Categories
Running

Bhatti Lakes Ultra (24 Hours) 2012 Race Report

Date: Oct 6-7, 2012
Distance Completed: 100 KM

Bhatti Lakes 2012 Results

Bhatti Latest 2012 Start Line

Categories
Running

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2012 Report

Date: Sep 30, 2012
Finish Time: 2:25:19 (Net)

ADHM 2012 Stats

2012 ADHM Certificate

2012 ADHM Finisher Photo

Categories
Running

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2:30 Finish Pacing Strategy

I am the official pacer for the 2:30 bus (or pacing group, i.e. people who are running with the objective of finishing the run in under 2:30 hours) at the 2012 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. This is the first time that Procam, the organizers of the event, have introduced pacers at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon after having successfully tried the same at this years Mumbai Marathon (where I was the pacer for 5:30 finish). There would be pacers for the 2:00 hours, 2:30 hours and 3:00 hours finish time goals. There will be two pacers for each target finish time, so in all, 6 pacers. You can see the list of all pacers on the event website.

My BIB#: 6746 | Starting group: B | Target finish time: 2:30

What’s the Pacer’s job?

Whether you’re new to the 21.1KM half marathon distance or a marathon veteran, you can join the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon pace team  for help with running a steady pace and achieving your race-day time goal. Each pace team leader is a seasoned and reliable marathoner who will offer coaching and support throughout the race.

Pace team leaders will run the half marathon at an even pace, meaning that every KM will be run in approximately the same amount of time at a constant pace. The pacers will target to finish the half marathon no more than two minutes faster than the goal time, based on gun time. Which means if the race started at 6:40 am and you (or the pacer) crossed the starting line at 6:44 am (due to the rush and people in front), for a 2:30 finish target time, the pacer should be at the finish line by 9:10 am (and not 9:14 am), which means the pacer will have to cover the required 21.1KM distance in 2:26 hours and not 2:30.

The Pacing Strategy

For a 2:30 finish at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, we would be targeting to run at a constant pace throughout the race. Throughout the run, we will be stopping at all the water points, take a couple of sips of water from the 200 ml bottles which will be available at the water points, and walk for about 30-40 seconds while we drink water, and then restart with our running. We can expect to see water points at approximately every two kilometer, which means we will be taking a little break every 14 mins or so.

How fast would we be running during the race? We have 2:30 hours to finish it, which means, we should be covering every kilometer at a pace of 150 minutes / 21.1 KM = 7.1 minutes / KM. But we know that we would be walking for about 10-15 times during the run, and the plan is also to walk up any inclines which we are bound to encounter on the route. So, we have to budget time for that also, and so, we have to run a bit faster as a result. So, our actually running pace would finally be in the region of 6:30 mins/KM (for the first half of the half marathon) to 6:40 mins / KM (for the second half of the half marathon). That should be good to make is reach our goal within the target time of 2 hours 30 minutes.

Pacing Chart

2012 Route Map

There have been very minor changes to the route which was used for the 2011 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. On the right is the 2012 route (click to open in larger size). If you would look in great detail, you will see that they have removed a small section after the Ashoka Road roundabout, and extended the section on the Parliament street.

 

 

2011 Route Map

This is the actual GPS route map from my Garmin watch captured during the 2011 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. Click on it to view more details, as well as to check out the elevation data for the route.

How To Find Me On Race Day?

That’s a bit tough, isn’t it, when there are thousands around you! But the organizers have made it a bit easy. I will be running carrying a flag on my back which lists my pacing time, i.e. 2:30 prominently on it (see the image on the top-right of this article to see how that flag looks like). I will be wearing a T-shirt with the words “Tanvir 2:30 Pace Team” prominently written on the back. I have been assigned a ‘B’ starting section (i.e. runners who finished their last half marathon between 2 and 3 hours).

I would expect that the set of people who would want to finish in 2:30 would come from the ‘B’ group (those who ran last time between 2:30 and 3:00 hours, but many also from the ‘C’ group (most first timers). So, my plan is to start from the very end of the ‘B’ group and only start running when some of the runners at the start of the ‘C’ group have already overtaken me. This will at least help me in catching the folks who probably need me the most, i.e. first time runners from the ‘C’ group.

