I was talking to my friend
Ram before we signed up for the Chennai Marathon.
“It is a little discouraging,
“ he told me, “they do not bother with senior divisions or veterans, they just
have a general category, they don’t even
write the ages. When the person who is 20th from the top or bottom
is 70 years old it is a commendable feat.”
I agreed with him. At 61, it
takes a lot more effort for my legs to move 21.1 km (we cannot forget the last
killing 100 meters).
I said, “I have already written
to the organizers. After all it is only a computer program and WIPRO is
involved. It is just a question of reading it out.”
I had actually written to the
organizers of all the races I planned to run. The dream runners and the
Hyderabad runners implemented the suggestion and there were separate categories
for the oldies. Your results also gave
you a category rank. Very encouraging. You knew your position as compared to
your peers, not the nimble 20 somethings.
On the day of the Chennai
marathon the compere announced “there are 80 seniors running.”
“Oh “ I thought “they have
realized the value of encouraging “senior citizens.”
When the results came out
there were no age categories. Even the gutsy 12 year old who ran was not in a
category. We were all ranked in 50 pages of continuous names!
The rest of the marathon was
well organized but this was disappointing and inconsiderate.
Mr. Azim Premji are you
listening?
After all you are an older
man!
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