October 8 is Air Force Day, and it brings back many happy memories. Exactly 40 years ago, on October 8, 1985, my father, retired Air Marshal P V Iyer, then 55 years old, arrived in Delhi leading a contingent of about 250 runners from the Indian Air Force, along with a few special invitees, on a run all the way from Agra. They covered a distance of around 220 km in three-and-a-half days — an average of about 65 km a day. The run culminated at the sports grounds of Air Force Station, Palam, on Air Force Day, with the “Running Air Marshal”, as my father was known, leading the contingent and, in front of a huge audience, handing over the Air Force flag to Air Chief Marshal Denis LaFontaine, who was then Chief of the Air Staff.
To add to the glamour of the event, the Air Marshal had invited three celebrities who were also outstanding athletes to join the run. These were Asha Agarwal, India’s first woman marathoner, Ranjit Bhatia, a Mathematics professor at St. Stephen’s College and Devapriya Lahiri, a Rhodes Scholar and Oxford Blue. I, then a young IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre and a former Delhi University tennis player (but not in training for the “crazy” idea of running from Agra to Delhi), accompanied the runners in a jeep, much to the amusement of my father’s team.
A lot of meticulous preparation had gone into the run’s organisation. The Air Marshal, himself a logistics expert, had planned everything to the last detail, including the selection of about 250 Air Force personnel of all ranks and their training regimen for a gruelling run needing the equivalent of almost two marathons a day for three-plus consecutive days. The planning involved transporting the runners from all over India to Agra two days before the kickoff on October 5, the logistics of arranging food and water along the route, the medical and first aid support, and the meals and lodging along the way for such a large contingent. The planning also involved organising the entertainment and a musical evening every night at the stopover points for the weary runners.
The running plan was simple: Two running sessions a day, one starting early in the morning for about four to five hours, followed by a lunch break, then another three to four hours in the afternoon, followed by a night halt en route. Flagged off by Air Marshal M L Sethi, Air Officer Commanding in Chief of the Air Force Maintenance Command, against the backdrop of the majestic Taj Mahal on the morning of October 5, the first night stop was at Mathura. But early the next morning, there was a surprise. About 30 runners, sore and weary after the gruelling 60 km run from Agra to Mathura, dropped out. Not a little shaken by this, the remaining 220 gamely continued on the much longer (about 80 km) Mathura-to-Palwal leg the next morning. By the end of the second day, at Palwal, almost everyone, including Agarwal, Bhatia and Lahiri, was bone-tired and wondering if they could continue on the third leg to Faridabad. The Air Marshal tried his best to keep everybody’s spirits up and joked at the evening meal that if an “old man” like him could keep it up, all the youngsters should have no problem. Another 20-odd runners, however, did not show up the next morning for the Palwal to Faridabad leg. But the Air Marshal continued to motivate the remaining runners by literally leading from the front. By the time the 200 runners reached Faridabad and halted for the third and last night, they were weary but battle-hardened and determined to complete the last leg from Faridabad to Palam, Delhi.
The final leg, on the morning of October 8, was the relatively “short” 30-km run from Faridabad to Palam, which by now seemed like child’s play to the “veteran” 200 runners. There was much cheering by the bystanders along the route and of course huge applause when the runners filed into the Air Force stadium at Palam. “Well done, Iyer” said Air Chief Marshal LaFontaine when the Air Marshal handed over the flag to him, to which the response was “glad to be able to finish on Air Force Day, sir”.
On another Air Force Day, many years later, the now 89-year-old Air Marshal Iyer had the privilege of meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Air Force Day reception at Air House on Akbar Road. He was thrilled to be introduced to the PM and smartly saluted him. The PM was kind enough to spend a few minutes chatting to the Air Marshal, which so thrilled the latter that he went home and promptly had a glass of whisky to celebrate.
Today, as we celebrate another Air Force Day, the Air Marshal’s family and friends, and most of all, the members of the once in a lifetime Agra-Delhi Run team, wish the Air Marshal — still doing three hours of running and fitness a day — a very happy 96th birthday at the end of October, and many more Air Force Days to come.
The writer is India’s executive director at the World Bank. Views are personal
