Mumbai Marathon makes few tweaks that will aid runners this edition

The route for the upcoming edition of the Mumbai Marathon was unveiled on Wednesday for the seven categories, with only one of them having Worli Dairy as the starting point while the rest would get underway from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

All categories put together a total of 44, 407 participants are expected to take part in the marathon which will take place on Sunday. Besides the full marathon (42.195km) other categories are half-marathon (21.097km), Timed 10K run (10km), Senior Citizen Run (4.3km approx), Dream Run (6km approx) and Champions with Disability (1.5km).

Race director Hugh Jones admitted that they had implemented a few changes to the course from last year owing to the ongoing metro work and the availability of Dr Annie Besant Road. Addressing the reporters, Jones said: “There is a slight change this year along the route around the 30 km point. With Dr Annie Besant Road being made available to us after 3 years, it has allowed us to do away with the zigzag that was done to make up distance at the top of Bandra.

“These two changes in practice are very helpful. We have dropped two U-turns, and inserted three right angle turns. We blocked two 180 degree turns and inserted three in the last 770m of the course. In terms of timings, having three 90 degree turns is better than having two 180 degree turns. This I feel will add to the competitive spirit of the finish. Because of the metro construction work the marathon course has changed slightly, but not significantly. It’s about 100m here and there,” Jones, who was the first British runner to win the London Marathon back in 1982, went on to add.

Satich Uchil, the technical representative of the Athletics Federation of India that will oversee the event, clarified that the race is yet to be designated as the trials of the Commonwealth Games, which takes place in April, later this year. “As of now, AFI has not announced this marathon as a trial for the Commonwealth Games,” he said.

With the India Meteorological Department suggesting that warm conditions with an average humidity of around 85-87 per cent and a maximum temperature of 33 degrees Celsius expected on Sunday, Jones added that the heat will be the greatest challenge for the runners. “It’s one thing to get acclimatised but you can never run fast under those conditions. When it’s 22 and climbing, it’s bound to affect the performance and acclimatising is just a question to deal with those conditions,” he added.