No city for runners

On any given day, I have between 10 to 15 students training on this stretch, and my concern for their physical well-being is heightened after this accident. Runners are a very careful group, especially those who train in the extremely early hours from 2:30 am onwards. They are mainly ultramarathoners

Mumbai: On Sunday morning, I was on my way back home to Bandra from Malabar Hill, where I was preparing a small group of students for an upcoming marathon in South Africa. I am an ultramarathoner and a running coach, with 38 years of experience in training athletes for track-and-field events, and now long-distance running.

No city for runners

As I was crossing the Worli Sea Face around 8 am, I caught a good glimpse of the car which caused the death of Rajalakshmi Ramakrishnan less than two hours earlier, and I remember thinking to myself, “I hope no one was hurt.”

Ramakrishnan was an avid runner and marathoner, and the news of her accident has caused a flutter among running groups on social media. The stretch between Bandra and South Mumbai is extremely popular with endurance runners and joggers, but is also a treacherous one, as this incident tells us.

On any given day, I have between 10 to 15 students training on this stretch, and my concern for their physical well-being is heightened after this accident. Runners are a very careful group, especially those who train in the extremely early hours from 2:30 am onwards. They are mainly ultramarathoners. Hundreds, if not thousands, of less seasoned runners also practice between Bandra and South Mumbai till 8 am every day.

Unlike athletics, long-distance running requires you to have a deeper engagement with your surroundings and the city’s public infrastructure, like roads, footpaths, traffic and traffic signals. I tell my students to always run facing traffic head on, so you aren’t caught off guard by some speeder coming from behind.

Unfortunately, the never-ending construction work in Bandra, BKC, Worli, Marine Drive and all along the Coastal Road takes a lot of joy away from what is supposed to be a healthy, fun activity for citizens. Footpaths are nowadays covered in paver blocks, which break easily, and create uneven surfaces which are dangerous for runners. So we are forced on the tarmac, which is a huge risk because it literally puts us in harm’s way.

Drinking and driving itself poses a much larger danger. In Andheri recently, a group of my students was verbally harassed by some people who were drunk and driving alongside them in their car. Runners groups have also reported incidents of chain snatching happening in the early mornings. It’s not just a fear of some reckless driver catching you by surprise, there are also other angles to our safety.

Runners, and pedestrians, are an extremely vulnerable group in Mumbai for many reasons. Take air pollution for example, which is extremely bad in the morning along the Coastal Road site when dumpster trucks are most active. Many runners, who are asthmatic, have stopped taking this route. I am myself no longer doing one of my favorite runs, from Bandra to NCPA, because of how unpleasant the surroundings can be.

The author is an ultramarathoner and chief running coach with the marathon-training group Run India Run

(As told to Prayag Arora-Desai)