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Pounding heart and sole in the Veterans category of the Men’s Half Marathon (21 km) on January 16, 2005 at the Standard Char­tered Mumbai Marathon 2005, 65-year-old Khushru Patel knew he had placed third, but neither prize nor recognition greeted him on that day. 

A month later a letter arrived from Procam International who had organized the event: "It is our pleasure to inform you that you are placed second in the Veterans category... Your prize money of Rs 10,000 will be sent to you soon.” There were only two cash awards in that category — Rs 15,000 for the winner, Rs 10,000 for the runner up, explains Patel. There was nothing for the third placed winner. The letter arrived as an unexpected but thrilling surprise for a versatile athlete who always makes a game bid for the winning post and who has ‘walked’ and ‘run away with’ many a medal (see "Master class,” Sports, Parsiana, May 2004.)

"The atmosphere along the route was fantastic. It was one big celebration. I’ve never seen Bombay like this. People were cheering us on and I could hear shouts of ‘c’mon uncle, c’mon,’ seeing my grey hair!” Patel laughs. The Half Marathon had more than 5,000 runners massed together at the start, men and women, old and young. Though there were two special prizes for the veterans (above 55), they ran with the rest.

Running 21 km in two hours two minutes, Patel says his timing would have been under two hours had it not been for the fact that as he reached the junction of Marine Drive with Church­gate Street on the return journey he found the road choked with hundreds of 7 km Dream Runners! "I had to say ‘excuse me, excuse me’ and actu­ally push past. Some of them even got angry with me!” says the athlete who has learnt to retain his equanimity, having partici­pated in dozens of events in India where athletes are told to report four hours before a full marathon of 42 km just because political VIPs are coming!

"There were many in the Half Marathon who are not regular runners. After going all out in the first couple of kilometers, they are so exhausted they suddenly decide to stop dead in their tracks! Or they bend over to tie their shoelaces! You can get badly injured if you bang into them. The organizers should edu­cate the amateurs or put out a list of do’s and don’t’s, "asserts Patel. The route took the runners from VT to Fountain, Marine Drive, Babulnath, Pedder Road, Worli Sea Face upto Mela restaurant and back. 

Having placed 133rd in the men’s section and 145th over­all (men and women), Patel says women marathoners worldwide have almost caught up with the men as far as timings go! "Of course, you will never get the timings in India as you do in Europe, for example, because of the heat and humidity,” he elaborates. "The heat did not trouble me much because I’m seasoned in that. I train in the afternoons, though people say I’ll get a heat stroke. I’m conditioning myself. I do a lot of hills too.”

A month earlier, Patel had been the unfortunate victim of an error on the part of one of the officials at the 13th Asian Masters Athletics Championship at Bangkok from December 1-5, 2004 (see "Master medallists” on page 194).

Winning the Senior Citizens 5 km run in the 60+ category at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2005 was 62-year-old Jamshed Jehangir. "There was a huge crowd at Azad Maidan and there was a lot of rubbish and debris lying around. Just before the race, I tripped and fell, hurting my knee and one of the toes of my right foot. There were more than 1,000 runners in the Senior Citizens category. I had a lot of catching up to do at first as I was in the eighth or ninth row of runners at the starting point,” he relates. The race for physically handicapped runners had begun just prior to theirs: "We had to run past those in wheelchairs or hobbling on crutches without in any way inconveniencing them. As I passed them I was moved to tears. They were struggling so hard and so cheerfully just to complete the race!”

Training diligently at the Race Course for the past two months, Jehangir knew he had a chance, though this was his first race. "I did not know what the competition would be like, so I was not cocky, but I was expecting to do well, as I had been posting around 27 minutes even in training,” he asserts. When he crossed the finish line in 30 minutes (from VT to Flora Fountain, Churchgate to Hilton Towers and back by the same route), the second placed competitor was not even in sight! "A rush of TV reporters greeted me, asking if I was too exhausted to speak! But I was not,” he declares.

Jehangir expresses deep disappointment that there were no prizes at all for the seniors, nor was a single organizer present at the finish line to acknowledge the winners! "I did not run for any medal or glory. I ran for charity and for the thrill of participation. I wanted to prove the point that even senior citizens with hard work and discipline can run in respectable timings, compared to even younger people,” he observes.

Thoroughly enjoying the ‘run for fun’ atmosphere of the gala event which seemed to have the city in thrall, Jehangir believes however that "everything should be in due measure” and the public and the organizers "should not go overboard” in the giving of importance to the celebrities and cine stars thronging the event. 

A bachelor who runs his own business under the name of Shri Saibaba Cargo Clearing Private Limited, Jehangir says: "I own my success to my good genes inherited from my parents Jehangir and Silloo. My father was a body builder with a well sculpted physique. My mother is active at 87+. The aloe vera in my diet has greatly helped me.”

Sporting a bright yellow T-shirt, 82-year-old Erach Bhote ran the 5 km Senior Citizens race, attributing his fitness to a simple lifestyle which includes the adage "early to bed and early to rise,” reports the Afternoon Despatch and Courier (ADC). Intrepid traveler Meher Heroyce Moos and house of Godrej chairman Adi Godrej were among the well-known personalities participating in the Senior Citizens run. Rusi Dalal and Villy Elavia who had undergone treatment at the Asian Heart Institute were among the patients scheduled to participate in the Dream Run under the supervision and training of specialist Dr Ashish Con­tractor, states the ADC of January 14, 2005.

In a marathon of a different kind, septuagenarian Rumi Taraporevala raised over four lakh rupees in charity pledges. "I have submitted 101 cheques to the official charity GiveIndia (The charity confirmed the amount),” Taraporevala was quoted in the Mid Day of  January 11, 2005. The sum makes Taraporevala one of the highest individual collectors of charity for the Mumbai Marathon.