The NDA marathon experience.

And the NDA Marathon, the worst marathon we’ve attended in the recent past, concluded with a bad experience at the start, massive traffic jams, no food, no water, ignorant volunteers, clueless organisers, total chaotic mismanagement, and at the end, even the wrong running distance!!

Anyway, we did the last km at a really quick 4m:16s, and were happy at the end of it because Aji came to see us, and Baba Bear was at the 300m (from the finish line) mark to shout at us to, ‘BREAK BREAK BREAK, KYM SEND IT. ONE MORE OVERTAKE. ONE MORE, KYM. GO, GO, GO.’ and embarrass us like every single race. We wonder if he realises we run faster just to get out of reach of his rather loud voice, while he thinks it is him who is responsible for our final sprint.

Why was it so bad? Firstly, in the morning, they seemed to have somehow missed that 15,000 registrations would mean perhaps 5,000 cars at the least, over the most narrow and inaccessible entry gate of the NDA instead of the spacious main gate. Then, they decided to let in random cars and not allow random ones, making it a game of chance whether we got parking or were on our own. Thankfully, we had Vikas driving us, and hence, the privilege of getting off at the main gate without worrying about parking.

Once we had somehow made it to the front gate, they denied entry to anyone who wasn’t registered. Aji had to fight with the officer on duty to let us in. Then, they insisted we produce Aadhaar cards. One of the guards even covered our bib and asked us our name (which we fumbled, because, we’re 9, ffs). One more fight. Eventually, we were in. It took us a good 2km walk just to get to the start point, which the volunteers were confused about (ditto end point). There was confusion and the race started (or didn’t, based on who you asked).

The 5km runners had no chips (Why? For that money, surely you can give us an official timing. Also, no one took our name or bib number even though we were the first girl to finish because apparently, 5km was a non-timed ‘fun run’. We kept asking Baba Bear hopefully if there was going to be a prize distribution because we prepare so hard for races like this, and when we are told our timing isn’t important, we’re disappointed).

And, the worst cut of all, when the race finished, everyone who had a watch was aghast that the 5km race only measured 4.08km! So much for professional organisation!

All we are happy about is that we ran a great race. And we are proud of Aji for walking what will be at least 5km by the time we board the car parked all the way outside the gates of the Academy. Just a horrid experience overall.