Raring to run

At 66, Khushru Patel epitomizes the pride and pain of a marathoner. Competing in the 21 km Half Marathon in the 65 plus age group, Patel stood second in that category at the Third Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on January 15, 2006.

With an estimated 30,000 people pounding the streets in the various events (42 km full marathon, Half Marathon, Dream Run, disabled persons run, etc), corporates, celebrities and common folk came together for the cause of charity.

With the Half Marathon the first to be flagged off at seven on a smoggy winter Sunday morning, the thousands of runners soon turned into walkers and dropouts as the mercury rose and body fluids fell. "The heat did not bother me much, but I didn’t practice this year because of a very painful heel spur,” explains Patel, a veteran athlete who has won many a medal in India and outside in distance running. "Ideally, one should train all year around for success in a marathon. At least three months proper training is absolutely necessary. Because of my injury, I barely had seven outings before the marathon. In the race itself, I went all out but I was struggling to finish, compared to last year when it was a piece of cake!” Patel had stood second in the Veterans category at the event in 2005, receiving Rs 10,000 as prize money.

Remarking that the entire event was better organized this year than last, Patel believes that the change in the Veterans age group from 55 and above to 45 and above this year made for an unequal playing field. "How can you expect a 65-year-old to compete against a 45-year-old?” he queries. In most international marathons there are five age groups and the gaps in age are much smaller. "You have to give runners a semblance of a chance (to win). There has to be an incentive to take part,” he asserts.

The spring in his step and his can-do attitude carried Patel from the starting point at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) past Flora Fountain, Marine Drive, Babulnath, up Pedder Road, all the way to Mela restaurant at Worli and back in a time of two hours eight minutes 28 seconds, six minutes slower than his timing in 2005. His reward – a certificate, an on-the-spot interview with MTV and the mental satisfaction of having placed a creditable 266th overall.

Mumbai Marathon: Khushru Patel (inset) success at 66 in the 21 km run; Dream Run participants at Sachivalaya

With around five crore rupees having been raised for various charities, as per news reports, Patel chose to run for the NGO (non governmental organization) Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD). "I am very fond of dogs. I have two strays in my house. WSD sterilizes and inoculates stray dogs, cleans their wounds… The work they do is very humane,” he says.

With much media hype preceding the event, among the creative costumes of participants in the seven km Dream Run was Darayus Bhathena’s as Osama bin Laden, reports The Times of India of January 16, 2006. Six children from Khareghat Colony on Hughes Road pitched in and helped distribute water to the runners, as per Mumbai Newsline, January 16. "‘We’ve been doing this from the first marathon. This way we become part of the marathon,’ said Natasha Irani (11) who has to wait another year before she can participate,” the paper added. Screen and TV stars Tanaaz Currim and Bakhtyar Irani took part in the Dream Run, raising a couple of lakhs of rupees between them for an organization called Alert, reports the Mumbai Mirror of January 16. Running for no cause in the full marathon was octogenarian Erach Bhote who had completed the run last year. "I’m not representing any organization, just running for myself because I enjoy running... I hope I complete the marathon this year as well but being in my 80s it will be a real test for me,” the Afternoon Despatch & Courier had reported on January 12, 2006.