So, for people in the ‘B’ group ahead of me, I would say just go ahead and start running at your own pace, and when I catch up with you (if I do at all) then we can start running together. And to the ‘C’ group people, I would say that try to be in the front of the ‘C’ group, otherwise there is a high chance you will have to chase me down a bit, or even miss me, since I cannot wait for too much time before starting my run. That said, I would not be running fast, so people from behind should not have much trouble catching up. This should be fair to both ‘B’ group and ‘C’ group people.

Other Do’s And Don’ts

Check them out on the other pacing article I wrote earlier for the Mumbai Marathon, I am sure that would be very useful and I do not want to repeat the same content in this article again. There are quite a few useful tips for runners related to hydration, food, etc.

Categories
Comrades

Indian Runners at 2012 Comrades Marathon – Live Blog

This is the live blog to track the progress of Indian Runners at the 2012 Comrades Marathon, an 89.17KM ‘down run’ from Pietermaritzburg to Durban taking place on June 3rd. 2012 sees a very large Indian contingent comprising of 31 registered runners at the Comrades, the highest ever since 2010, the year I took part as well, and which had 8 participants and 7 finishers from India.

The race starts at 5:30am (India time 9:00 am), and runners can only be tracked after they pass the first timing point, between 1.5 and 3.5 hours into the race. The event starts at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05:30, is run over 89km (56 miles) to end at the Sahara Kingsmead Stadium in Durban and most participants will take the larger part of the day to complete the distance, with an official cutoff of 12 hours (i.e. IST 9:00 pm).

Note: You can update this sheet! Please check instructions at the bottom of the page.

Instructions for updating this sheet

If you are following the race of your friends online as well, and see that they have crossed certain checkpoints and their results for those checkpoints are now available, you are free to update the results in the above sheet very easily. First, to see the live results of any person listed above on the Comrades website, simply click on the “Link” after their name in the sheet above. Then, just click on this link, and update the results.

Feel free to add your comments below, your thoughts on how folks above are doing, any interesting anecdotes about these runners, etc. It will be good fun for all of us here.

Comments from Comrades India Facebook Group

Danny Carroll
Many congrats to everyone who entered comrades this year, getting to the start is a great achievement, anf getting to the finish line is no joke!

Tanvir Kazmi
Results summary for all Indian starters at Comrades 2012.

Like · · Unfollow Post · 12 hours ago
Priya Vaidyanathan, Sanjay Limaye and Varun S Joshi like this.

YouToo CanRun Great data. Thanks
12 hours ago via mobile · Like

Sunil Chainani

balaji makes it with 2 minutes to spare…2 minutes he will never forget!!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 9:02pm
Randeep Singh Arora, Varun S Joshi and YouToo CanRun like this.
Tanvir Kazmi Go Balaji Subramanian, great job done!
Sunday at 9:03pm · Like · 1

Randeep Singh Arora Awesome all u guys.are heroes
Sunday at 10:31pm via mobile · Like

Tanvir Kazmi
Finally, a truly momentous day for India. Flag flying high all over. These runners really did us proud, even the ones who could not make it to the finish line in time, I wish them more Comrades in the future!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 9:07pm
Sanjay Limaye, Vishal Dayal, Randeep Singh Arora and 3 others like this.

Priya Vaidyanathan Thanks Tanvir Kazmi and everyone who posted about our bravehearts….second year I am watching this live….congrats and cheers to all…Chak De India at Comrades!!!
Sunday at 9:26pm · Like

Randeep Singh Arora Super proud. jai hind
Sunday at 10:29pm via mobile · Like

Varun S Joshi
Thank u to everyone for tuning in. Esp Tanvir n VP. congrats to all the finishers n bravo to all those attempted but couldn’t finish this year. My best for next year.
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 9:24pm via mobile
Priya Vaidyanathan likes this.

YouToo CanRun
Dr Oak is a DNF…so sad..he trained so well with Roshni Rai
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 9:08pm

Sunil Chainani
Salute the 18 finishers; and spare a thought for the 5 who fought bravely….all you guys are heroes
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 9:07pm
Tanya Kane likes this.

