Bengaluru Marathon – City's most prestigious race

Runners at the start of the marathon

Running seems to have taken the city by storm. Every morning and evening you can see the streets abuzz with people blazing the tarmac. And most of these runners seem to be sporting t-shirts supporting what is known as the Shriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon.

A closer look at this event gave us a clearer view of just how this event seems to have bought the running community of not just Bangalore but also the entire nation together. This is a collaborative initiative by the numerous different running groups of Bangalore which has been brought together by a very tightly knit organising team headed by Nagaraj Adiga.

Running culture in Bangalore

Adiga says, “Bangalore has the biggest amateur running community in the nation, we also have what is possibly the best weather to train in right through the year and we are also lucky to have a heaven like Cubbon Park, Lal Bagh etc right in the heart of the city to train in. I am a runner myself and adopting it into my lifestyle has helped me personally and in every other aspect of my iife. When I realised the benefits it has provided me, it was a personal goal to create an event which would not only provide runners with a heartening experience but also promote the sport and enable people to adopt it within their lifestyle.“

Recent years have seen a dramatic rise in the number of runners in Bangalore. And it is the supportive and encouraging culture of the running community which has made this happen. Loneliness is what is considered synonymous with long distance running, however, when you view the city and its running culture closely, you will see that the runners in this city have taken this lonely sport and made it all about friendship and camaraderie.

With running groups such as Protons, BHUKMP, Pacemakers, Runners High, Bee Gee Run bugs, Jayanagar Jaguars spreading themselves right across the city, runners are spoilt for choice with not just running mates but also various locations to run at. Running enthusiasts have used this lonely sport to bring themselves together and create an alternate community which seems to have just as much a spread in the wee hours of the morning as the clubbing culture does late into the night.

“Looking at the rise in popularity of the sport, the density of runners in the community and the ever growing influx of new aspiring runners, we thought it was imperative we create an event to further inspire and activate non-runners into this lifestyle. When the idea was floated, all the different groups came together unanimously to create a united front to make this effort a reality. We also got support from the BBMP and Traffic department in terms of permissions and race day support which has been instrumental in making an event of this magnitude possible,” Adiga said.

The event, categories and causes

Team Bengaluru Marathon went about making this dream event a reality with style. This event has bought with it a lot of firsts – the first time in a long time, a full marathon distance of 42.2K was held within the city. In addition to the main distance of Full Marathon, this event also aimed to inspire running enthusiasts to go beyond their comfort zone to attempt the half marathon (21.1K) distance.

In addition to the longer distances, the event promoted the culture of running amongst the non-runners as well. For this they introduced the 5K Charity Fun Run. A less daunting distance, this event inspired the non-runners to jump on the bandwagon and have a taste of the endorphin high that running brings with it.

As if the endorphin high was not reason enough, the team roped in some very noble causes that you can identify and associate with to ensure that benefits of your efforts go towards a noble cause.

The charity options to choose from include Athlete Sports Aid, Red Ribbon Revolution, Shrishti Special Academy, Narayana Health City, Bethany Special School and United Sisters Foundation. The registration proceeding went to the selected charity.

Build up

The aim of this event was to bring together the runners from not just within Bangalore but across the nation and a multi-step approach was taken to build and create excitement around it. Initial interactions bought to our attention that runners would come together, run their specific distances and then split to go their specific ways. The idea was to bring the runners together and make this even more of a social interaction than just “a run together. “

To get runners to assemble at a central point and to keep them at the venue for longer than the stipulated come, run and leave; it became a mandate to give out free t-shirts to the runners as well as serve participants with breakfast to enable them to spend more time interacting with each other and developing stronger bonds

Promotional and training runs

This was further divided into two different kinds of runs, specifically promotional runs and training runs. Promotional runs were held from a perspective of creating awareness about this event and to get the people excited about it, talking about it and spreading awareness about the event.

The promotional runs were held not only across Bengaluru city at different locations but also in cities of Chennai and Mumbai. The idea was to reach out to those runners that we have been interacting with on the social media platform, engage and create a feeling of solidarity so that this would encourage out of town visitors to ensure that they do not miss this gala event.

These promotional events included bringing on-board inspirational achievers – Comrade Ultramarathon finishers, Boston Marathon finishers – to interact with aspiring runners to enable them to step out of their comfort zone and push themselves beyond their regular comfort zones.

The training runs were held for the registered participants of this event. In preparation for distance-running, support in terms of aid-stations is imperative. Preparation for a Full Marathon usually takes about 4 months of structured training.

To ensure that this period was well covered, the event was announced 8 months prior to actual race day. As race day approaches, distances become longer (including a 32K long run) and motivation levels drop with the mind constantly telling you that there is still time for the event.

With a view of getting the participants race-ready, a series of training runs were held across the city which took participants to different locations including the famed Nandi Hills and the Art of Living international centre.

Other than these specific events, there were multiple sightings of Bengu, the mascot training with various groups around the city. There were several promotions at various malls and IT Hubs around the city.

The organisers left no stone unturned to make the participants happy – in fact, they had agreements with reputed hotels around the venue to provide out of station guests with discounted rates of accommodation to make their journey and experience even more enjoyable. This ensured that the participants travelled together, stayed together and their bonds as a community strengthened.