HYDERABAD: Running need not be a serious affair, as was witnessed at the recent Relay Run by the Hyderabad Runners Society at Necklace Road recently. The society, a seven-year-old group with over 4,500 online members striving to inculcate running as a fun and fitness activity, at Necklace Road. The teams turned up in costumes and the themes runners displayed on Sunday morning brought their creativity and fun element. One got to witness various unique and meaningful themes; especially the three winning teams out of 80 plus teams showcased the spirit of creativity, teamwork and sportsmanship.
Best Costume: Yolo Jatara
The winner of the best costume team Yolo Jatara says, “Yolo is a small group of running enthusiasts who believe that running is happiness. In fact, for us ‘running is a festival’...hence we named our team Yolo Jatara. For people of Telangana what is a bigger festival than ‘Bonalu’? We wanted to showcase the Telangana culture and yes, the message of ‘Running is Happiness’ through this relay race,” they said.
Second Best Costume: Aam Runners Party
We believed that fitness is also a ‘movement’ and that was the genesis of the team name idea: Aam Runners Party (ARP) says Serene County Runners. Key elements of the prop were the ‘cap’, the ‘muffler’, the ‘chashma’, the ‘moustache’, the ‘jhadoo’ and even the ‘coughing’! We decided to make the props ourselves by getting poster papers, roped in our kids for cutting the sheets for caps, picked the ‘chashmas’ from whoever we could to reinforce the message via caricature.
The female members in our team came with the idea that they would wear the big artificial moustache and the large frames of eye-glasses. And that worked brilliantly and just as expected the caricature got amplified. The final bit of ‘creativity’ happened when we realized that in the hurry to start for the event, we forgot the jhadoos back home. Guess who helped us: The cleaning staff of GHMC at the Necklace road railway station.
Third Prize Winners: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
They were the cowboys looking for the treasure of gold coins.... and so, the team was decided --- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. “We had decided to make use of the stuff available around the house rather than renting/buying stuff. The better halves took over and very resourcefully managed to dress us all. bang.... bang...... bang,” say proud Secunderabad Runners.”
About Hyderabad Runners:
The baby steps covered shorter runs before the half and full marathons made their place on the map. Their mission is to promote active lifestyles amongst the public and make running as the preferred form of fitness activity in and around the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.