Tanvir Kazmi
Vivek Prasad 11:58:28, 1.5 mins to spare. The closest ever Indian to the cutoff!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 9:05pm
Varun S Joshi and YouToo CanRun like this.

Sunil Chainani
Amit and neepa make it in 11.57.40/41 and Vivek with 91 seconds to spare – brave guys!!
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 9:04pm
YouToo CanRun likes this.

Tanvir Kazmi
The Sheths are in at 11:57:40
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 9:02pm
YouToo CanRun likes this.

Tanvir Kazmi
Vineeta Singh in 11:56:36
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 9:00pm
YouToo CanRun likes this.

Varun S Joshi
Roshni makes it in 11:50… Way to go !!
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 9:00pm via mobile

Tanvir Kazmi
‎Ramani Easwaran comes in at 11:57:03. 3 minutes!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:59pm

Tanvir Kazmi
Alok Shukla makes it in with barely 5 mins to go in 11:54:40
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:57pm

Priya Vaidyanathan
I saw Roshni Cross with tri colour!!!!!
Unlike · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:51pm
You and YouToo CanRun like this.
Tanvir Kazmi Wow, big congrats to her!
Sunday at 8:53pm · Like
Tanvir Kazmi There we have it, officially in 11:50:26
Sunday at 8:54pm · Like · 2

Tanvir Kazmi
Lihas Trivedi meanwhile finishes in 11:49:00 . Roshni is in as the news are coming in. Time awaited.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:52pm

Tanvir Kazmi
Ramdas Pulapaka finishes in 11:48:0, Roshni Rai must be coming in any second.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:50pm

YouToo CanRun
Vaiju has come in next at 11:39:47…and is an amazing story.
Vaiju is one of the main reasons why I started the Sweat Rate study.

He had prepared well for the Comrades of last year but had to drop out since his wife was hospitalised. Then in the SCMM of 2012 he was a DNF due to cramping…which is when I felt that most Indian runners do not know their sweat rates and this problem must be solved.


See More
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 8:46pm
Priya Vaidyanathan likes this.

Tanvir Kazmi
Vaijanath Kamthewad gets his first Comrades medal with a 11:39:47 finish!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:45pm

Tanvir Kazmi
‎Vishal Dua makes it in 11:36:45!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:44pm
Tanvir Kazmi He gets his second medal. Last year he ran 11:27.
Sunday at 8:44pm · Like

Tanvir Kazmi
Kaustubh Kesarkar finishes in 11:34:20, the first of the Vic Claphams!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:38pm
YouToo CanRun and Priya Vaidyanathan like this.

Tanvir Kazmi
Live results coming in think and fast. We already have 5 bronze medals. Now it is Vic Clapham time. Check these out http://bit.ly/LZNp9K
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:19pm

YouToo CanRun
‎Amit B Sheth and Neepa cross the last cut off with 58 minutes to spare..another strong finish on its way
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 8:16pm
Varun S Joshi and Priya Vaidyanathan like this.

YouToo CanRun
Vaiju, Roshini and Ramdas have crossed the last cut off with 7 kms to go and 1:10 to spare..headed for a strong finish
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 8:14pm
Priya Vaidyanathan likes this.

YouToo CanRun
YAY..Pradeep Kadu does a 10:55:15 for another bronze
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 8:04pm
Varun S Joshi likes this.
Tanvir Kazmi Well deserved, and quite an achievement beating his 11:23 from last year!
Sunday at 8:05pm · Like

Tanvir Kazmi
‎Sushant Karkera finishes in 10:52:59 to bag a well deserved bronze! Thats two bronze medals in two years, fantastic! Its almost 11 hours now for the last of the bronze medals.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 7:59pm
YouToo CanRun and Priya Vaidyanathan like this.

Varun S Joshi Awesome buddy. Congrats!!
Sunday at 8:03pm via mobile · Like

Varun S Joshi
Roshni has crossed 7th n last cut-off of mayville 82.17km in 10:50. Just 7k left in 70mins. Go go go. Yahoo!
Unlike · · Follow Post · Sunday at 8:02pm via mobile
You, Priya Vaidyanathan and Tanya Kane like this.

