ECR 8

East Coast Run 8

Date : 19 October 2008

Start / End Point : Mayajaal

Distance : 0 to 5 km , 10 km , 15 km, 20 km, 30 km and 35 km

ECR 8 was by far the best organised run from Chennai Runners - We had an event director in Vidyuth who led the show and a bunch of us played the support role ! We had a few 'firsts' with this event - First time we had a sponsor ( in Apollo DKV Insurance ) , First time we had the ambulance support ( from Chettinad Hospitals ), First time we had water / Gatorade support points ( thanks to Pepsi / Gatorade for joining in as the 'Hydration Partner' ) every 2.5 km all the way ( 0 to 35 km route ) and the first time we were on air spreading the running movement in Chennai ( Thanks to the 'Chennai Live' radio station ).  

Despite the very heavy overnight rains, over 50 runners turned up for the run. They were supported by about 15 sooper enthusiastic volunteers! Their energy and encouragement helped a lot of runners stretch beyond the limits.                                                                                             

Here are the 35 km runners, at the start point                                                                                                           

The runners at the start point at 4:45 am

Some of the finishers at the finish line. Enjoying the 'runners high'

Thanks Nithya, Shyam and me at the 15 km point. Nithya ran the 20k along with us ( she went from running nothing at all  to 20 km run , in all of 4 months )

Thats me at the 5 km point..

Personally, i had a good run - the longest since the chennai half marathon. I had only run 5k runs since the chennai half but the weather helped my 20 km run. It was a 'fun' run for me - i started last, after all the groups left and i stopped at all the water points ( every 2.5k ) to chat up with the volunteers. From the 10 km point, i ran along with Nithya and Shyam and exchanged a lot of stories ! We managed to finish the 20km run in 2 hours and 44 minutes. 

After the 'catching up'  with all the runners at the finish line and an 'ok' breakfast at the On-Shore resort at Mayajaal, it was time to head home. Another ECR run down and the run gets better with every edition. All this experience will help us at Chennai Runners to organise our own ' Namma Chennai Marathon' ... very sooon.