40,000 people of all ages from all walks of life in 25th Pune marathon
40,000 people of all ages from all walks of life in 25th Pune marathon
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THE 25th Pune International Marathon witnessed the participation of 40,000 people, many of them running for a chosen cause of theirs.
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Around 6 am, children, men, women and senior citizens several corporate honchos, students and doctors among them made their way in track pants and shirts to Alaka Talkies.
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The entire area was a buzz of activity even as some 150 police officials tried to manage the crowd; marathon officials helped the police.
Bollywood was not far behind, and as soon as actors Vivek Oberoi (without his newlywed wife Priyanka) and Sameera Reddy made it to the dais, the crowd whistled and shouted their names.
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Along with them were Dr Patangrao Kadam, Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Pratik Patil, long distance runner Kavita Raut, steeplechase athlete Sudha Singh and swimmer Virdhawal Khade, among others.
But all eyes were on city MP Suresh Kalmadi, who was present with wife Meera. After the controversies surrounding the Commonwealth Games, for which he was Organising Committee chairperson, there had been a lot of debate over whether he would be present for the marathon.
For a cause
The spirit of the marathon was not limited to the professional runners, it was also very much visible among those who came to run for a cause.
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Parents ran with their children for the cause of autism, people from Ruby Hall and Laparo Obese Centre ran for obesity awareness, participants from the Department of Management Sciences, Pune University (PUMBA), ran for the cause of AIDS awareness and 2,000 health enthusiasts comprising Amway distributors ran for a dual cause to support the fight against AIDS by running the Silver Jubilee Charity run and to propagate good health.
No portable toilets
Participants were seen relieving themselves by the roadside as portable toilets were not provided. Though With 40,000 people at the venue and then at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, there were no washrooms in sight.
Mismanagement
The media was not assigned a place to sit or stand. Photographers and cameramen carrying heavy bags and tripods were asked to move from one spot to another. Backstage, the police had more difficulty managing the friends and family of the organisers than the crowd.
The police also had a tough time managing the children who participated from various schools. The organisers had to scold a few to keep them away from the backstage.
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