Day: December 4, 2019

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BENGALURU BAGS TWO INTERNATIONAL ULTRA-RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Illustration: Shyam G Menon

IAU approval for bids submitted, received.

The 2020 IAU 24H Asia and Oceania Championships and the 2021 IAU 100 km Asia and Oceania Championships have been allotted to India, International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) said in a statement dated December 4, 2019, available on its website.

“ We are very pleased to announce that the 2020 IAU 24H Asia and Oceania Championships and the 2021 IAU 100 km Asia and Oceania Championships were granted to Bengaluru, India. The 24-hour Championships will take place on 18th – 19th July 2020.  The 100 km event is scheduled for September 2021 (final date to be confirmed).

“ The IAU, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and NEB Sports (responsible for the race organisation) invite all Asia and Oceania Federations to send their Athletes to the events. The GIS and Invitations will be send in due time. It is our expectation that this Championship will be the starting point for a new stage in the development of ultra-distance in the region. India has never held an international ultra-distance championship organised by IAU,’’ the statement said.

“ We are delighted to take our next two Asia & Oceania Championships to India. India sent their first team to the IAU Trail World Championships in 2017 and has quickly risen in the world ultra rankings both on trails and the roads. Ultrarunning is quickly growing on the subcontinent and we are excited to further advance our sport in the region by bringing our continental champs to the area. I thank the Athletics Federation of India and the team of NEB Sports for submitting very good bids and I am confident that these will be two outstanding championships,’’ IAU president, Nadeem Khan has said.

“ It is our pleasure to welcome the International Ultra Runners for such a prestigious event hosted by AFI in India,” Nagaraj Adiga, CMD, NEB Sports was quoted as saying in the statement.

Bengaluru, the capital of India’s Karnataka state, is located on the Deccan Plateau at an elevation of over 900 m (3000ft) above sea level. Compared to other big cities in India, it has a relatively moderate climate. IAU’s decision follows a site visit to Bengaluru some months ago.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai.)

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LIMITLESS

Limitless; film poster

Every morning you see people running. Seen as movement, it is near similar. As story, each runner is different. Limitless, a film about women and running, chronicles a few of these stories. We spoke to some of the amateur runners featured in it and the team behind the film.

In February 2019, Seema Verma participated in the 50 kilometer-race at Tata Ultra Marathon in Lonavala, near Mumbai. She finished third in her age category of 18-44 years.

Currently a resident of Nallasopara, Seema, 37, was left to fend for herself by her husband. He deserted her. She worked as a domestic help for several years eking out a living for herself and her son. In the early days, she had to lock her toddler son at home and go to work. In the documentary film Limitless, she breaks down as she reminisces about those traumatic days.

The film (currently available on Netflix) features the stories of eight women and their foray into running. Seema is one of them. She started running in 2012; around the same time, she also started learning karate. Her employer introduced her to the concept of marathon.

She took to running seriously and over the years has managed to get podium positions in some of the races that she participated in. She has now stopped working as a home worker and focuses on training for middle-distance and long-distance running. She is currently sponsored by EbixCash World Money. The prize money that she earns from running races helps supplement her income.

Seema Verma (Photo: courtesy Seema)

Going ahead, she was slated to run the 2019 edition of Vasai Virar Mayor’s Marathon and the 2020 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon. She is on the constant lookout for running events where the possibilities of podium finish are high.

Kolkata-based Anuradha Dutt started running in 2011. “ Running is the best thing which happened to me after our son came into our lives. It keeps me positive, sane and most importantly it has made me fearless,’’ she said. Encouraged by her husband, she was one of the early women in town to take to wearing sports bra and shorts for running. Women would often come up to her and compliment her for her fit body and attire. “ A couple of years ago at a race in Mumbai an unknown lady came up to me at the finishing line and praised me for carrying my stretch marks so gracefully,’’ she said.

Anuradha wants to train harder and ensure that she stays injury free in the process. She is the Project Co-ordinator of Interlink Calcutta, an institution for the differently abled. “ Running is a form of therapy for differently abled students and more students taking to running keeps them positive and strengthens their self-belief,’’ she said.

