Banglore World 10k: A magical experience

The excitement in the air was palpable. The stage was set, for what was set to be a terrific day. The participants were gathering. The Africans were the cynosure of all eyes. The rest of the field looked un-intimidated. On-lookers at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium in Bangalore looked on in excitement as the first race of the day, the World 10k for the elite athletes was flagged off. The result of this race was never in doubt as the Kenyans dominated the run with practiced ease and settled it among themselves with Geoffrey Kipsang claiming the winner’s medal, with a spectacular time of 28:00.

The World 10k in full flow

As race after race was being flagged off, the crowd just kept growing to mammoth proportions. Some of the biggest names in the city such as actor Puneeth Rajkumar and Chief Minister of Karnataka, DV Sadananda Gowda were present. The spirit of the participants in the Wheelchair category stood out above all else. They were amputated, confined to a chair and will probably never walk again, but they spend all their time doing all that they can to help out similarly challenged human beings. The NGOs were innumerable and some of the ides that they had brought forward for the ‘Majja Run’ were extremely creative. Ajmal KB, the runner-up of the Majja Run, ran with a dustbin which had a toy baby girl thrown inside depicting female infanticide. He said, “Female infanticide is one the many things that is prevalent in the country and most often overlooked problems. I just hope that I’ve spread the word.” Ajmal, who isn’t a part of an NGO, designed the costume himself like many others who ran for a cause.

Despite the Kenyans dominating the field, there were a few Indian stand-outs in the field. The first among Indians in the field, 19-year-old Rahulkar Pal said, “I was very happy to win despite the presence of most of my seniors on the field. I’m feeling more confident now and this has been my best win since the 2009 Youth Asian Games, when I won the Silver medal”. Runner-up among Indians, MD Yunus said, “I was injured for six months and I’ve just come, so to place well here was really good and it helped a lot in my preparations for the Olympics”, while third placed Kheta Ram said, “I feel really good as this is a 20-second improvement from last year. We had support from the Army Institute, who support us financially and this is the highest amount of prize money we receive for a race. We kept up with the international athletes for about 2 kms with a lot of difficulty, but then they outran us.” There was also barely any difference among the three, as they came in with near identical times of 30:15, 30:15 and 30:17 with Pal winning by milliseconds.

Among the Indian women, Monika Athre came first with a time of 36:46 said, “I knew I would win and Bangalore’s climate is similar to where I train, so it was very comfortable for me. I accelerated in the beginning and then reduced my pace towards the end.” Runner-up, Swati Gadhave said, “I was sixth last time and this is an improvement, but I know that I could’ve done better. I’m quite disappointed”, while second runner-up, Priyanka Patel also lamented, “Very disappointed with my performance. I will need to analyze what went wrong and improve my performance.”

Overall, the Indians couldn’t have hoped to have posed much of a threat to the African contingent, but will be pleased with their performances as the few who have qualified, prepare for the Olympics. However, the standout of the spectacular bonanza was the definitely the Wheelchair and Majja Run events and it was great to see so many individuals descending upon the Kanteerva stadium to be a part of this amazing experience. One can only hope that this will be a stepping stone for years to come.