Boardroom biggies at Mumbai Marathon: Tata Sons, FB, Viacom bosses put their best foot forward – Economic Times

MUMBAI: “The weather is kind and the whole city is going to be cheering,” said Tata Sons N Chandrasekaran in the early hours of Sunday at Worli, where the temperature at 5 am was just a shade below 20 degrees Celsius; optimum conditions for the Tata Mumbai Marathon.

Next to Chandrasekaran was Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), wearing a red and blue Tata sports jersey.

“All the best to the runners — have a wonderful wonderful race,” Chandrasekaran video tweeted at 4:37 am, about half an hour before Maharashtra tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray flagged off the half marathon from Worli Dairy. The full marathon of 42 km was kicked off at about the same time at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

About four hours later, Chandrasekaran and Gopinathan were posing for photos at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan where the various events ended, having completed the distance comfortably.

Setting Personal Records
Employees from leading corporates took to the streets of Mumbai on Sunday in what’s become an annual celebration of long distance running.

Tata, Bajaj Electricals, Facebook, Bank of Baroda, NPCI, Cipla, Viacom — all had corporate teams in the fray on Sunday at the 17th edition of the event.

The men’s full marathon was won by Ethiopia’s Derara Hurisa, 22, in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 15 seconds, setting a new course record. First among the women was his compatriot Amane Beriso.

The various events — short distances included — had more than 55,000 participants. The full course took runners through Marine Drive, Mahalaxmi Race Course, Haji Ali, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Pedder Road, Babulnath temple and Churchgate before the ending at Azad Maidan.

Other categories included a non-timed Dream Run, one for senior citizens, one for people with disabilities and a timed 10 km event.

Those who managed to meet their goals were quietly elated.

“Running has always been therapeutic for me. Over the years, I’ve shifted focus from trying to set personal records each time to personal victories,” said Gagan Banga, managing director, Indiabulls Housing Finance. “This year, the marathon was afforded great weather and the enthusiasm was infectious. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.” Banga completed the 21-km half marathon in 1 hour and 42 minutes.

Others were happy to keep the company flag flying.

“Proud to finish Tata Mumbai Marathon today as a Barodian from Bank of Baroda and also achieving my personal best timing,” said Sharad Saxena, the lender’s chief technology officer.

Others applied lessons from running to their working life and vice versa.

“Long-distance running involves calibrated planning and rigorous execution; it involves consistent practice and it builds self-awareness and resilience — all of which is highly useful in managing business and teams,” said Siddharth Banerjee, global business leader and director, Facebook.

Cipla Global executive vice chairperson Samina Vaziralli congratulated the team of runners from the company that has swelled in size over the past four years. What started with a mere 10 of us in 2016, today has grown more than 10x stronger,” she tweeted. “Proud to have run alongside 160 marathoners from Cipla Global for whom caring truly runs in their DNA.”