The 34th biggest city in India, on the population metric, Aurangabad is a city to be deeply admired. Here's why: with a population of 11 lakh residents, Aurangabad has had its first city half marathon 2 years back. They managed to do everything: have runners from across the country, organise a flawless race and showcase the best of their city.
Aurangabad's running history mirrors that of the country. The running revolution came to the metros around 2007. What started off as running groups in cities grew to be event organising hubs. People put in extra time after their day jobs to make the first few runs happen. And from there, grew city 10ks marathons, ultramarathons and more!
In Aurangabad, what started as a 1k run, progressed to a half marathon in under 6 months for a bunch of over 40 year old runners. This turned into a running club, that then became the Aurangabad Black Bucks.
Named after the one animal that can outlast the fastest land animal, just by dint of tenacity, this little running group met every week and slowly stepped up mileage and membership. People ran at events across the country, from Ladakh, to Goa, Satara to Mumbai: if there was an iconic race, this gang was in on it, relentlessly raking up the mileage.
As these runners experienced other races, other beautiful routes, they experienced the need to organise their own race, showcasing the heritage, the beauty, the transcendence of Aurangabad, home to the Ajanta and Ellora caves, and the Daulatabad Fort.
As the dream grew, the team picked up great practices from all the races they'd experienced and put together one goal - to make flawless execution happen, invite runners from around the country, and show them a good time.
The race starts near the Daulatabad Fort and the u-turn point is at Ellora caves. How frequently do you do a race where you can say that you started from a UNESCO World Heritage Site and turned around at another?
Expo with everything a runner needs: check
Hassle-free registration and runner management: check
Race money: check
Pre-race warm up: check
Pacers: check
En-route medical support: check
Music to cheer up: check
Finisher medal and glorious finisher photos: check
Piping hot yummy food: check
Volunteers at every step of the way, working overnight: check
New York Marathon didn't become the race that you ran to experience the five burroughs, overnight. Cresting Heartbreak Hill at the Boston Marathon became iconic over many years. What made these things happen was the sincere and consistent efforts by the race organisers to invite visiting runners to relish their heritage, their culture and their uniqueness.
In the energy and spiritedness seen among the Aurangabad Black Bucks, we see a promise of all that greatness. Just give it a dozen or few more editions.
© 2026 Veloscope