Tata Ultramarathon

A heritage run 150 years in the making

By Veloscope

March 15^th, 2020

Sleepy and beautiful Lonavala woke up on February 23rd, 2020 to an unusual spectacle.

Drums pounded out their beats in the pre-dawn darkness, and then, something entirely unexpected happened

Runners... clearly looking like they were ready to go the long haul... seemed to materialise into the dreamy landscape. There were hundreds of them!

A snapshot spanning 150 years

The Tata Group, with an unparalleled heritage of nation-building has had a big impact in shaping Indian sport. With an unflagging commitment to Indian sport, the Tata Group has been at the forefront of not just the well-known (to us runners, at least), Tata Mumbai Marathon, TCS New York City Marathon, TCS World 10k, etc., but also Tata Open Maharashtra, an ATP World Tour 250 series championship, Tata Steel Chess Tournament, the Invictus Games, Tata Open India Challenge badminton tournament and more... not to mention the various star studded sportspeople through time, that have found safe harbour at the Tata Group, while they take their passion and commitment to sport to its conclusion.

A month after the Tata Mumbai Marathon, comes a new race, which is set to grow in stature in the coming years: the Tata Ultramarathon, in Lonavala.

That is what the locals of Lonavala were waking up to - runners to the left of them and runners to the right of them, trying to do the 50k ultra or the 35k Tata Challenge Run

Why Lonavala?

This is where all your questions about "What's the significance of 150 years?" get answered. A 150 years back, the visionary Founder of the Tata group of companies, Jamsetji Tata set up India's first hydroelectric plant in Lonavala, with the dream to power the city of Bombay (as it was then called) with clean power. He famously said: “Just for a moment think what a glorious city Bombay would be if freed from smoke.”

Make no mistake, a 150 years ago, when the telephone was nowhere close to known consumer technology, hydroelectricity was as high end, glamour-filled, forefront of human scientific endeavour as the thought of Mars colonisation is, now.

“If you start to feel good during an ultra, don’t worry, you will get over it.” - Gene Thibeault

A 50k ultramarathon held a month after the country's beloved Tata Mumbai Marathon is a strategic move to get seasoned marathoners to come back for more. For the half marathoners looking to go those literal extra (few) miles, there's the 35k run.

Set smack in the middle of the race season, this helps set steady and responsible pace for folks looking to graduate to ultra running in the coming race seasons. It gives plenty of time to experience, learn the ways of the ultra, to set up new gear for ultra running, to plan for Comrades or Marathon des Sables, or whatever be your jam.

Runners of evert stripe

The best part of running is recursive inspiration. One might run past a gent in their 70s, doing the 50k and visibly fighting mental demons. Then one is passed, with Cheetah-like grace and speed, by a woman pro athlete. One passes and is in turn passed by all kinds of runners spanning age, gender, and a multitude of other divisive factors. But all one takes away from the experience is being inspired by every single one of them... and in turn inspiring them, and those watching by the sidelines.

As the run winds up and down undulating paths, the runner is often alone with their thoughts. This process is the making of champions. Most of the amateur runners might not aim for (which is entirely different from wishing for), or reach the podium, but every one of them emerges, forged with a will of iron. When the Tata group put those iconic ads out in the 1980s, that listed their various nation-building efforts and ended with a self-effacing, "Ispaat bhi hum banaate hain" , this might not have been the iron they were thinking of forging, but it's a spectacular, if unexpected, result, all the same.