AFMC Marathon – A Labor of Love and Passion

 

AFMC Marathon – A Labor of Love and Passion

 

As we get into the preparation for this years’ edition of our own, AFMC Marathon, It is time to look back on this amazing journey, one that we all should be so proud of.

While some of the cadets did run amazingly long distances, it was in 2015 that the “AFMC Marathoners club” was born when a few runners with a small nudge decided to get together and start running as a team and form a club of men, separating them from the boys who ran shorter versions.




Fig – the Club Logo and The first “Club Run”

We slowly grew from strength to strength as we infected others with this awesome running bug.

Idea of starting our own marathon event came up with ILLUMINATI 2017, when I also happened to be the OIC Student Scientific Society, and we planned to host the first AFMC Marathon labelled innocuously as a “Health Run” and had 21k, 10k and 5k, organised by “RunBuddies” a local event organising team.



The First AFMC Marathon 2017

We even went to local Pune events, running with our flags and promoting our own event, asking the locals to participate.



It was a great success, but we had to shell out some money out of our funds and that got difficult to repeat.

Now all we needed was someone who could organize it for us for free, as it’s too tough to fund such an event in a Fauji institution. So for 2018 event, I requested NEB Sports who were already a big name in Marathon organizing and were happy to do it complimentary for a Fauji institution, that too a medical college. This was a first for a medical college in the country to have its own marathon event.

Then Dean, the energetic and sporting, Maj Gen Madhuri Kanitkar agreed to the proposal, and we went ahead and that’s how the 2018 edition happened, in a huge way, on a national scale with 42k added and AIMS certification to make it a Boston qualifier event.

The inauguration was a big show with our stars Pratyusha (A3) and Rahul Moun (A3), and Legend, Rangan Sir being presented their Bibs.


Inauguration – Bib Presentation AFMC Marathon 2018




I was happy to run too, a 21k, finishing strong and happy to have got the event to college.


Thererafter,  there was no stopping us. Event in 2019 was even bigger.



2020 edition was cancelled due to Covid first wave and 2021 happened on a virtual mode. I was happy to run in Delhi with the college on my mind.



AFMC Marathon 2021 (Virtual)

For 2022 edition , I tried my best to bring it back to the college, but due to some miscommunication between NEB sports and College authorities, the event was moved out last minute into Pune city and renamed Pune Marathon, stripped of the AFMC tag.

Myself and a few cadets went to the event and ran , infact some of our cadets ran 42k, and two of them ran 60k as well (They ran 18k from AFMC to the start point)😃.

2023, I was happy to be posted back to AFMC and bringing back the Marathon to college was my priority. The college higher ups were very co-operative, and it surely was back with a bang.  We were back!




And now it’s time for the 2024 edition and I am sure it will be even bigger and better.

Let’s make it happen and ensure that it remains in the college forever and grows from strength to strength.




It is our Gen-next that needs to take it forward and I am sure they will!

Long  Live AFMC Marathon!!

Comments

  1. Arun RajaramanJune 13, 2024 at 11:03 AM

    I have fond memories of running the half marathon in 2018 & 2019!

    ReplyDelete

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