Sunfeast 10k Marathon, Bangalore:31st May,09

This was the Big day. 31st may, 2009. The day when Bangalore was Slated to run, and Run for a cause. This was the day for Sunfeast 10k Marathon and other host of various runs for different categories of runners. It looked to be a beautiful and a promising day from the very beginning. We Rose early and sipped our share of coffee at a near by Cafe Coffee Day on Lavelle Junction.
Not Everyone was excited and there were sure some surprised faces seeing so many people early morning. If you are statistics man, the count of people was a whopping 23,000 but believe me, it was even more than that counting the required volunteers and policemen to manage such a huge Show. It appeared as the whole town was awake this early.
First was the turn of Elderly folks to start their Run which was so fun filled that everyone on the sidelines would have felt left out. At least i did. All of them wore yellow tops and they were so enthusiastic about it, that one cant put in words. Some of those were in groups and used this opportunity to loud their voices, some simply enjoyed the attention from the fellow photographers and onlookers on the sidelines.
There were some curious faces also seen around. Lot of visitors looked anxious and looked confused. Although they were raring to go.
Some of the elderly didn't pay much attention and in-fact called out to people on the sidelines to not stand there but join in for walk/Run. Now this was serious stuff for them.
There was a good arrangement of aid available for all different walks. Lot of volunteers carried medical kits and there were ambulances on the stroll.
The inside of the Stadium started getting filled up in the morning itself. It was nothing more than riot of colors where everyone was coming in to participate, have fun or cheer this big event.
Then was the Turn of Elite Women's 10k Marathon and whole stadium roared and cheered and these ladies zoomed away out of the stadium.
If it was time for the Open 10k to start and people were lining up for that, this RJ started to get the ball rolling for the Kingfisher 'Run-In Costume' event where they choose people with diverse and exquisite themes to dress and awarded them hefty prizes.

As the Gates opened for open 10k, people thronged out of the stadium and most of them looked at ease and well prepared for the event and rather looked to be enjoying that.
The Open 10k saw a sea of people running through it. notice the back of the stand where from all the people are coming and are waiting for their turn.
Honorable Chief minister Mr. Yedurappa came to the stadium and looked cool in his Nike track suit, though he strolled through the Lap inside the stadium and spoke to the media.

On the other hand it was time for the ladies to fire all cylinders and touch down the finish lane for the Elite 10k Women's marathon. This was quite a close finish.

Police men had their fair luck of getting close to the celebrities and enjoying the day, though i found the security to be lousy. i Saw lot of photographers jump those grills and get down near to anywhere they wanted and i was wondering if the CM or anyone around had any security at all. In fact the event of this level where thousands of people are all stuck in a stand before they go out for a run, the security should have been a point of most importance. But the complete event was soft on this end.
As Deepika Padukone came in to the stadium, she got lot of attention but first on she went on to give away awards to different winners.
The VIP box had lot of colors and cameras pointed to them while Deepika enjoyed a good gallery view of this whole event.
The most enjoyable of the day was the Majja run where people dressed in most interesting of costumes to run for different reasons.
Kids had good time with their parents and sure they got the best of views of this event.
This group of corporate folks too ran in their effervescent yellow colored Ts.
A fellow dressed in Indian clothing and carrying map of india showed the situation of the country and how the blood was flowing throughout...
A kathakali Dance also put up lot of effort to get dressed and walk for this run.
Some volunteers just carried their Placards and cheered through the crowd.
Now this group was quite inspired by mythological characters and also carried their message on different issues.
A fellow dressed fully with CD carried his message about Piracy.
Another huge Group from CUPA carried their message across and all the members dressed like animals.


A fantastic day and the enthusiasm of the people was unmatchable. I am sure everyone watching them would have been overwhelmed by it and would have felt like running with them.

Do put in your comments if you like something or disliked something or felt that any facet was missed out through this.


Warm Regards,
Saurabh Mittal, quitefar@gmail.com
9880199422