Mumbai runs its first ultra marathon today

The city's first ultra-marathon will begin on Friday with over 130 participants running for it. The route of the run will be from Shivaji Park-Worli Sea Face-Mela restaurant and back. The run on Independence Day will be held from 5am to 5pm.

With the motto "choose wellness over illness", the run is being organised by Shivaji Park Marathon Club (SPMC) and it is being called "12 Hour Run. Mumbai Ultra".

The run is based on the concept of ultra runs or marathons that are conducted across the globe. An ultra-marathon is any race longer than the classic marathon distance of 42.195km — like the Ironman Triathlon, 6,693 Ultra, A Jungle Ultra and Badwater Ultra Marathon — to name a few.

The distance of the Mumbai Ultra route will be 12 kilometres. Those running for 12 hours will be running in a loop since the length of the route is not long enough for those many hours.

"We had 150 registrations, of which 134 have complied with their medical certificates and other requisites," said Pranav Mehta, member of the club and the brain behind organising the marathon.

To ensure that all medical provisions are in place, the marathon will see around nine ambulances. The organisers will provide insurance cover to each participant to the tune of Rs3 lakh. The organisers also expect that the marathon might just turn out to be the biggest non-commercial ultra marathon of the country.

"From the details that we have, no non-commerical ultra marathon has seen this kind of participation. We have not charged anything to the participants and we have not done so because we will be happier if by reading and watching the run, a few people take to running to improve their health," said Naveen Hegde, another member of the club.