Viji Swaminathan, a Chennai resident, was worried about her weight, which led to confidence issues. “ I weighed over 100 kilograms. I decided to start walking. While walking I would run from one lamppost to the next and slowly got into running,’’ she said. Running was the best thing that happened to Viji, a classical dancer. She was never into sports. Her first running event was Bengaluru 10K, held in May 2012. Two months later, she participated in Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM).

Viji Swaminathan (Photo: courtesy Viji)

“ My best running years were during 2012-2014. After 2015, I have been plagued by injuries,’’ she said. Nevertheless, running is an integral part of her life now. She also has a fitness group, UNIS (Unleash your Inner Strength) Running, aimed at a lifestyle focussed on being fit.

Anuradha and Viji are among the other women featured in the documentary film, Limitless, which showcases stories of women from varying backgrounds; the challenges and triumphs they faced during their foray into running. The other woman runners featured in the documentary are Karishma Babbar, Mandira Singh, Monica Becerril Mehta, Sharada Venkataraman and Saloni Arora.

Limitless was conceptualised and funded by IART (Indian Amateur Runners Trust). The finance for the film was arranged through an informal crowd-funding approach. IART put out a call across India to women to write in their stories about running. Women from across the country wrote in to share their experiences and these were curated in a manner that showcased a diverse mix of stories from different cities and socio-economic backgrounds, said Vaishali Kasture, amateur runner, corporate executive and trustee of IART.

Vrinda Samartha (Photo: Latha Venkatraman)

“ Women face a lot of constraints and challenges in everything, especially in running. Every time a woman gets out on a training run, she has to manage many things on the home front – plan food, manage school-going children or adolescents and sometimes elderly parents, not to mention – manage their own employment,’’ said M.S. Dileepan, amateur runner and trustee of IART. Shooting the film was a logistics challenge as the team had to work on a shoe-string budget with hired equipment. “ Each of the shooting schedules had to be completed in a limited time,’’ Vaishali said.

IART did most of the work for the production and exhibition of the film, said Ashok Nath, Bengaluru-based running coach and trustee of IART. The trust arranged for all approvals, organised fall film premiers and media meets. The production work was assigned to Believe Films, a film production house. The film has found fresh momentum after its debut on Netflix in October this year, its director Vrinda Samartha said.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai.)

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DIAMOND LEAGUE: YOHAN BLAKE SAYS NEW FORMAT RISKS DAMAGING ATHLETICS

Yohan Blake (This photo was downloaded from the athlete’s Facebook page and is being used here for representation purpose. No copyright infringement intended)

Diamond League is just an example. As broadcast begins to shape the contours of sport, there is introspection for the media also to do.

The ongoing controversy about the Diamond League’s exclusion of certain disciplines found fresh fuel with ace Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake pointing out that the move risked damaging athletics.

At a press conference in Mumbai earlier this week, he pointed out that the omission will impact athletes’ livelihood. According to reports published in the Indian media, Blake said (with reference to the decisions made regarding the Diamond League) he was unsure if Sebastian Coe, president, World Athletics (formerly International Association of Athletics Federations / IAAF) was trying to build athletics or kill it. Blake is a specialist in the 100m and 200m (he is the second fastest man yet over these distances); the 200m is among disciplines affected (at least in the short term) by the restyled Diamond League format. Blake’s view on the subject was reported by leading domestic media outlets like Times of India, The Hindu and Indian Express.

The IAAF Diamond League, Wikipedia says, is an annual series of elite track and field competitions. The series began with the 2010 Diamond League. It was designed to replace the IAAF Golden League which had been held annually since 1998. While the Golden League was formed to increase the profile of the leading European athletics competitions, the Diamond League’s aim was to enhance the worldwide appeal of athletics by going outside Europe. In addition to the original Golden League members (except Berlin) and other traditional European competitions, the series now includes events in China, Qatar, Morocco and the United States.