YouToo CanRun
Samson clocks in at 10:47:47..3rd Indian..and his maiden attempt..with an injury that was almost threatening. Fantastic…a good birthday gift
Unlike · · Follow Post · Sunday at 7:53pm
You like this.

Priya Vaidyanathan
Gosh they should have these interviews as backdrop without disturbing the race viewing!!!!
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 7:48pm

YouToo CanRun
Anand Patil comes in at 10:28:50..second Indian..cheers
Unlike · · Follow Post · Sunday at 7:36pm
You and Priya Vaidyanathan like this.

YouToo CanRun
Anand Patil, Samson sequera, Sushant Karkera, Pradeep Kadu all have a sub 11 finish in hand..in the same order….way to go..for Samson it is a first maiden run. Pradeep and Sushant were sub 12 last time…this time they too will be bronze

GO GO GO
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 7:14pm
Tanya Kane likes this.

Tanvir Kazmi
Breaking News! Satish Gujaran is just 7KM from the finish line. This will be his 3rd Comrades finish. His time at 82K is 8:53:26, so he is definitely going sub 10 this year for his fastest Comrades. Bronze medal is given to runners finishing beyond 9 hours and within 11 hours, which is surely his now! Go Satish!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 6:01pm
Priya Vaidyanathan and Sanjay Limaye like this.

Priya Vaidyanathan AWESOME!!! rock on Satish Gujaran.
Sunday at 6:47pm · Like
Tanvir Kazmi We have 3 more at 7K to go! Sushant, Anand and Samson!
Sunday at 7:05pm · Like

YouToo CanRun
BREAKING NEWS
Satish Gujaran has done a 9:45:04 finish…fastest Indian
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 6:49pm
Sanjay Limaye and Tanya Kane like this.

Tanvir Kazmi Congrats Satish Gujaran! You have done it, an awesome sub 10!
Sunday at 6:54pm · Like

YouToo CanRun At an average pace of 6:56 this is indeed remarkable.
Sunday at 6:55pm · Like · 1

YouToo CanRun
Wonder which is more tougher…Tanvir Kazmi..running the Comrades or tracking the team? At least when you are running..you are focused only on running…but when you are tracking, you have the added guilt of having ignored the better half the whole day 🙂
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 6:41pm
Priya Vaidyanathan likes this.

Sanjay Limaye Has Satish reached the finish line….?
Sunday at 6:45pm · Like

YouToo CanRun Best would be to ring him up and ask him..the website is rather slow in its updates
Sunday at 6:46pm · Like · 2

Tanvir Kazmi
Looks like the result updates are being rolled out very slowly online. I am sure some of our runners are already through the Cowies Hills at 71KM, but no updates yet.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 5:26pm

YouToo CanRun Yes..the data base is not getting updated on a concurrent basis…their runners are faster than their computers 🙂
Sunday at 5:27pm · Unlike · 1

YouToo CanRun
Samson and Pradeep were running together at half way mark..Samson has speeded up and put in a 9 min gap between him and Pradeep Kadu at the 58 kms mark.

Roshini and Dr Oak were running together at half way mark and Roshini has picked up the pace and put in a 20 minute gap..wow the Pedong express is really picking it up.

Amit B Sheth and Neepa are still honeymooning, running hand in hand 🙂
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 5:26pm
Priya Vaidyanathan and Tanya Kane like this.

Tanvir Kazmi
Most of the runners seem to be through the 3rd cutoff point. Just about 30 kms from here on, which should mean around 3:45 hours for most runners (few like Satish would obviously be much faster).
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 5:02pm
Tanvir Kazmi Live results http://bit.ly/LZNp9K
Sunday at 5:03pm · Like

Tanvir Kazmi
Good news, we have a couple of more runners reaching Winston Park. Anand Patil and Sushant Karkera. Kaustubh Kesarkar expected anytime now as well.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 3:49pm
Vishal Dayal and Priya Vaidyanathan like this.

