Chennai: While watching runners pass by in groups on Sunday mornings might have become as trivial as the milkman turning up at the doorstep for residents of Besant Nagar, the group of runners who sprinted past homes and the quiet lanes of the beachside neighbourhood this Sunday left locals and bystanders gasping.
From leg amputees to survivors of bypass surgeries to septuagenarian bound marathoners, around 5000 runners from across the city participated in the Dream Runners Half Marathon to the loud cheer and hoots of a lively audience. The marathon was open to all and sundry but some of the participants set the pace of the 21 and 10 km run just apart.
Among them was E Gokul, a 20 year old MBBS student and a below knee amputee who was at the start line with six others, also on prosthetic legs.
“This is the fourth time I am taking part in a marathon," Gokul told this newspaper. Speaking of his friend Shameer who is a above knee amputee and was taking part for the first time he said, “It is difficult to run on prosthetic legs. Blades are much more comfortable. The chances of getting injuries are higher with prosthetic as there is a lot of pressure but with practice we can overcome it."
Shameer Assan concurred and said that it was indeed painful after a few kilometers. “But I kept up my confidence and the completion of the marathon has become a milestone for me," he said.
Gokul adds, “I lost my legs in a an accident in class eight and took to running two years back after being encouraged by the story of Major DP Singh.”
Major D P Singh, a retired army officer from New Delhi who has been a legend in the marathon circuit after taking part in various marathons across the country, started a group of blade and prosthetic runners called the Challenging Ones.
"Chennai has taken to running in the past three years. It started off in 2008 but back then Chennai was more of walkers city. But gradually the trend has been running. Many of us in the group have families and why should healthy living be constrained to only one? So we promote the idea of family running," said Dinesh Victor, one of the organsiers.
