Denis Ndiso of Kenya wins Mumbai Marathon

MUMBAI: Around 6 am in January, the streets of Mumbai are still dark. Walking through Bandra you can’t hear any birds, not even the roosters that
many people still keep, although a call to prayer comes from a mosque. The only others in the streets are newspaper boys, municipal sweepers and a few old ladies on their way to early morning mass at Mt Carmel’s Church. Quite absent are the runners who have been a constant feature in the past few months, practising for the Mumbai Marathon.

And then you turn the corner at Lilavati Hospital, and there they are. A most unusual traffic jam for this time of the morning announces the presence of the official starting point for the half-marathon in the ground in front of Rang Sharada Hotel. Autos driven by bleary-eyed drivers wrapped in shawls against the (for Mumbai) mild morning chill disgorge runners in skimpy shorts and vests, too charged to feel chilly. Some jog up and down on the spot to warm up, while others pin on their numbers, watched by the traffic police, friends and family and slum dwellers clutching lotas who look morosely at the starting point ground where, in true Mumbai fashion, they were used to relieving themselves a few days back.

In some ways this is the best place to see the impact the marathon has had on Mumbai. Proportionately, the number of runners of the full marathon has increased from 2,500 registrations last year to 3,500 this year, and the dream run always has the most runners, with 22,000 people puffing it out this year. Yet the full marathon remains the preserve of the hard-core runners, including professionals like the Kenyans who everyone knows are going to win, and spoken of with awe, almost like they’re a superior species. And the dream run, while it gets the most people, is really just a Sunday free-for-all.

To run all 21 km of the half-marathon though requires real commitment, yet it is not beyond the reach of most people. Given average health and adequate preparation, many people can finish it, and for the past six months many have been preparing to do just that. Last year, 10,000 ran it, this year 11,000 have signed up, and at these Bandra Reclamation grounds they are ready to start, kicking off with the biggest thrill of all — being the first large group of runners to cross Mumbai’s new Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Some are super fit, but many look just healthy and all look ready to go the whole way.

At 6.45 am, just as the sky starts lightening, the gun goes off, and the runners surge out of the gate. A pack of really serious runners quickly separate themselves, and then come the rest, trying not to push and shove, some running with friends, some striking out on their own. Here, this correspondent did the more regular Mumbai thing and went to the station to take a train to the finish line outside CST station, but a friend who did the run tells me of the exhilaration of getting on the Sea Link: “At one point there’s an incline down and as you look ahead you can see the whole bridge packed with the runners. And the sun is coming up over the city and above there’s a helicopter keeping track and as it went over, all the runners waved out to it!”

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Kenya’s World Cup farce

The FIFA World Cup trophy is touring Africa to in the lead-up to the finals in South Africa in June next year. The 225-day tour began on September 21 in Cairo.
Soccer is wildly popular in Africa, even though the best an African team has done in a World Cup is a spot in the quarter-finals. Cameroon achieved the feat in 1990 under the spell of 38-year-old talisman Roger Milla. Senegal made it in 2002. Keen followers of the game here reckon that were it not for suspect refereeing, the two teams might have reached the semis.

The World Cup is one of the most watched global events. New York-based IPG Media, one of the big four global advertising holding companies, reports that the 2006 FIFA World Cup had an average of 95 million viewers per match.

But the World Cup marketing here is defying common sense. Starting in 2006, FIFA in conjunction with Coca Cola launched the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. A press release from FIFA said:

"world football's greatest prize is set to embark on its longest ever global tour, with FIFA and The Coca-Cola Company taking the real solid-gold trophy to 86 countries during a 225-day journey and allowing thousands of fans to enjoy a rare close-up view of the authentic FIFA World Cup Trophy. The trophy will travel 134,017 kilometres (83,274 miles) and visit every nation in Africa (except war torn Somalia) to give African fans the once-in-a-lifetime experience of having their picture taken with the trophy."

There is something ridiculous about a whole continent going gaga about a trophy it has not won. Trophies are for winning, not for goggling at. FIFA calls the trophy soccer’s Holy Grail. But Holy Grail is mythical. There is nothing mythical about the FIFA trophy. It goes to the country that invests in its soccer.

The trophy's sojourn in Kenya encapsulated the absurdity of this 21st century idolatry. Like a VIP, the trophy was received by both President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga at the airport.

These two politicians who -- on paper -- are in a power-sharing arrangement had first to be educated on the protocols of handling the trophy. Only the players of winning teams and heads of states can touch the trophy. So Mr Kibaki, being the head of state, was the only Kenyan who could even touch it. Got it? No power-sharing here.

This tormented Mr Odinga, a keen soccer fan, especially since Mr Kibaki is an avid golfer with no known interest in soccer.

But despite the farcical elements in this comedy, the government’s two-faced stupidity was enough to make you weep.


Only a few months before President Kibaki touched the trophy, his government had withdrawn from a great deal with Coca-Cola. The multinational was to refurbish the dilapidated Nyayo National Stadium, Kenya’s second largest. In exchange, for four years it would become Coca Cola Stadium and wear Coke’s colours. For Coke it was a brilliant marketing opportunity, as competing teams will be using it in the coming months to acclimatize to tropical conditions.

But after work started, the government suddenly reneged. The reason? Nyayo Stadium could not be renamed. The word "Nyayo" is part of the country’s legacy, the Kiswahili word for footprints. It was an emblem of the wish of Daniel Moi, Kenya’s second president, to follow in the footsteps of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, our first president. True to his word, Mr Moi followed in Kenyatta’s footprints. Corruption and cronyism became entrenched in government business. That is the legacy Kibaki’s government wanted to keep alive.


Most of us were incensed. Here were government honchos drooling over a trophy after they had emasculated efforts to give our country a fighting chance of vying for it.

To add insult to injury, any government-funded facility of note is called Kenyatta something or Nyayo something or Moi something. Kenya’s biggest hospital and airport, Nairobi’s largest avenue and Kenya’s second biggest university are called Kenyatta. The country’s largest sports complex and second oldest university are called Moi. Kenya’s stillborn national automobile was the Nyayo car. A failed government bus company was Nyayo Bus. And a building in downtown Nairobi used by Moi’s secret police to torture agitators in the 1980s is called Nyayo House.

So much for the Nyayo legacy.

Thank God for the candour of private enterprise. At least Coke is not cloaking itself in love of country or even love of sport. Coca-Cola Muhtar Kent boss was up-front about his company’s sponsorship. "Our programmes to support the 2010 FIFA World Cup, such as the Trophy Tour, will leave a lifelong impression on consumers that helps to reinforce loyalty and preference for our business and our brands," he said.

So it is all about marketing. Ah, money, the cause that refreshes.

Source:mercatornet.com/