If you were in the vicinity of Gurugram’s Cybercity on March 4, you would not have missed witnessing the energy exuded by runners as well as enthusiastic bystanders. The reason for this excitement was the seventh edition of the IFFCO-Tokio Starry Night Marathon, which was hosted ahead of the International Women’s Day by the Aravali Trail Blazers (ATB)— an informal community of multiple running groups across Delhi-NCR. This marathon was more than just a race. Women as well as their supporters congregated to celebrate the female community’s strength and resilience.
Talking about how ATB came into being, Umesh Gupta, who co-founded the community with Vineet Agrawal, shares, “Prior to when we started about ten years ago, most of the runs were such where runners were not treated well. The purpose of this venture was to give a better experience to the runners, and also give them the opportunity to do events with a difference.”
The idea behind Starry Nights, mentions Gupta, is to show “symbolically that Gurugram is safe for women, who are more vulnerable than men, even at night”. He adds, “Apart from runners who want to enjoy the night, we have nearly 50% participation from women in our events.” The organisers mention that this year, the plan was to take this event to the next level: “This is the global year for gender equality for a sustainable future. We adopted the tone of tenor of this theme. What we tried to do this time is to create awareness about the laws for women and also talk to the community about various government schemes that are women-centric.”
More than a run
The runners in this marathon—which had about 2,000 people running three distances of 5km, 10km and 21km— varied from seasoned athletes to those from the armed forces as well as amateurs.
Among the many highlights of this marathon were the multiple performances by the CRPF Women Daredevils. “The marquee was when the CRPF Daredevils performed what they did at the Republic Day Parade. This included going through the ring of fire, the rifle parade, as well as the women’s piper band. The crowd was so excited as it is such a unique thing,” concluded Gupta.