CHENNAI MARATHON PREVIEW: It is now more a celebration of the city's undying spirit

SOMETIMES THE SPIRIT OF MARATHON has absolutely nothing to do running as it does to do with the city that supports it. On November 2015, members of Chennai Runners, the not-for-profit club that organizes the Chennai Marathon, were deep in the midst of event preparation when the city was hit by one of the worst rains in its history. The rains flooded the city and wreaked havoc everywhere. The organizers now had a difficult decision to make –- do they continue with the show or should they cancel their beloved event altogether?

“The marathon was initially slated for December 13th and we were only two weeks away when it started pouring. We knew that the race route was flooded and the grounds where we wanted to finish the race was completely submerged. We decided that if by the 5th of December there was no reprieve, we would call off the race indefinitely,” says Deepa Bharatkumar, the Joint Race Director of the marathon.

And when the rains showed no signs of slowing down, the organizers broke the news to their 16,000 registrants that the event had been postponed indefinitely.

“A marathon is a celebration of a city. It is a joyous event for people. How could we hold something like that during such a period?”  Bharatkumar asks.

As most running communities, the runners in Chennai are close-knit and well connected, so when reports started emerging of the extent of damage that had occurred due to the floods, the Chennai Runners, decided to throw all their efforts into rescue work.

“We tied up with another running organization called the Chennai Trekking Club and just started doing whatever we could to help. We started delivering water and supplies to everyone affected. Whoever could help, helped,” she explains.

Once the initial rescue efforts came to an end, the runners also actively worked towards cleaning the city which now was filled with grimy water and organic waste.

On the day when the marathon was supposed to have been held, December 13th, close to 1,000 runners spread across Chennai and spent the day removing the trash. Only when it seemed like the city had found its feet again did the organizers sit down and decide on a new date for the marathon –- January 31st 2016.  

However due to the change in dates, many of the outstation runners who had initially registered would not be coming to run.

“The one thing we are known for is our hospitality and it is sad that we won’t be able to showcase that this year to our many outstation runners but we completely understand why they won’t be able to make it.”