BENGALURU: Come April, and it’s time for runners to put their practice and strength on popular courses, including those at Boston and London. But this year will be different, with many of the running world majors postponed or cancelled. Ranjini Gupta was clocking in about 400km of run time a month, all this in preparation for the Boston marathon originally scheduled on April 20, and the London marathon on April 26. And it was a double whammy for the 42-year-old fitness coach, for whom these two marathons were supposed to mark milestones -- with this she would have completed all the six world majors. In addition, it was supposed to be a family vacation to the United States and the United Kingdom.
But things changed swiftly due to the impact of COVID-19. Postponed to September and October, Gupta can only hope that her plan to race on Boston and London soils becomes a reality. “I had an 18-week training plan which I was following closely. But around the 12th week, it was clear that the race may not happen. I was at the peak of training, clocking in a good mileage, and sharpening my focus. So this postponement comes as a disappointment, and training right now doesn’t make sense,” she says.
Runners also point out that the races are in close succession, which means giving their best at both is out of question. Anubhav Karmakar, who had signed up for the London marathon and the Chicago marathon scheduled in October, says now with the re-scheduled dates, he will have to choose the one more significant to him. “It’s not advisable to run the race without recovering from one completely. There’s a difference between an easy and a competitive run. I might not be able to give my best at both,” says the engineering and management graduate who runs a company that provides online consulting to runners, cyclists and triathletes.
With restrictions in place across Bengaluru, some are trying to maintain their fitness levels to avoid starting from scratch once training is a possibility. “I was running around 80-85km a week, but that’s drastically come down to 20-25km a week now,” says Deepti Karthik. The 30-year-old homemaker was to participate in the Tokyo marathon in March, which stands cancelled, and has now signed up for the Boston and Berlin marathons later this year. “The two are happening in a span of couple of weeks, so it’s going to be a challenge,” she adds.
According to Gauri Jayaram, founder of Active Holiday Company, the change in schedule and the added uncertainty has deeply impacted their sales and future bookings. “Our race entries are prepaid and the risk of low demand is ours. With runners being unable to train for a future marathon as well as no firm indication of how international travel is going to look a few months from now, the mood is low and people are hesitant to commit. By now we would be sold out for all the world marathon majors scheduled for the second half of the year but that is not the case even for the premier races,” she explains.