh for each city.

Why are TCS and Wipro sponsoring runs in US and Europe? These software companies are getting involved with large-scale events in the US and Europe, which are their biggest markets. Of TCS’s $11.5 billion (around Rs 776 crore) revenue in FY13, 52.7% came from the US while 26.6% was contributed by the UK and Europe

Ref: Live mint’s Economics | Why running is good business

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Do you run? Have you participated in a running event? If yes which one? Have you joined any running group?