Bangalore has a rich and long heritage of a lasting love for the sport of distance running. As long as 11 years back, a large contingent of men and women, would be found congregating at platform 9 & 3/4 … oh sorry.. at Bangalore Airport {then at HAL}, on the third Saturday of January, using mysterious phrases like, “negative splits”, “ITBS”, “fartlek”. These people were amateur long distance runners —people just like you and me, except, on most mornings, they’d get into running clothes and shoes and push themselves to run longer and harder than the week before. And then do post run stretches, and head to work. At that time, this curious group was making their annual pilgrimage to Mumbai for the annual Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, India’s oldest marathon, and half marathon event.
Cut to present: amateur runners have never had it so awesome! Every weekend, they are spoilt for choice, with running groups, running businesses and event organisers enticing them with all kinds of distances and race formats. So, here’s our definitive guide of running races you shouldn’t miss in and around Beantown!
