Opinion Securing 42 kms,a marathon task
Boston's marathon course has a back-breaking upclimb called 'Heartbreak Hill',where lactic acid floods muscles and spirits break from exhaustion
Bostons marathon course has a back-breaking upclimb called Heartbreak Hill,where lactic acid floods muscles and spirits break from exhaustion. On Monday,some who came to admire this celebration of running went home with no legs,after trauma docs at the blasts site reported several amputations. Cruelly placed at the start-finish lines,the bombs would have torn into souls that seek balm in the thrill of finishing the 42-km gruelling course after the heartbreak of that steep hill.
The breathtaking vista of the CST against a January blue sky in Mumbai,is a backdrop to the heart-warming stories of the citys own marathon. It is also an incredibly vulnerable event every year; organisers always lauding Mumbai police efforts in pulling off the nightmarish assignment,given that gatherings spread across the city can run into ten thousands.
Navy helicopters never stop hovering,but no ones under any illusions of lasting safety amidst those dazzling Victorian buildings of Mumbais Town,and cops stay on their toes. For the challenge of securing the uniquely scopious sporting event like a marathon is enormous.
Numbers are colossal,access controls difficult to monitor,and its humanly impossible to sanitise everyone who at the finish – spectators,runners,organisers and volunteers over the 21 km back-and-forth stretch,the sensitive perimeter several more sq. metres.
Rock concerts,protest rallies and religious gatherings have gated security checks,but marathons balance safety with the need to get in enthusiastic (yet unpoliced) spectators. London,running this Sunday is reviewing its entire security,but not dissuading anyone from staying away.
Cops even find counter-measures at IPLs frustrating because of Indias VIP-syndrome where a section grudges check-up routines,and people citing encumbrance turn un-cooperative. Baggage,people and litter lies around at finish lines,and its an onerous event to police,given you cant excpect runners to compete in high-security cages unlike controlled entries to stadiums.
Earlier on April 6,2008 at the Sinhala and Tamil New Year Marathon,a suicide bomber had killed 15 athletes and injured 90 others. But the tragedy at Bostons iconic race means marathons will never be those free-spirited races again. Ever.
Shivani is a special correspondent based in Mumbai
shivaninaik@expressindia.com
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