My experience of the Coimbatore Marathon 2015

A cloudy start greeted runners at the 2015 Coimbatore Marathon

Arriving at the Nehru Stadium for my 10k run soon made me stop regretting waking up early on a Sunday morning. It was still dark but the participants were full of life and on their toes to be put through their paces.

The weather, mostly cloudy, was fitting for the third edition of the Coimbatore Marathon. The half marathoners were flagged off at 5 am sharp. At 5:15 am, after a quick warm up, we were flagged off by Dr. Sylendra Babu, IPS, who then joined to run with us.

The entire city, including the traffic and the policemen were at their best and in full support for the runners. Volunteer groups, the onlooking public and personnel from the Air Force, Army and Navy, cheered us on the entire way as we navigated through the center of the city running through Race Course, Red Fields and eventually finishing in Stanes Higher Secondary School.

The writer, a seasoned runner, with a friend at the marathon

The 5k runners and walkers who were 60% of the total 10,800 participants, were flagged off at 7 am and it saw a mixture mostly comprising children and ladies showing their interest in fitness. My best memory was seeing a physically challenged boy trying to complete the marathon on his tricycle. Watching him push on motivated many others around.

As a friend of mine who has previously run marathons in the United States commented, the marathon was indeed well organized and the enthusiasm shown by the people of Coimbatore was terrific and we sincerely look forward to the fourth edition of the Coimbatore Marathon which we hope will get even better and bigger.

Results: 21k Men

21k Women

10k Men

10k Women