Marathon organization

"The Kolkata Marathon is a mega event. The entire city is involved — from school children to the first citizen of our state, M. K. Narayanan, the governor of West Bengal. We had over 20,000 people out on race day, January 5, 2014, and that required tremendous organization,” says Calcutta’s Prochy Mehta who was the organizing secretary. "From five in the morning till the prizes were given out at about 11 a.m., I was just reacting! No time to think and act, just react. I don’t think I had a glass of water or a thing to eat. Once it was over the exhaustion hit me, but it was the exhilarating exhaustion of a job well done!” Mehta has been organizing secretary of the Marathon since inception in 2005.
The Kolkata Marathon, notes their website, is the biggest marathon in eastern India. "It was run for a cause and the Tata Medical Center (TMC) for the treatment of cancer in Calcutta was our designated charity,” explains Mehta, herself a multiple medal winner and veteran athlete who had participated over a large number of years at athletic events in India and outside. "I had the help of a very special friend, Geeta Gopalakrishnan who is the chief fund raiser for the TMC. Together we organized the Kolkata Marathon at minimal cost and also collected a sizeable amount as donation to the TMC.”

Mehta acknowledges the contribution of Farzan Heerjee, chief of corporate relations, Tata Steel. "I thank him for the tremendous support and the faith he had in me to conduct the event. The house of Tatas has expressed a desire to be associated with the Kolkata Marathon in the coming years. Heerjee balanced his corporate ability with the aims and objective of the Marathon. His effort has helped in the Tatas wanting to be involved in future Kolkata Marathons.” Coca-Cola supplied the water and Keventer juice and snacks for all the participants. "My own company Selvel gave over one million rupees worth of outdoor advertising entirely free of cost. ABP gave us free coverage in their newspapers and through their radio partner 91.9 Friends FM,” she says.
For Mehta, support from her sports-minded family was strong too. Husband Noomi, chairman and managing director of Selvel One, and their son Jahan, director, "were there throughout, helping me especially with the VIPs and dignitaries on stage or wherever they were needed.” Daughter Sanaya and her husband Sandeep Vyas, who is a well-known singer and performer, both ran the 11 km race. "Sanaya came 42nd, which is really commendable. Two octogenarians, Arni Medhora and Pilloo Sutaria also did the fun run/walk (of four km) and Jimbo (Jimmy) Vatcha on his wheelchair was, I think, the most photographed participant that day!” Many others from the Calcutta Parsee Club, particularly Rasheed Jeejeebhoy and Zamyad Meherji, pitched in to help. "In fact we had a scrumptious breakfast laid out at the Parsee Club where VIPs like Madan Mitra, minister for sports and transport and T. V. Narendran, managing director of Tata Steel, and others relaxed after the flag-off.”
Sourav Ganguly, former India cricket captain and "the darling of West Bengal,” together with the governor and others flagged off the various races. "Ganguly is still the favorite of the crowd and the fun runners just stood and stared at him in awe until the governor literally shooed them along shouting ‘run, run,’” Prochy chuckles. Among the serious runners, Satya Prakash of the Indian Army was the winner, completing 42.195 km in 2:19:30.
"My son had kept me up all night the night before and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it for the race, so standing at the starting line felt all the more special,” describes Sanaya in an email response to our query. "This Marathon was different from the past ones in the sense that it was a younger more urban crowd and the sheer volume of people attempting this race came as a surprise to me.” Sanaya had run this race seven years ago when she was pregnant with daughter Samara. "Since then I’ve only run five km, so I was hoping to finish this race in an hour-and-a-half. My husband was also running but the men started five minutes after the women. I saw that the standard was quite high and I couldn’t believe the number of women who had taken off and the fast pace they were setting!”
Halfway through Sandeep caught up with her and they continued together. "It was such a pleasure running through the wide roads of Calcutta cleared of all traffic. When we were passing the bridge on Chowringhee Road, we saw a sea of green (T-shirts), with all the fun run participants completely covering the bridge!” Sanaya completed the race in 45 minutes. "I know it’s not much for professional runners but for me it was pretty cool! I was especially proud of my husband who after running the race got up on stage and rocked the city with his music.” At Red Road, as the fun runners returned, they were entertained by Sandeep and his brother Sanjeev Vyas and others.
"By all accounts, the Kolkata Marathon was a huge success and garnered massive publicity and funds for treating the underprivileged free of cost or at deeply subsidized rates,” adds Noomi. The Tata Group had "gifted the Rs 350 crore, not-for-profit cancer hospital to the people of eastern India. Fifty percent of the beds are reserved for the underprivileged” and there is an urgent need to raise funds for expansion, notes www.kolkatamarathon.com