Well, well, well. This is one incredible news, and to which a friend of mine had given a hint, and which I really thought was just one of those rumours going around. Incredible as it may sound, the 2010 Mumbai Marathon will see the half marathon and the full marathon starting from different points. Amazed? Read on.
And as decided tentatively earlier, the Bandra-World sea-link is finally confirmed part of the route as alluded to in my earlier post here. This one amazing piece of beauty and excellence is now part of the Mumbai marathon history!
Marathon – Half Marathon : Different routes
For the first time in the history of the event, spanning seven years, the half marathon at Mumbai will not start from the same point as the Marathon, i.e. Azad Maidan, Mumbai CST. Instead, it will start from Bandra, and will end at CST. It is also confirmed that the half marathon will also take the route of the newly opened Bandra-Worli sea-link. I tried checking out distances between Bandra and CST on Google Maps via the sea-link, and it was coming out as 18.8KM, so I guess the organizers will be able to make that a 21K route comfortably if they want. Check the below sample route I drew using Google Maps to roughly assess the route distance (not actual route).
The decision from the organizers was great for two reasons. First, it gives a chance to 14,500 runners who will be running the marathon and the half marathon to experience the new route with the Bandra Kurla sea-link, making it an iconic and historical part of the Mumbai marathon route.
The second reason is even more important from a logistics point of view. Last year there was an absolute chaos when the Elite marathon runners who started at 7:30 am came to overtake the half marathon (and marathon early start) crowd which had started at 6:45 am. Except for the top few, the rest of the elites really struggled to go through the sea of runners, some of them even had to run on the sidewalks just to avoid the crown, and it was really very disappointing. I had feared that this would mean scrapping of the early start, but fortunately, the organizers have found a way out, and what a way it has been. Well done guys!
News source: PTI news
2 replies on “Mumbai Marathon 2010 Route Decided: A new history!”
@Johann: Absolutely! Yes, this would be my qualifier, hope everything goes per plan!
Really looks interesting and that sea-link…wow! Would love to run over that!
Will this be your Comrades qualifier?