Tanvir Kazmi Samson Sequeira is in at 6:49:59.
Sunday at 4:13pm · Like

YouToo CanRun While Pradeep Kadu and Samson were running together at the half way mark, Samson has put in a 9 minute lead at the 58K mark…9+ minutes in 13 kms. Samson is picking up the pace…way to go…and inspite of his injury
Sunday at 4:30pm · Like

Tanvir Kazmi
How did the Indian runners do last year? Check it out! No prizes for guessing who was the first one at the finish line 🙂 http://bit.ly/jiLxk7
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 4:41pm

YouToo CanRun
Here are some stats on the Comrades contingent from India.
– Out of the 32 who show up..one of them Nagesh Rao is actually an Indian from Canada who registers under the Indian quota 🙂
– And again Danny Caroll is an Australian who lives and works in India. He naturally runs and registers under the Indian quota too.
– Out of the 32, 8 are DNS..did not start
– In the 24 who are running today 3 are women…oops girls…way to go feminine power. They are Roshini, Neepa and Vineeta. Don’t know who Vineeta is.
– In the 24, 8 have run the race before and 16 are attempting it for the first time…to the best of my knowledge.
Unlike · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 4:07pm
You, Sanjay Limaye, Vishal Dayal and 2 others like this.

YouToo CanRun All this without any Governament support 🙂 No politicians involved
Sunday at 4:32pm · Like · 1

YouToo CanRun Private initiative of runners in India rulzz….:-)
Sunday at 4:32pm · Like

Priya Vaidyanathan
Thanks Tanvir Kazmi for accepting my request to join this group.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 4:21pm

Tanvir Kazmi
An interesting statistic – besides the top 4 runners (Satish, Anand, Kaustubh, Sushant), at the 2nd cutoff (halfway) rest of the Indian runners are separated by just 6 minutes)! That’s 17 runners very much bunched together!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 3:44pm
Vishal Dayal and YouToo CanRun like this.

Tanvir Kazmi
‎Satish is through the 3rd cutoff point, Winston Park (58KM) in 6:03. That’s a solid 6:15 min/km pace with a predicted finish of around 9:30. His last years finish was 10:15.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 3:40pm

Tanvir Kazmi
Top 5 Mens finishers: 1. Mamabolo – 2. Mthembu – 3. Noto – 4. Mambo and 5. Shvetsov. First two from SA. Legend Shvetsov is fifth. Winner of last 3 Comrades ,Muzhingi 6th.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 2:57pm

YouToo CanRun
The first 5 at the half way mark are
Satish Gujaran from Mulund but who also lives and trains in SA
Kaustubh Kesarkar from Pune
Sushant Karkera from Andheri
and Pradeep Kadu and Samson Sequera who are both running together and trained together as part of TopGearMIG group from Mumbai.

See More
Like · · Follow Post · Sunday at 2:45pm

Tanvir Kazmi
Still 30 mins to second cutoff at halfway point at Drummond (45km). All Indians have crossed it well in time, 2 are still awaited. Satish Gujaran the first one there in 4:26:09. Live results http://bit.ly/LZNp9K
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 2:43pm

Tanvir Kazmi
The first cutoff at 26.77km saw Satish crossing first amongst the Indian runners in 2:34, with runners coming in bulk in 2:50’s and then 3:20’s. Last one to cross this mark was Swapnil Shendre in 3:40. All the best to all runners! Follow live at http://bit.ly/LZNp9K
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 2:38pm

Tanvir Kazmi
Who is watching Comrades live video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjWYRcC1OzY
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 11:14am

Tanvir Kazmi
We should see Satish Gujaran hitting Camperdown (27KM) in another hour or so. He finished in 10:15 last year, so 27K should be hit in around 3 hours from start. He has been the fastest Indian at Comrades.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Sunday at 11:13am

Tanvir Kazmi
The Live Blog for runners from India at 2012 Comrades Marathon (June 3) is up now! We go live in about 7.5 hours from now (race starts 9:00 am India time).

Indian Runners at 2012 Comrades Marathon – Live Blog
tanvirkazmi.com
Tracking the Indian Runners at the 2012 Comrades Marathon, an 89.17KM ‘down run’ from Pietermaritzburg to Durban taking place on June 3rd.
Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · Sunday at 1:40am
Sanjay Limaye likes this.

