THE URBAN PUMA STAMPEDE - PUNE 7th June 2015 - REVIEW

THE URBAN PUMA STAMPEDE - PUNE 7th June 2015. REVIEW.

Distance: 10k

Cost of running: Rs 1000 for a 10k individual run.

What you get: 

A BIB with timing chip with 4 safety pins.

A food coupon that gets you 1 banana, a clumsy sandwich, even clumsier piece of mini cup cake, a Tropicana mix fruit juice pack.

A cloth bag with a rope and a brochure with race timings and route map.

An interesting statement made in their brochure was "Bring your wallet too - there are stalls at the venue". Every attempt was made to sell stuff from Puma, Jabong and Oxford Golf course memberships.

T-shirt: I was really disappointed that there was no T-shirt given. I expected a nice Puma T-shirt, just like the one they gave in the last Puma stampede, Mumbai 2015.

I expressed my disappointment with the organisers upon which I was told that T-shirts were only given to Corporate entries, not other individual entries. The corporates like Accenture seemingly sponsor the run for their employees with huge sums of money.

Then they said that the top 10 finishers get a T-shirt.

The amount of money charged by Puma for a 10km run is very high. They had big sponsors for this event included Jabong and Oxford Golf course.

Turnout: Pretty low. About 800 entries out of which nearly half were from Accenture.

Track: 2.5km x 4 laps. Each lap had a descent and an ascent which was quite considerable. Not sure how much was the total elevation. A route map was shown on the brochure which was basic with no elevation details.

Race timing: The individual 5k and 10k was supposed to start at 5:30 am

At 5:26 they started the warm-up. The race started late. A race which starts late shows poor professionalism. Even the Mumbai Puma Urban Stampede had started late.

A runner is expected to reach on time and an organiser is expected to start the race on time.

The Stage: At 5:26 am the guy on the stage starts the warm up. But guess what, there is no light on the stage. You can hardly see the guy. The light was of course there on the hoardings where Jabong.com was displayed. Sunrise was at 6am.

Water Stations: Yet again Puma disappointed me. Paper glasses were laid out on a table and water was poured into them. Are you serious guys ? You actually expect a runner to stop and drink water from those glasses ? What about runners who do not want to compromise on timings and want to drink water on the go ? Cant you afford small water bottles which one can drink while running ?

I hope they do something about this.

Some of this water was also mixed with energy powders.

Parle G biscuits were also kept along with the water.

Positive observation: Puma has installed Litter bins at various locations. This was a good concept and initiative.

Car Parking: Was sufficient and there were volunteers to guide. Thanks to them.

Medals: Finisher medals were pretty nice and creative. Heads up to that.

Completion certificates: For the relay corporate race, the certificates were available at the counters. The individual runners had to download it from the internet. 

An individual runner often feels discriminated as there is clear divide amongst those who are sponsored by corporates and those who are not. Special counters for them, extra goodies and extra attention during announcements. 

Baggage counter: Available and appreciable.

Timing: Thankfully the timing chip was a light strip attached to the BIB. Unlike earlier Puma marathons where they give a plastic chip to attach to the shoe lace.

No sms was received for the timing recorded.

Traffic: The road was a private road which probably belonged to the Golf course. Unfortunately the traffic was not stopped. Right from tempo's to bikes and cars kept passing by intermittently.

Further comments:

I was roughly running along with a 72 year old gentle man who would often overtake me and hurt my ego. I kept sweating it out and overtook him again when possible. Finally I finished before him but I was amazed at his spirit and fitness. Later I figured that he started running at the age of 62 and has run 25 half marathons in the last 10 years. 

Hats off to his spirit. 

While running, I could read direction signage to 'Flame campus'. Symbiosis college was also nearby. I started imagining the beautiful hangout areas for the college students. The golf course was a huge patch of greenery and you could see constructions popping up on the hill tops.

The weather was nice and cool. Should be about 23 degrees. It rained later in the day. Probably the first strong showers for Mumbai and Pune.

Happy running.

Smile . . . Pass it on

- DEEPAK VINOD PRAKASH GUPTA