Will you run a Mumbai Marathon in May?

The Tata Mumbai Marathon Mumbairsquos blue riband event on the cityrsquos 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 tweaksSatish Gujaran veteran marathonerThey have said there will be limited participation and only three events mdash the full marathon 42 km the half 21 km and a 10km run With more details expected at a later date Mumbairsquos running communityrsquos reactions range from an lsquoare you seriousrsquo to lsquojust do itrsquoMost challengingCelebrated runner Kranti Salvi said ldquoThis 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 yearrdquoSalvirsquos best ever is a very impressive 3 hours 47 minutes at the 42km run in Gold Coast Australia ldquoThat was in ideal running conditions it was in July and the temperature was six degrees Celsiusrdquo she recalled ldquoNow of course the onus is on runners to start training in the heatrdquo she added Salvi added ldquoThere has been plenty of chatter about the marathon in the cityrsquos running circles with some hoping it will be held in July In May the relatively better time to hold the onground event will be a 230 am start but of course that would not be possiblerdquoCelebrated marathon runner Kranti SalviSoBorsquos seasoned runner who runs in the veteran 50 to 55 years category said ldquoIt 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 20km mark rather than the 30km onerdquoFor Charni Roadrsquos Suresh Rathod ldquoIt is a marathon in May No wayrdquo Rathod has run the full 42km Mumbai marathon six times but even if given a chance he prefers to skip this one He says ldquoI 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 rainsrdquoStrong mindsFor veteran marathoner Satish Gujaran 57 punishing conditions can be conquered if one trains in similar scenarios ldquoWhile 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 heatrdquo The Mulund native has done several multidays runs like running from Vashi to Satara over two days and finishing off with the Satara halfmarathon 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 ndash the 42km run can be doneSuresh Rathod on a training runSpeaking to midday Dr Sunil Rajadhyaksha head Dept of Transfusion Medicine Tata Memorial Hospital said ldquoI 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 routinesMumbairsquos wellknown running coach P Venkatraman said ldquoYour 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 samerdquo