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Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, the air was buzzing with energy on the cool and crisp morning of July 14, 2013, at Decathlon, Sarjapur. The runners of Bangalore were coming together for a run this morning, just like other Sunday mornings. But unlike other Sunday mornings when everyone came together at a location convenient to them, this morning was different.
People travelled varying distances to meet at this point, some came running, some came cycling and most made their way while overcoming the hideous construction issues caused by the overbridge construction. Today, they were coming together for a cause – they would be running together to raise funds for the Uttarakhand Flood victims.
True to the maxim – where there is a will, there is a way!
The idea began with the Proton Runners. One of the core members of the team, Shreyas, had been away overseas on a project for three months. He had been having withdrawals and had been missing the camaraderie of his fellow runners in Bangalore. So, a couple days before he was set to get back, he reached out with an idea – lets all get together and run, its been a long time. Running is always a good idea and running together is always a brilliant idea. So within a matter of minutes, there were about 10 of us who were all up for this catch up over run.
At the same time, all of us have been constantly bombarded with the developments in Uttarakhand and how devastating the effects of these floods have been to our fellow countrymen. So, as high-energy individuals such as ourselves were discussing these plans, another idea popped up – why don’t we run for a cause and make it an event and put it out there so that other runners can join us as well? This would help with two things:
- Raise awareness and funds for a cause close to every human being’s heart
- Having a fun run in clean fresh air while meeting other runners
As you may have guessed, we were sold on the idea from the word go. So, the Proton team got together and created an event to check what the general running community thought of it. We had an overwhelming response. This set the wheels in motion to have a fun run.
With an expected turnout of at least 50 people with varying levels of running experience, it was important that we consider the needs of these runners – this included a scenic and relatively traffic free route, aid stations, cheerleaders and off course a tie up with an organisation which would enable collection of funds for this cause.
Reverting back to the principle of the law of attraction, when you send out good energy, you mostly receive the same back from the universe. As we reached out to Decathlon for the trail near their Sarjapur store as the venue, they were most gracious and supportive in providing us with all the infrastructural facilities that we would require to organise this event. As the buzz about this event spread, we had another friend reach out to help us liaise with the Rotary Club, Bangalore to create the tie-up for fund collection.
Our much beloved Flashbulbzz team of photographers volunteered their services for the event while donating all proceeds to the cause. The RFL team was planning a run on the same route, and so they kindly volunteered to assist with the aid stations. And yes, just like that, we had all that we needed. The weekend of July 7 was booked as a lot of the Bangalore Runners, including the Protons, were in Chennai for the DRHM. This made the weekend of July 14 perfect for a beautiful stress-free fun run.
Come the morning and there was a steady trickle of the runners from around Bangalore. A special mention here of the Bee Gee Run Bugs – they started their day at 4:30am, running a distance of 17Km to the venue, registering for the run, running the 10K distance at the event and then making their way back the 17K on foot.
I would like to mention that the presence of Bylahalli Raghunath Janardhan was inspiring – at the age of 80, the gentleman cycled a distance of 25K, ran the 10K event and then cycled the 25K back home. We also had amongst us Raghavendra, who is a survivor of this calamity and was personally stuck in Badrinath for 6 days. Big shout out to the celebrity star attractions and ace runners Ash Nath, Vaishali Kasture, Nanjunda Yellappa, Srinath Nagappa who were there having a good time with a smile on their face and encouraging the new and experienced runners likewise.
Another warm fuzzy moment was to see 7-year-old Dev Sinha and 11-year-old Divya Sinha ( brother – sister duo) run their first ever 5k race. ( I see the virus spreading!!)
As fun as the run was, the top finishers completed this trail with excellent times – we had Bangalore boy Vignesh finish first in the male 10K category, Vaishali Kasture was the top finisher in the female 10k category, Tabish from Decathlon finished first in the male 5k category and Alina Thangjam came in first in the female 5k category. I would like to mention here that Alina is the lady who introduced me to fitness and running. It was a proud moment for me to see her come in first at this event. This was followed by a small ceremony recognising the top finisher, a core session and finally a wind-down with a stretching session.
All in all, this was a great event with wonderful energy which left all participants and organisers with a smile on their face. To talk about statistics, there were around 100 runners who participated in this event. Together, we have raised just over INR 55,000.00 to be sent to the victims. In case anyone is interested in making any donations to this cause, you can still make them :
1. You may donate directly to the Prime Minister National Relief Fund online @https://pmnrf.gov.in/.
2. The “Rotary Club of Bangalore Lakeside” is also running a drive to raise funds for helping the people affected in the Himalayan Tsunami in Uttarakhand and to start the collection drive. If you want to donate you may bring in a Cheque drawn in favor of ” Rotary Club of Bangalore Lakeside”. The Club will provide utilization report of the money collected as part of this drive. Rotary will issue a proper receipt for your contribution; and if anyone wants to avail 80G benefits then we can ask Rotary to arrange those receipts too.
3. In case you wish to organise a similar event in any city in India, please get in touch with the author at [email protected].
