Bengaluru's 27,000 runners join for TCS 10kv

With fear of the pandemic gone, the 15th edition of TCS 10k noticed the biggest involvement, with more than 27,000 marathoners running in and around Kanteerava Stadium. This year, for the very first time, the event was held virtually too, permitting 2,000 runners who couldn’t be at the venue to participate.

A Novo Nordisk employee group of five completed the 10k race, having prepared for an early start by reaching the stadium at 5. 50am. Among them, 31-year-old Nishant Shetty, a runner for 10 years, said the diffe rence compared to the 2022 10k was that there was no rain in the morning.

Dressed in a sari, R Sarvamangala, a 70-year-old resident of Nagarabhavi, was all smiles at the run. She said it was her first time at the marathon, and she was there only because of the encouragement she received from other family members.

Shiva from Rammurthynagar held a placard on suicide prevention and ran the Majja run of 5km, where most of the locals participated. “I love my life, it’s a gift. This is just a reminder to embrace all situations that we come across in life,” he said, planning to have a different theme in next year’s run.

Yeshwantpur-based Rajeev HB, from fitness community TransformU, was w ith his 32 friends from different parts of the city, at the stadium at 4:15am. “We have been hosting run clubs for 12 weeks every Sunday at Cubbon Park, focusing on holistic wellness. We aremore of companions, coming together from groups of common friends. Running a marathon is about finding your rhythm, and even when you’re tired, you are encouraged by som eone or the other around you it’s both aerodynamics and motivation,” he said.

Dinakar R from Kalyan Nagar also arrived at 4am, found the first 2km a little disorienting because of the massive crowd, but once the 3rd km started, he was in full flow. In the team of 100 from Provision Asia, which had about 40 wheelchair-bound persons participating in the run for persons with disabilities, was 35-year-old Sahina, who works in the women and child welfare department. “It is a proud moment every time I participate bec ause it makes me feel involved,” she said. A team of 35 from Oracle’sCSR team walked around the venue spreading awareness on cancer screening. Padma Rekha, a GBU business analyst at the company, said the marathon has been a platform to share socially relevant issues, and the team has been doing this for five years now.