Marathon confusion

The surfeit of marathons across the country on Sunday, December 15, created considerable confusion, especially in the capital. The long-scheduled event was a glamorous annual Airtel half-marathon in Delhi, currently in its ninth year, that attracted around 30,000 runners including several regulars from corporate boardrooms and a fair sprinkling from Bollywood. However, political developments took some of the sheen off this year's event. First, the Delhi Assembly elections forced the organisers to push the event from November-end to mid-December. Then, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's "run for unity" marathon on the same day across several states left many wondering who was running for whom, and where. A participant who had just crossed the finish line in the annual half-marathon event was overheard clarifying to a friend over the phone that it was not a BJP event.