The stadium was filled with several thousand people as early as 5.30 am, and the crowd only began to swell as time passed. Even through the route, though many running the half marathon were weary and did a ‘walkathon’ through the 21.097-km distance. Of course, they were really appreciative of the efforts of the top African and Indian runners and egged them on.

There was a fair amount of orderliness throughout the route and also at the stadium, barring the stray incident when a top runner found himself in the midst of traffic.

Once the full and half marathons were completed, it was time for the charity, senior citizens’ and wheelchair events. The charity run may not have had celebrities running but there was a good turnout. BSNL and Herbalife, the two main sponsors of the event, had several hundreds of runners from their companies running for a good cause.

However, the most heartening sights were the senior citizens’ and wheelchair runs. Elderly ladies, many of them in sarees, and gentlemen put up a good effort amidst the reverberating sounds of a rock band and folk dance troupe performing. The wheelchair event was no less exciting with Malathi Holla coming in fourth after the top three places were taken by men.

Former Indian hockey captain MP Ganesh was indeed impressed with what he saw and said: “Like today, corporates should come forward and there should be regular events during weekends.”