The new Diamond League format was approved by the IAAF council in early 2019 at a meeting in Doha. Among the first to voice concern about the revamped format was Athletics Kenya (for full report please try this link: https://shyamgopan.com/2019/04/02/possibility-of-5000m-still-alive-in-new-diamond-league-format/). In March 2019 they wrote to IAAF about the exclusion of distances longer than 3000m. Athletics Kenya was particularly concerned by the exclusion of any event longer than 3000m from the Diamond League program next year and the reduction in the number of meetings from 14 to 13. They sought, and received assurance from IAAF that Kenyan and other East African athletes, who feature prominently in 5000m races, would not lose competition opportunities due to this process.

The IAAF confirmed that the absence of the 5000m from the official Diamond League program would not preclude individual Diamond League meetings from running the event outside of the 90-minute international broadcast window and that several meetings had already shown interest in hosting the 5000m. It was explained that the IAAF’s market research showed that producing a series that consistently featured the best athletes competing against each other was a key factor in improving the appeal of the Diamond League for broadcasters and fans. At the same time the 5000m runners, coaches and agents consulted during the process indicated that they were unlikely to run six races over that distance in the Diamond League series (in 2018 no leading athlete ran more than two 5000m races during the regular Diamond League season). The 3000m distance was selected because it was more likely to attract the best distance talent more regularly. As a consequence, distance runners will have the option of running up to seven 3000m races (including the Diamond League Final), plus additional 5000m races, across the season, an official statement from IAAF issued in the context of Athletics Kenya’s letter had said.

Even as the drama of World Athletics versus athletes over the new Diamond League format plays out in the media, it is important to note that a critical component inspiring the changes to format is the nature of media itself. This became clear in an official IAAF statement from November 2019 (for an overview please click on this link and scroll down to find relevant article: https://shyamgopan.com/2019/11/07/at-a-glance-november-2019/). According to it, the largest consumer survey yet by the Diamond League showed that it’s most popular disciplines were the 100m, long jump and high jump followed by pole vault, the 200m and 400m. “ Popularity of athletes, head-to-head competitions and excitement of the individual competition were cited as reasons for the choice of the most popular events in the largest consumer survey into the disciplines hosted in the IAAF Diamond League. Representative online research carried out in China, France, South Africa and the USA; post-event surveys in Belgium, Great Britain and Switzerland and click-throughs on Diamond League social media videos during 2019 helped guide the Diamond League General Assembly, made up of all meeting directors, to decide which disciplines will be part of 2020 season,’’ the statement said.

This photo was downloaded from the Facebook page of IAAF Diamond League. No copyright infringement intended.

According to it, as a result of the research, and the decision taken earlier in the year that only 24 disciplines (12 male / 12 female) will form the core disciplines at all meetings, eight disciplines (4 male and 4 female) will not be contested during the 2020 Diamond League season. These disciplines are the discus, triple jump and 3000m steeplechase – three events that currently sit towards the bottom of the research conducted – and the 200m, which the Diamond League organizers felt would be too congested alongside the 100m, particularly in an Olympic Games year. Following a detailed review of the schedule for the 90-minute broadcast window of the Diamond League, both the 200m and the 3000m steeplechase will be included in 10 meetings (5 male and 5 female) in the 2020 Diamond League season, including Oslo, Rome, and Doha. Two meetings will also feature discus and triple jump (1 female and 1 male). However, none of the four disciplines will feature in the Diamond League Final in 2020, the statement said.

“ Our objective is to create a faster-paced, more exciting global league that will be the showcase for our sport. A league that broadcasters want to show and fans want to watch. However, we understand the disappointment of those athletes in the disciplines not part of the 2020 Diamond League season,’’ the statement quoted IAAF Diamond League chairman Sebastian Coe, as saying. Needless to say, two days later, on November 8, the media reported that world champions in the 3000m steeplechase, Kenya’s Conseslus Kipruto and Beatrice Chipkoech, had expressed disappointment in the Diamond League’s decision. They said that the move could affect their career. At the Olympics, Kenya has been the most successful nation in steeplechase.

According to media reports, Blake was in Mumbai to promote Road Safety World Series, a T-20 cricket tournament. He plans to commence an athletics training program in India, the reports said.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.)