Road Rash 2007-2008

I have finally pushed myself into committing for the below 4 runs for this season:

* Noida Half Marathon (Sep 9, 2007)

* Hutch Delhi Half Marathon (Oct 28, 2007)

* Singapore Marathon (Dec 2, 2007)

* Mumbai Marathon (Jan 21, 2008)

Noida (21K) - a first time event for me. An ordinary running route along the Taj expressway with nothing much to look around. Cannot expect the carnival atmosphere found in most of the big marathons here. Should be a good reality check towards the HDHM in Oct.

Update (Sep 8th) : Will skip this run due to a personal emergency.

Delhi (21K) - The route, a bit majestic when it comes to Rajpath, is otherwise just okay. Rajpath is always a killer with the race starting not too early. This would be my 3rd time here and I would be trying to hit the 2 hour mark. Last year saw 289 mens finishers within the last recorded time of 5:37. I think total participation figures would have been in the range of 1500-2000.

Singapore (42K) - This would be a really big one for me, my first there, and overall my second full marathon after Mumbai 2006. Undoubtedly Asia's biggest marathon, and with a huge participation which dwarfs any 42K numbers we see here in India. 2006 run has more than 9000 participants in the 42K. Anything below 5:00 would be good for me. I have booked my tickets, so there's no going back.

Mumbai (42K) - This would be my chance to get my revenge. This is where I attempted my first 42K, and finished in an agonizing 5:55 (which included about 1:30 walking). I would target to finish this running within 5:00 this time around.

Noida Half marathon on Sept 9th, 2007

It was a pleasant surprise to find out that my own city will be having a half marathon, and that too just a couple of weeks from now! The last Noida half marathon was held in 2005, and was a very low key event, but hopefully, things will be better this time around with some big names like Unitech, Jaypee and ATS backing up the event.

The event is named Jaypee-Unitech Noida Half Marathon 2007 and is being promoted as a race against Global Warming and Ozone holes. The total prize is Rs 5,46,500. The event will take place on Noida- Greater Noida express way under pass near Sector 105 with the start and finish near the under pass.

Event website: http://noidamarathon.com/

Registration forms will be available from the Noida Half marathon office at C-2/25 Sector 31, Noida from Aug 26th.

Route Map:

HDHM2007 route map?

In the absence of any route map on the official event website, I thought it would be a good idea to just post the route map I had from the 1st event in 2005 (I doubt if the route map was even published in 2006). The route may be tweaked a bit here and there, but I guess it will retain the overall character of the 2005 one.

HDHM2007 registrations open

The registrations to the 2007 Hutch Delhi Half marathon run have opened, including online registrations. The event retains the 'Hutch' in the name for this year, though the event logo does prominently highlight the new 'Vodafone Essar' branding.

Event website: http://hdhm.indiatimes.com

Somehow, I have been unable to register online yet, with a 'Payment declined' message from the card payment portal. I wonder if other people have been successful with online registrations.

Today's TOI (Delhi, dt Aug 12th) also has an article (the 2nd I have seen for this years event) about the run.

The website: Looks better designed than the one which has been used for the past couple of years. Also, a route map would be welcome. I have seen pretty advanced route maps for international events, with altitude indicators, route view video's etc. It would help if HDHM puts in some effort in this direction.

There is also a training programme being offered in tie-up with Reebok, though the email address training.reebok@reebok.com failed to work and resulted in an undelivered mail.