Tanvir Kazmi
Did you know? 2012 Comrades has a 31 member contingent from India. Only very few countries had more representatives… USA, UK, Zimbabwe, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Japan and Canada!
Like · · Unfollow Post · Saturday at 11:50pm

Categories
Running

Mumbai Marathon 2012 Pacing Experience

Experience of a first time pacer

From a pacing perspective, I can say that I had almost as perfect a race I could have imagined. Before the run, I had worked up my pacing strategy which I had published and shared on my blog. This article was widely read and I received so many comments on Facebook and through emails on the account the good folks at Procam had created for us pacers.

My BIB#: 2280  Finish Time (Net): 5:25:00

Finish Time (Gun): 5:28:51 (the all important time from pacing perspective)

SCMM 2012 Stats

SCMM 2012 Certfificate

My strategy worked on roughly how the group would be running the first half and the second half, and highlighting the importance of other time factors, like the time taken to reach starting point, time needed for hills, time for walking breaks, slowing down in second half, but I did not go into KM by KM breakup of splits since I felt that it was something which only I should be concerned about, and the rest of the group should focus on running. So, I made a chart for myself, which had minute by minute splits for each KM, keeping in mind the starting delay (assumed to be 2 minutes, which actually turned out to be about 4 mins), each KM split had time accounted for walking, as well as hills at the KM where the hills actually were. I got the splits put up on my BIB itself, so that I had a ready reckoner all through the race on how the bus was doing. I know that doing calculations while running is really really difficult, so better to avoid those troubles.

Before the race day, I had decided I would start from the ‘D’ group instead of the allotted ‘C’ group, since most of the runners who were looking to run with me were from ‘D’. This probably cost me a couple of minutes at the start, but I felt it was the right decision. People at the back would probably have found it impossible to catch the pacing group if they were already behind by 2 minutes at the start.

As for the race and the pacing group, it was lots of fun all the way. Passengers kept coming in, and passengers kept

leaving as well, those who could not keep up with our pace. At the 25K mark, feeling that we were comfortable with the pace goal, actually spent a minute of our time stretching our legs as I felt that in the long run, it would act as a time saver rather than time loser. I have always felt much better after doing the stretching in between the race. For the initial part of the race (most of the first half), we were a minute to two behind the target (though we had a 3 minute buffer to take care of even that), but were were making it up, gradually.

The hills at Peddar road on the way back were tough as always and required a lot of walking, not an issue since every minute of that walk was budgeted.  Towards the end, as we entered the Marine Drive section, I checked my watch and found that we were right on target pace for a 5:30 finish as per gun time. From here on, we pushed just a wee bit more, and finally ended up finishing in 5:28:51, just about a minute inside of the target time.

So, that was a quick note on my experience at this year’s pacing, and I really enjoyed it. Pacing is a lot of responsibility, it keeps you on your toes before the race, and gives you a few nervy moments, but at the end of the day, that feeling of satisfaction is immense, not on how you did, but from how happy our fellow runners were who managed to finish the race in time, mostly by their own strong will and determination, and helped in a small part by the pacing. I hope SCMM team will continue with this, and even look at more brackets like Amit suggested, like 4:15, 5:15, even a 6:00 hour one looking at how many runners could not manage 6:00 hours.

Negatives about the event:

  • Finish line clock, it was just flickering, could not see actual time.
  • No gatorade for marathon runners anywhere on the route, except at one place where they were serving a very diluted mixture. Poor.
  • People complained of too cramped entry to holding area at finish. I was probably ok since I finished late.
  • Faster runners complained of a big overlap with half runners, Ashok Nath mentioned it was 18KM overlap, which really slowed him down!

Positives from the event:

  • Super route, heat played almost no part. Sun on our back till Marine drive, and then just 3-4 KM so no issues at all with heat
  • Early start made wonders too
  • Nice video coverage of the run, though mostly elite focussed unlike ADHM where they had a significant focus on common folks. No non-elite full marathon coverage, though the half, dream run were more covered.