Well, as is all too well known now, the Bangalore marathon has got postponed now (to September, for the time being, but dont be surprized even if this does not happen then). This adds another chapter to the book of sports mis-management in India, and provides another glaring example of how people muck up big time. The previous misshap was the Delhi Marathon which was held in Feb, 2006. Crossover consulting (the organizers) sent an email to some of the interested people on their mailing list informing them about the decision. I would like to discuss the contents of this email.
1. This is how they announce the decision to postpone the event:
It gives me great pleasure to announce the demand of most runners has been met.
Wow, what a pleasure to have heard this. What a pleasure to get my Bangalore tickets cancelled. What a pleasure to have my Bangalore hotel stay cancelled. I dont think “pleasure” is the word to describe this feeling for me, and the same may apply to “most runners” who plan for events like this. What about the training, people taking part must have been preparing 2-4 months ahead of the event. I am sure Crossover got lots of sadistic pleasure to see that go up in smoke.
2. Okay, here’s the justification for the postponement:
May was too hot especially for the slower runners.
Fine. It might be too hot, accepted. But if May is too hot, why did they annouce the event in May. I assume the organizers are from Bangalore, not from the newly discovered outer ring of the planet of Uranus not to be aware of the climatic conditions of the city. Secondly, if I am not wrong, wasnt the 1st Bangalore marathon organized in May, last year, by the same organizers. Wasnt it hot that year, or do these guys have some inside information about the El-Nino to strike Bangalore in May? What took them so long so that they suddenly became so concerned about the “slow runners”.
All said and done, Crossover exemplifies the laid back attitude to sports we so often find in our country. I have personally talked to people in Crossover, and I am sorry, but I did not get any feeling of professionalism in their organization. You talk to them, they tell you that details are there at their website http://coindia.com. If people at Crossover dont the hell know what is their on their website, I dont know who will. It probably has’nt been updated for a long time, and I doubt it will be in the near future.