A cool sea breeze greeted them at the starting point of Atal Setu at Sewri.The beam of the streetlights gradually gave way to a scarlet sky as the sun rose over the horizon, offering a stunning view to remember.
It was less than a month since the last marathon was held in Mumbai on Jan 21, yet similar excitement reverberated among participants. The full 42.2k marathon that started at 5am had 131 runners, including 10 women. The maximum runners were in the 10k category with 1,109 men and 493 women, while the half marathon saw 1,029 participants, including 167 women.
List of VIP participants in the marathon
| Parth Jindal | MD and CEO of Jindal Paint and Cement, JSW Steel |
| Adil Nagrolwala | Corporate SVP HR – Head Talent Acquisition at WNS Global Services |
| Krishna Prakash, IPS | Additional Director General of One Force, Maharashtra |
| Vishwas Nangare Patil, IPS | Additional Director General of Police in the Anti-corruption Bureau, Maharashtra |
| Alok Agarwal | Chief Financial Officer of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) |
| Vishvas Mote | Assistant Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Of Greater Mumbai |
| Shibani Gharat | Associate Executive Producer and anchor, CNBC-TV18 |
| Laxmi Jha | Fitness Influencer |
| Devneet Bajaj | Managing Director, Dream Capital & Chief Strategy Officer, Dream Sports |
| Priyanka Runwal | Runwal Builders |
| Sanjiv Mantri | MD & CEO at ICICI Lombard |
| Sheran Mehra | Chief Brand Officer and Business Head – Hotels, Tata Digital |
| Madhura Sekhsaria | Head- Partnerships, Tata nexarc |
| Retd. Cmde. Subir Sengupta | Indian Navy |
Adil Nargolwala, an ironman who ran the 10k, did so with the 60-minute bus and praised the venue and arrangements. “It was an amazing experience being part of history. The MTHL has great potential to be an annual iconic run,” he told TOI.
Others agreed, including full marathoners Arvind Sawant, a schoolteacher from Kanjurmarg, who finished second in the 40-55 age group category; Nandkishore Upadhyay (63), winner of the age 56 and above category for 10k run; Priyanka Phatak, women’s 10k winner; and Shibani Gharat, who won second place in women’s half marathon in the 18-39 age group. The full marathoners said the route, though great, was not all flat – there were gentle slopes and undulations.
Given the nature of the route, runners felt the absence of shade from trees, spectators cheering from the sidelines, and volunteers offering energy bars and fruit slices as they do during other marathons mid-city.
Anil Verma, who ran the full 42k, said, “I signed up because I wanted to be among the first runners to cross the finish line on Atal Setu and make my family proud. The event was wonderfully organised at short notice.”
He had come expecting a perfect route for running, but it wasn’t without challenges. “It was rolling. Just like life, there were some ups and downs,” Verma said.
Half marathoner Jiger Saiya and Kishore Patil appreciated the holding area and race management but suggested more toilets and litter bins, advanced start time for half and 10k and “more importantly, more music” along the route to motivate runners when their energy ebbs.
Corporate heads and film stars arrived to salute the spirit of the participants. Among those who flagged off the various race categories were S N Subrahmanyan, chairman and managing director of Larsen & Toubro, its CFO R Shankar Raman, state industries minister Uday Samant, Meena Subrahmanyan, president, Prayas Trust, L&T, as well as Pradeep Yadav, chief, urban design, MMRDA and IAS officer Radhabinod Sharma, apart from actors Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff. Parth Jindal, MD and CEO of Jindal Paint and Cement, also did the 10km run.
Along with L&T, associate partner MMRDA, race director P Venkatraman of YouTooCanRun, and JICA, the financial partner, went the extra mile to make the morning memorable. “I liked that the organisers took no chances with the health status of participants,'” said Dr Sangeeta Makkad (62) who ran the half marathon.
Indeed, Venkatraman told TOI, “For the first time in an Indian marathon, we compulsorily sought health details during registration to red flag those who needed medical advice before running. While some needed treatments for minor complaints like cramps, one runner was hospitalised.” Amay Vansare suffered from tachycardia (fast heartbeat) and was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was kept under observation while his family was informed. Venkatraman said, “He will mostly be discharged on Monday.”
Sumeet Chatterjee, chief of corpcomm, L&T, called the run “a triumph of the human spirit”.
Centuries ago, the first causeway, Hornby’s Vellard completed in 1784, was one of the first major engineering projects that formed a crucial connection between north and south Bombay. It aimed to transform the original seven islands of Bombay into a single island with a deep natural harbour. The latest engineering marvel of MTHL that connects Mumbai with Navi Mumbai over an-other harbour, offered Sunday’s marathoners a modern milestone. The runners felt part of history in the making noting with awe the medals they wore said ‘inaugural edition’.