MATHERAN ENDURATHON.

How much can a human body endure?

By Veloscope

August 5^th, 2016

enter asia' s only vehicle free hill station.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, not once you have paid the fees at the entry gate and entered the eco-sensitive zone of Matheran. The beauty is splattered across the region so abundantly, you can’t ignore it, even if for some strange reason you wanted to. Every scene is a sight and each turn of your head a picture frame. Horses, hand carts and horse carts?? Get a taste of how the world would have transported in the last century. It makes you to just stand and allow the feeling to sink in (if you are that kind of a person, you know). The only mode of transport, a toy train that gets you up to Matheran station from Neral at the bottom of the hill had derailed a few weeks back, so a 3 odd kilometer walk along it’s tracks to the small Matheran market was the way forward.

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returning back post-recce

By the time we returned post recce, it had gone dark, the rain was back, we missed a couple of signs and lost our way back to the venue. But that’s a story for some other time.

THE RACE DAY.

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THE DAY STARTS.

Weekend sees a lot of travelers coming in and the local shopkeepers and vendors start their day with the sunrise, so did the volunteers on the route.

BACK TO THE START.

National anthem to wake up the soul and a short session of Zumba to kick out the lazy muscles, the post morning snacks routines took place amidst little drizzle as the start time approached.

When you have a horse to lead out the marathon you can rest assure that this isn’t your usual course to run.

THE JUNGLE AWAITed.

Jokes and fun were left at the start line, atleast till the end of the run. Everyone knew that the route was very tough, through word or mouth or personal recces. A lot of runners had decided not to see the route before they actually took it on. A 12.5 kilometer in and out route, through extremely rocky terrain, water pools, wet slippery mud, water swamps that were to be crossed running on a narrow stone bridge and the foggy mystique of the surroundings itself, the challenge that awaited the runners was serious.

the RAIN showed NO MERCY THIS TIME.

In the first marathon of the series , everyone was lucky to escape the full force of the rain as the major rainfall that day preceded and succeeded the main run with little rains during the actual marathon timings. That wasn’t to be the case this time, 20 minutes past the flag off, the rain came and it came hard. Occasionally wearing off in between,it did stay for the complete race. Umbrellas, rain coats, hats, polythene, everything available was used, but it didn’t really matter, the downpour was relentless. Sooner or later everyone accepted it and realized that the only way to go was to embrace the rain and keep moving.

MONKEY BUSINESS.

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the charlotte lake

4.5 kilometers into the route, the most scenic part of the marathon, Charlotte lake is also a favorite view point for the travelers willing to make it all the way into the forest, walking or on horseback. The marathon had an early start and hence most of the weekend human traffic was avoided, all that was present was covered in green, water or fog.

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ZERO VISIBILITY SCENES.

The beautiful and colorful scenes took at best 5 seconds to get covered with fog and clouds and turn into a steam filled mirror. Mysterious ways of nature, I guess.

the horsemen.

Horses are the only mode of transport inside the jungle area for the ones who don’t want to take the long walk. Scenes from the older Bollywood movies instantly cross the mind.

last run back.

Over four hours of running in the conditions that kept making the remaining kilometers grow longer, the final return lap for everyone was a mix of extreme will power and physical strength combined. The last few steps were always going to be the hardest, but the achievement of finishing this monster of a marathon was something no one was ever going to take away from the runners.

not an easy marathon to photograph.

From the 10 rupees local polythene made raincoats(which did come in very handy), to the plastic camera covers, to umbrellas, to tree covers, the photographers used whatever was available.

definitely not an easy marathon to run.

The wet mud patches, water pools and the overall rocky terrain were runners’ Waterloo, apart from the 50 kilometers distance. Quite a few soles came off and a lot of shoes were ditched,

Different stroke.

Marathons like these are more than just the running and the timings. The experience they bring with them is unprecedented and the realization from this choice of location that the lesser you meddle with the nature, the better chances of a healthy earth we have The amount of efforts put into this one by every single person associated with the marathon were implausible. Another rabbit out of the hat as far as the Run Buddies Club are concerned. With the behind the scene work in making this marathon a success, at a place like this, in the weather conditions so extreme, they continue to outdo themselves. Higher numbers of runners are expected at the third installment of the Monsoon Marathon at Durshet this Sunday, the location is everyone’s favorite and the stakes are higher for everyone. Our bags are packed.