Bangalore Ultra - Mumbai runners show their mettle - Guts and glory of Haile's 25

It was probably the largest contingent of runners who travelled from Mumbai to compete in the 4th edition of Bangalore Ultra 2010 on 14th November, 2010 at Hessarghata, on the outskirts of Bangalore. Unofficially named rather emotionally after the Haile Gebrsellassie, the HAILE’S 25 conquered the tough and adverse conditions in Bangalore Ultra – in fact the toughest conditions ever of all the 4 editions held so far.


We had four runners attempting the 100K – Raj, Mahesh, Dr. Oak & Sanjay Kasle.

They started at 5.00 a.m. with torches in their hands or with a miners’ lamp fastened on their heads – which was an absolute must because of the darkness and also the uneven nature of the track which was a dirt track with stones and tree roots protruding from the ground – narrow tracks which allow only one person to pass with few crevices in between. By the time we started for lunch at about 1.00 p.m. Raj & Mahesh had finished 50K and were going for their 5th loop. When we reached the airport at 8.00 p.m. news came in that the race was closed out at 7.00 p.m. by the RFL organizers so those could not finish the 100k had to drop out or finish on their own with no logistics support from the RFL. Spoke to Raj, he said he & Mahesh had completed 75 kms by then, Sanjay Kasle had gone upto 82 kms and Dr. Oak wanted to continue to 100 kms regardless of the conditions.

Following runners finished the 50K successfully and Zico came third in the Senior Men’s category. Roshni Rai came third in the women’s category. CONGRATULATIONS Zico & Roshni.

Zico, Amit, Srinivas, Rahul Bharadwaj, Qureshi, Giles, Roshni Rai, Kavin, Vivek Prasad

Following runners finished the 37.5K category successfully:

Ashish, Sripad, Rohit Bansal, Madhu

Following runners finished the 25K category successfully;

Ram, Genieve, Mani, Sridhar, Mahesh Gune, Kartik, Bijay Nair

Priya Murthy successfully finished the 12.5 K category

The track was a 6.25 kms out and back loop, so the runners had to do each loop into x number of times to finish their distance. The 50K & 37.5K race started at 6.00 a.m. in cool, pleasant weather typical of early morning Bangalore. Because of the uneven nature of the track, we were careful in navigating our way through. The number of runners at this stage was not many, so it was okay to start with. The route wound through open fields and we reached the first of the three water stations at 0.5 kms itself. There were four water stations about 2 kms apart well stocked with all the provisions like banana, oranges, PBJ sandwiches, parle-g & monaco biscuits and water, lucozade & ice too. About 1 kms into the race, the route opened out into a vast plateau as far as the eye could see and this continued until we came into a forest which was near-about the 5 kms mark. The forest lasted for less than a km and then we came onto a gravel road, which took us to the 6.25K mark, which was the turnaround point for all runners. The route was undoubtedly beautiful, but all the runners had eyes for was the ground beneath because stumbles there were plenty amongst the runners and since the track was so narrow, one had to not only look down to ensure correct footing and landing but to keep looking up to sidestep the oncoming runners, some of whom were rushing by, obvious contenders for the top crowns. By the time we were mid way into the second loop, the 25K and 12.5K runners started their race and they were plenty in number, so the concentration levels had to be high at this time.

Okay, the Mumbai gang started their sojourn on Saturday morning at 8.30 a.m. flight from Mumbai which was delayed by about an hour. Good omens were promised when we espied a “Ultra Bar” inside the Mumbai airport. Bangalore was warm and sunny at around 12.00 noon and our journey to our abode for the day and after took about one hour. Soon we landed at the service apartments at the Platinum City, which was a complex of residential buildings out of which one building was slotted as service apartments. The rooms were abundantly luxurious and comfortable with sufficient beds, sofas, TVs, kitchen equipments etc. This place was absolutely beautiful with nice paver block roads to take a walk, a park, tennis courts, swimming pools and one provision store (which threatened to close when we arrived there and was promptly opened at the behest of Amit) and one medical shop which was open all the time. Two rooms of 5 beds each were allotted to us, 10 persons and rooms settled in, we went down to a sumptuous lunch of rice, dal, rasam, curds, some chinese items & bread pudding. Lunch done – we went down to the store to stock up on some items required for the evening and next morning and retired to our rooms while Kavin & Bijay went to watch the cinema and ended up with lighter wallets from a shopping spree, but no movie.

Evening time – some more items stocked up for the morrow – dinner – same items as before but no chinese this time, kheer as dessert – all promptly retired to their rooms for a good night’s rest before the ultimate endurance test the next morning. Alas, the night slumber was not without its share of drama – there were a cacophony of noises aplenty from the neighbourhood – some stray dogs were “retelling the Mahabharata” for us, there were train noises in the distance apparently from a night halter at a nearby railway station, noises from the corridor et al, made for an interesting night. 3.00 a.m. and the shrill of alarms ringing at every bed – all ready and raring to go by 4.00 a.m. Meanwhile Raj phoned to say he was already on the way to the venue (they had a 5.00 a.m. start).

