To run is fun
The Times Of India Bangalore International Marathon was held on Sunday, 17th September. Just like last years marathon there was very good participation. Like all other city marathons the emphasis was more on participation rather than any serious competition. There were some testing their fitness levels and some just having a weekend outing. This culminates the “Refresh Bangalore” campaign that the Times Group has been running for the last six weeks. Were there any concrete development plans plotted over the last few weeks? I am not sure, but they could not have chosen a better event to conclude their campaign. I am sure they must have fought tooth and nail to get the sponsorship for this years race and probably ended up arm-twisting Lipton, last years sponsors. :-)
There was also some discussion among media on the usefulness of splurging money on events like a marathon. Does this do any good? Couldn’t the money be used to directly help the poor to have better living conditions? etc. On the face of it, it does look like the money could be used elsewhere, but the city also needs to represent fun. There are charities involved with the marathon that are more directly helping the needy and that should offset some of the disgruntlement. Also, there are some intangibles that cannot be quantified, like patriotism, and city spirit is one such thing. Events like the marathon help rekindle and strengthen this spirit and the good that this does can only be felt over a period of time.
.. and lest we forget, everybody deserves a break, our city does too! :-)
“On the face of it, it does look like the money could be used elsewhere”
Is it worth such a line in the post. What is use with playing cricket and public watching the matches paying so much of money.
Do we need other sport events like Tennis, Hockey??
Where does money collected from these sporting events go?
The players earn so much money do they give atleast 1/10th of that for charity.
Marathon is the only event where runners pledge their registration money for charity. Its also forms a platform for testing the stamina of every runner. Alas, if only a runner could have written this post…
Thanks for the comment Kris. On reading the post after your comment, re-wording as “On the face of it, it MAY look like money could be used elsewhere” would be more close to what I intended to put through. To clarify, if I wasn’t clear in the post, I support the marathon whole heartedly.
I was talking about the marathon alone in isolation and this doesn’t relate to my views on cricket, tennis, hockey etc. I am runner and enjoy it too. :-)