Eight thousand pairs of happy feet hit the road in Salt Lake early on Sunday.
Airtel Run for Education, partnered by The Telegraph, was an opportunity for the participants to tick one off their bucket lists and score their PB (personal best) timings.
The run began at City Centre Salt Lake and branched out into three routes — 21km, 10km and a much shorter 5km.
The 21km half-marathon was a single-loop race from City Centre to the Kolkata Gate in New Town and back, while the 10km participants ran towards Godrej Waterside in Sector V and traced their way back to the Salt Lake shopping mall.
Toddler to teenager, homemaker to corporate, athlete to cancer survivor, weekend warrior to couch potato and school student to fitness coach — everyone queued up at the start line, united and inspired by a cause. Some had mufflers wrapped around their neck, some were clad in windcheaters, most were in bright orange jerseys and all in their running shoes.
Metro captured the spirit of the run.
Never say no
One of the stars of the run was Uday Kumar, who lost his left leg in a train accident in 2015 and has since lived with a prosthetic limb.
A Belghoria resident, Kumar has been running since November last year and has already taken part in 25 such events.
Earlier this month, he completed the Darjeeling Hill Marathon. “Most of my friends avoid physical activity. Shortage of time is the most common excuse. I take part to motivate people that if I can finish the run, everyone can,” he said.
Kumar works in a private company and has been saving up to buy a running blade that will allow him to move better and clock shorter timings. “I am saving for it but the limb is almost as expensive as an SUV. I am not going to give up easily,” Kumar said.
Gouri Bhattacharya, 58, woke up at 4.30am to join the Apollo Cancer Survivors’ Walk. There were at least 30 more men and women like her. “I wanted to make people aware that it is possible to lead a healthy and active life even after cancer,” she said.
Go green
Husband and wife Sumit and Pooja Somani turned up for the 21K run, armed with a jute sack and sporting hand gloves. They were part of a contingent of ploggers who took part in the run. “We run regularly and this year wanted to do something different. Plogging is more taxing as one has to bend and pick up trash as one runs,” Pooja said.
Several students of the Techno India Group were part of the plogging team. “We wanted to ensure that no plastic bottles and towels are left behind on the course,” said Piyush Daga, the national president of Round Table India, organisers of the run. Siddharth Sharma, CEO, Calcutta and Bengal, Bharti Airtel, said it was heartening to see so many take up plogging.
Veterans & newbies
Most participants said they regularly walked, ran, cycled or worked out in a gym, busting the myth of the “lazy Calcuttan”. Rajendra Singh Lahauria, the general manager of the air traffic services at the Calcutta airport, said running has been his first love since college days in Shillong.
Class III student Sparsh Bharti took part in his first run on Sunday. He finished the 5km run. Sanjana Dutta Gupta skipped her morning routine of working out at the gym to run the 10K race.
She started running regularly four years ago and there has been no looking back. “It’s a great endurance builder,” the fitness coach said.