Runners from across the country gather in Mumbai

The third Sunday of January is a day like no other in Mumbai. Runners from across the country - and international stars from around the globe - pound the city's streets, chasing glory, validation, pride, new records and a test of their endurance.

- Shrenik Avlani

MUMBAI:

It is also the day when the impossible happens - traffic disappears from South Bombay till lunch time, and the railways run special trains in the middle of the night for runners. This is the Mumbai Marathon, a beloved sporting ritual the city has been hosting for two decades.

In the 20 years since it was first flagged off, numbers have swelled from just a few thousand runners - barely a hundred for the Full Marathon (42.195 km), a little more for the Half Marathon (21 km) and a couple of thousand for the Dream Run (5.9 km). "I watched the first race and ran the second one. There were only a few hundred runners for the longer races in the early years," says athletics coach and sprinter Ayesha Billimoria.

On Sunday, 60,000-odd participants will assemble at 5 am at the start line for the Tata Mumbai Marathon. It's a milestone year for an event that kick-started the city's love affair with distance running.

The Early Years The early years weren't a runaway success as creating awareness in a pre-social media world was difficult. Procam International, the promoters of the race, would publish advertisements in newspapers, advertise on billboards, and reach out to athletics coaches and schools to create awareness.

Getting sponsors and partners was also not easy. The first edition had just seven partners, while the 20th edition has 15, including Tata Sons, TCS, IDFC First Bank and Vedanta. The Dream Run became popular quickly, as celebrities and NGOs got involved. "The longer races drew bigger participation only after Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani laced up for the Half Marathon," says Bruno Goveas, former communications head at Procam International. "Anil Ambani was the biggest catalyst... the man responsible for the big surge. It was a turning point. People started training. Half Marathon numbers improved, while the Dream Run started getting swamped," adds Goveas.