Tag: Delhi

Yesterday, I received the acceptance letter from the event organizers of the Delhi Half Marathon (both email as well as the paper), and also the event booklet with details like the route map, start time, and other arrangements for the race day. Since I was a “really” quick registrant, I got a running number of 4004, which probably means I was the 4th person to register online!

The Half Marathon (21KM), the main event of the day, as always starts very late at 7:30 am, which means most of the finishers will see the finishing line well past 9:30 am, and believe me, it does get hot by that time even if it is Nov 1st, and it really hurts when you are beyond the India Gate! In case you want to check out the Google map of the route, with GPS and elevation profile, head to mapmyrun.com. Remember, there is one flyover on the route, and it comes twice (going out at 4KM, and coming back at 16KM), so be prepared to adjust your running accordingly (a prudent decision for beginners would be to walk over them, or run with smaller steps).

The Great Delhi Run (6KM), starts at 9:30 am, and is mostly a huge mela with all sorts of folks in colorful costumes, and trying to promote everything under the sun. If you are for some serious running, stay away, or get out of the blocks fast before the circus starts rolling, cause it would be really difficult to get past once the fun starts.

Now this is some breaking news about the king of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, coming to Sadi Dilli for running at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Nov 1st!

The actor, who is a Delhite himself, is euphoric over the idea of running with Delhi for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in November.
Shah Rukh was born in Delhi, and lived here for more than two decades in Rajinder Nagar. He studied here, met Gauri for the first time and even started his career with serials like Fauji and Dil Darya.

The actor stated that when Airtel invited him to be a part of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on November 1, he simply could not resist it. “The very idea of coming back to my own house, returning to the same streets and mingling with Dilliwallas while they take to the streets was extremely tempting. It almost feels like Delhi has got its very own carnival. And I can’t miss it for anything,” King Khan reflected.

Lets hope Shah Rukh joins us on the roads unlike Saif and Kareena last year, who were happy to wave from the comfort of their high perches at the specially constructed dais! My guess, SRK will probably start in one of the charity runs, run a 100 meters, and go back to his perch. I won’t blame him though, even if he attempts to run further, it would be difficult, the Delhi public probably would not let him run, and probably may carry him aloft all the way!

The second edition of the group run for the Delhi Runners group will take place on September 20th at Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri. The first edition saw about 35 runners run various distances upto the half marathon on Aug 29th, and while that event was inside the park, this one will be on the road outside, a 2.85KM loop.

Event website: delhirunners.com

From 1st Delhi Runners Half Marathon

The second edition is also being organized along with the 50th Anniversary Celebration Run for Sunita Godara, an Indian Marathon legend. Runners from Sunita’s group, Health and Fitness trust, and from a running group in Ghaziabad will also be present on the occasion, so, we are probably looking at more that 100 runners this time around, probably even 150! That’s not bad for a monthly group run!

Not too much time to go for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, so this is a great opportunity for runners from Delhi to be part of an organized run and get some road-running practice too. All half marathon finishers will be awarded certificates and medals.

Check event route map and registration details on the event website.

I did a poll recently on our running group Delhi Runners about the favorite running routes of the members. This was done with the intent of deciding the prospective locations to hold the monthly Delhi Runners Half Marathon runs, the first of which happened recently in Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri. In this post, let me share the results of that poll, and what the members have as their favorite routes in Delhi NCR.

Here’s a look at the results which I collected and represented visually using Google maps.

View Delhi NCR Running Routes in a larger map

See below on the number of votes received for each of the above routes, i.e. number of folks which consider this route as their favorite.

1. Nehru Park – 9 votes
2. Lodi Gardens – 7 votes
3. Deer Park – 4 votes
4. India Gate – 3 votes
5. Jahanpanah City Forest – 3 votes
6. Japanese Park, Rohini – 3 votes
7. Leisure Valley, Gurgaon – 3 votes
8. Delhi University – 1 votes
9. Jawaharlal Nehru University – 1 votes
10. Khan Market – 1 votes
11. Jor bagh, Lodi Colony – 1 votes
12. Sector-93, Noida – 1 votes
13. Central Ridge Reserve Forest – 1 votes
14. Sanjay Lake Park – 1 votes
15. Greater Noida – 1 votes
16. Raj Ghat – 1 votes
17. District Park, Pitampura – 1 votes
18. Shalimar Bagh – 1 votes
19. Asola Wildlife Sanctuary – 1 votes
20. Gautam Buddha Park, Noida – 1 votes

So, whats your favorite running route in Delhi NCR? Any particular route which comes to your mind, and which I might have missed. Do you think any route in this list deserves a higher spot in the list and any particular features of that route which make it great which you would like to mention?

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to attend the launch event of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2009. The event was held at Le Meridien Hotel and as expected, it was full of people from the media, people from marketing and PR, the key stakeholders in the event, and the various sponsors.

Photo: Artists from Drum Cafe (courtesy Times of India online edition)

The event had a real glitzy feel to it. They started off with a video of moments from the last year’s event, and recorded messages from Allan Border and Cathy Freeman, who are the ambassadors for this year’s event. Then there were the mandatory speeches from the key partners. Next, it was an almost hour-long performance from artists from a group called Drum Cafe from South Africa, which was fantastic. In fact, each attendee had a drum besides their chair, and we were all drumming along with the troupe, and it did get really wild! These guys were there at the Beijing Olympics too for performing at the Bird’s Nest.

Finally, they had a formal ‘First registration‘ ceremony, where key persons from the event partners registered for the event by signing a registration form. As for me, well, I registered much earlier than any one of them 🙂 in the early hours of August 26th itself, even though officially, registrations start August 28th. After that, it was the of-course time for the cocktails and a nice dinner (well, the media folks were really getting itchy for that even before it started, no wonder they love such events).

Interestingly, they were promoting this marathon as the 2nd Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, instead of the 5th Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, since Airtel only came in last year, though the event is now 5 years old. I would probably like 5th more, since the event is the same, the organizers Procam are the same, its only the title sponsor which has changed, and for me, this is the 5th Delhi Half Marathon.