From boardrooms to street: India Inc runs Mumbai Marathon

The 14th edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon today witnessed a sizeable presence of top business executives from India Inc, who have adopted running in a big way over the last decade.
Gagan Banga of Indiabulls Housing Finance finished the full marathon in 3 hours and 56 minutes, while Anil Ambani, who did a half marathon, was one of the biggest names who ran on a warmer and overcast day.
Newly-appointed Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, a regular at the event for several years now, however, gave the event a miss.
Rashesh Shah of diversified financial company Edelweiss ran the half marathon of over 21 kms, clocking a time of 2 hours and 4 minutes.

"Great marathon as usual and very enthusiastic crowd support and ambiance. Clearly the Mumbai marathon is an annual institution now," Shah, who has run marathons in various parts of the world, said.
The staff of TCS, one of the sponsors for the high- profile event, made up for the absence of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Chandrasekaran.

In what was arguably the biggest distance running contingent, 500 TCSers (as company staffers are called) finished the half marathon, while 75 completed the full race of 42 km, sources said.
The Tata Group's crown jewel saw another 800 of its staffers participate in the 6km dream run, while 17 differently-abled employees of the IT giant took part in a special run, they said.

The marathon, held on the third Sunday of January every year, has turned into one of the most coveted runs in the country and also Asia, which witnesses elite runners, some of them from abroad, vying for top prizes along with amateurs, who seek to fulfil personal goals.
Over time, it has attracted who's who from the world of business, including Anil Ambani, Anand Mahindra and also former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.