Amit had arranged everything meticulously so we had three cars going to the venue with myself, Zico (as the driver), Ashish & Sripad in one car boxed in between two other cars both of whom knew the route. Amit and his friend Vineet (who was also doing the 50K) were behind the wheels of the other two cars. At the unearthly hour of 4 a.m. in the morning we saw two runners on their morning jogging routine (though one looked like a security guy on an errand) which led us to conclude – “this is what makes Bangalore the running capital of India” – their zeal to get up so early in the morning for their running. Enroute the venue, we had the misfortune of seeing a bitch lying dead in the middle of the road with five or six small puppies not knowing what to do – we ensured they were sufficiently out of the way before we resumed our journey to the venue. Even before we reached the venue we saw that the 100K runners had already started with torches in their hands and it was like the route was cutting across the road at two places.

From the parking lot we had to walk a small distance to the registration counter, which we could not navigate without Kavin’s mobile phone cum torch. Just as we were about to enter the registration post, out came Raj & Mahesh starting their 100K on a fast clip – there were not having any torches – incredible guys these!

Registrations done, bibs collected, free t-shirt, timing chips, baggage deposited – met up with Giles, Qureshi, Mani, Mahesh Gune et al – pleasantries exchanged – all ready and raring to go – loud cheer went up for the Mumbai runners – “Ganpatti Bappa Moraya”

I had originally registered for 25K, then changed category to 37.5K in view of my first full marathon in January and was looking forward to it, but a debilitating backache on Tuesday which lasted until Thursday evening prompted me to first attempt a 25K and then take things from there on – whether to attempt the last loop depending upon how the back holds up. First loop was good and comfortable but by the second loop, the sun was out, pace dropped, started stopping at each water station to consume endless cups of lucozade, throw water on my neck and head and continue in slow pace. Under the circumstances satisfied with a 25k mileage as at the end of the second loop, the back started acting up again, left knee started protesting so decided to finish with 25K in the bag. No complaints, next time and more work before the Mumbai marathon.

Race finished, cheering up other runners – some photographs, some up and down time pass runs to cheer up the runners – met up with Nigel who finished first in the men’s 50K category in an amazing time of 3.57 hours – this guy has done several 100K runs in more grueling circumstances like desert runs and up steep inclines – but he thought the heat was “well, bloody hell”. His fiancé Emma was doing the 100K and that too without any stoppage for walking and at a good pace and tirelessly. Incidentally, he had just come to India on a vacation and decided to run anyway and ended up with a medal. Wow!

One by one all our runners started coming in at the finish line – Rohit the first in the 37.5K category and Srinivas in the 50K category – the latter with a furious sprint at the end. Amit and Zico followed and then Sripad came in followed by Ashish, Qureshi, Vivek Prasad.

Giles had an attack of cramps in the third loop but waived away all vehement protest of the volunteers to ferry him to the medical station in a motorbike and continued regardless. Gen had a severe attack of stomach cramps, Srini of leg cramps and Zico & Madhu ran bravely despite their previous chest congestion & leg problem respectively. Bravo.

The ice tub was fully occupied by the runners' feet and the medical tent was in full atttendance with a dedicated team of doctors.

Meanwhile, stomach started complaining and my cheering partners Mani, Bijay & Gen became running partners as they went down the road to cheer up runners coming down the last km or so.

Lunch at the Native Village was delicious five course meal of puris, rice with sambhar, rasam, curds and followed up with kheer. No beer at the bar – they lost their licences! Meanwhile Zico & Roshni came with their plaques – for their podium finish.

We left Raj & co with a heavy heart to celebrate all the successful finishes and the podium finishes with few beers and whisky – We ended up at the airport with tired limbs, protesting legs and sleepy eyes for some more groaning news – the flight was delayed by more than an hour. Luckily we had a large contingent to pass time by which included Pravin and Hirva Varma back from their family vacation in Kerala. Caught up with some sleep in the flight and reached home at 1.00 a.m. after finishing my 6th event of the year.

A BIG THANKS to AMIT for so meticulously making all the arrangements for the travel from Bangalore airport to the hotel, to the venue and back to the airport and for the stay at the airport. Also THANKS to VINEET for helping us with the logistics. Not to forget a BIG THANKS to ROHIT BANSAL for making arrangements for the group travel bookings for all of us. Believe me, it is a big fun and a learning experience when we travel in a big group such as this to the running events.

RFL Bangalore, (Arvind Krishnan, Arvind Bharati and your team) your arrangements were excellent as usual – all meticulously done and down to the last detail – everything was razor perfect.

Many of us were attempting their first Bangalore Ultra and I am sure they would have nothing but praises for the excellent organization of this event. Thanks to RFL team for such an enriching experience.