Report by Santanu Ganguly: A faceoff between some of the world’s fastest track athletes and their road running counterparts will feature the TCS World 10K Bangalore 2014, the seventh edition of the World’s Premier 10K Run, which will be flagged off from the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Sunday, May 18.
In the six years since its inception, the World 10K Bangalore has added to the Garden City’s reputation as a ‘Global Running Destination’. The world’s leading track and long distance athletes will once again descend into the Garden City, where they will be joined by India’s best running talent and thousands from the running fraternity to help Bangalore live up to its reputation as the host city of a major international running event.
The seventh edition, and the fourth under the title sponsorship of Tata Consultancy Services, the TCS World 10K Bangalore, promises to be the biggest and best as yet.
Besides the faceoff between the best of track and road running, the event will also see course record and timing bonuses for Indian athletes, and the launch of a limited edition Official ‘Race Day’ Tee, available exclusively for the participants of the TCS World 10K to add more colour to the 2014 edition.
Continuing to give a further fillip to the event will be Superstar Puneet Rajkumar as the ‘Face of the Event’, who has committed all his support and efforts to help promote the event and propagate the running movement across the length and breadth of Karnataka state.
These initiatives, along with the launch of registrations were announced by Nagraj Ijari, Vice President & Global Head of Hi-tech Vertical, Tata Consultancy Services at a grand launch press conference held at Regency I in the ITC, Windsor Bengaluru, the Hospitality Partner to the event on Thursday. Also present at the occasion was Shri K G George, Home Minister, Govt. of Karnataka and Vishal Jhunjhunwala, Head - Corporate Brand and Events, Tata Consultancy Services).
The favourite of Karnataka’s masses, Superstar Puneet Rajkumar was also present as the ‘Face of the Event’, along with representatives from the Karnataka Athletics Association and city custodians.
Mr. N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD of Tata Consultancy Services, who could not be present at the launch of the event due to prior commitments, had this to say, “Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been associated with the TCS World 10K Bangalore for four years and we are extremely proud of the fact that the event has grown in popularity and stature as the city's premier athletic event. With the citizens embracing this event as their own, we hope to see more and more people participate in large numbers in this year’s run. As an organisation that has a young workforce, we encourage our associates to live a healthy and active lifestyle and a focus on wellness is an important part of our corporate culture. We will have over 3,500 TCSers and their families participating across various categories in this year’s event while promoting our TCS Fit4Life programme."
The city of Bangalore first experienced the magic of running in 2008 when its citizens welcomed the inaugural edition of the World 10K with great enthusiasm. Since then the number of participants has swelled to around 23,000 amid efforts from promoters Procam International, along with support from the partners to the event, to convert fun runners into serious fitness and running enthusiasts and has led to around 11,000 amateurs attempting the full distance in the Open 10K category, last year.
NIKE Official Race Day Tee: For the first time, Nike announced the launch of the official race day tee exclusively for the TCS World 10K Bangalore. To help keep runners dry and cool during the race, this innovative performance tee is made out of 100% polyester, yet has a soft hand feel. It is designed from some of Nike’s most advanced and globally renowned technologies such as the ultra-lightweight Nike Dri-FIT. This limited edition race day tee in a striking bright crimson colour with the words ‘RUN BANGALORE ’ and a gold ‘Swoosh’ will be available for runners to buy at Rs. 795 only.
For more information on where to purchase the tee, participants can log on to nikerunning.in.
New Course record on the cards: A 10K road race demands a high octane combination of endurance and speed and the TCS World 10K Bangalore, 2014 is once again expected to attract the world’s best long distance runners and track & field stars. With the efforts of Procam International and Global Sports Communication (GSC), the Elite Athlete Coordinators, the focus will also be on lowering the existing course records.
Bangalore is thus set for a scorching race on May 18 and an incentive bonus of USD 7,500 is on offer for new course records, if set. The Indian athletes too have an incentive bonus of Rs 2.00 lakh each for men and women, if they lower the existing Indian course records.
There are also timing bonuses for Indian athletes if they miss out on the course records. Any of the Indian men finishing below 30.05 minutes stand to gain a bonus of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 if they finish below 30.15. The Indian women stand to gain a bonus of Rs 1 lakh for finishing below 34.45 and Rs 50,000 if they finish below 35 minutes.
The overall men’s course record stands at 27.51, set by Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse in 2008, while the women’s course record of 31.58 was set by Ethiopian Yimer Wude in 2010. The Indian men’s course record stands at 29.59, set by Kashinath Asawale in 2008, while for Indian women it is 34.32, set by Kavita Raut in 2009.
The DHL Corporate Challenge: This category is open to Corporate teams to make the running experience more fulfilling and competitive for the serious corporate runner. The winning team will now take home Rs 1,00,000, with the runner-up team winning Rs 75,000. The next three finishers will stand to gain Rs 50,000; Rs 36,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively.
The three-member team will need to have two men and one woman, with each member needing to complete the full distance of 10 km. The average of the net finish timings of all three runners will decide the finish positions in this category.
Showcasing Bangalore’s giving side: The charity drive associated with the TCS World 10K Bangalore, spearheaded by Bangalore Cares, the Charity Partner to the event, is poised for a quantum leap this year.
This is in keeping with the trend witnessed over the last six editions of the event, which is a healthy indication that Bangalore has a strong giving side. The amounts raised for charity through the World’s Premier 10K Run had increased from Rs 41.35 lacs in the first year, to Rs 1.31 crores in the second year, Rs 1.41 crores in 2010 and to Rs 1.85 crores in 2011 and Rs 3.06 crores in 2012. The last edition saw Rs 3.71 crores being raised in clearly tracked figures and going by the trend, this edition should see a substantial increase.
In the last six years the World 10K Bangalore has helped generate close to Rs 12 crore towards charity, propelling this event to amongst the largest charity raising events in the state of Karnataka.
The TCS World 10K Bangalore, an event certified by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) is being held under the aegis of the Athletics Federation of India and is supported by the Karnataka Athletics Association. Around 24,000 people are expected to be a part of this momentous event on 18TH May, participating in the eight events of the day.
Continue Reading
