With India's first ever Women's half marathon, DNA rewrites history!

At 6.30AM on March 11, at the BKC Mumbai, when three hundred WOMEN started to run the half marathon, a distance of 21.097 KM, History was created by DNA. The passion and energy levels of the participants was very evident with gusto and eagerness they showed running towards the warm up area.

The theme of the half marathon, I CAN, summed up the attitude of women achievers in various fields. They were present from 5.30 am on cold March morning at the BKC Mumbai to show their determination and grit. These achievers ” be it the youngest Indian woman of 12 years who ran the complete Half marathon to the senior citizens who had completed complete circuit of the 5 Km track. Also by signing up for this event they raised awareness about three social issues that DNA had identified ” Education of the Girl Child, Women's Safety in Public Places and Awareness of Cervical Cancer.

In the words of Mr. Gautam Dalal, Vice President Marketing DNA, "The ability of a newspaper to deliver over 2600 women to register by paying a fee and turning up at the wee hours of Sunday morning, is an absolute testament to the response generating power of DNA. When most marketing pundits were naysayers to this IP citing the reasons of only women, being a Sunday, too early in the morning, it was thus so heartening to see large numbers of enthusiastic women turn up as early as 5 am and get ready to run. While the theme of "I CAN" echoed the sentiment of achievers, yet the form and shape provided by the editorial team in their sustained daily articles over 32 days, as they sourced & crafted stories of ordinary people achieving extraordinary feats, brought in an emotional connect with the readers which got them energized to register and to turn up ."

When asked to the presenting sponsor Stayfree Advanced, Mr. Neeraj Goyal, General Manager Marketing - Johnson & Johnson, he said, "Stayfree® believes in the causes that DNA iCan Marathon is supporting and thus it is pleased to be associating with the initiative. Stayfree believes that by increasing awareness about these causes and supporting them, we are enabling a positive change in the lives of women and the society at large"

The day began with the half marathon being flagged off by the MD & CEO of ZEEL, Mr. Punit Goenka with the General Manager Marketing - Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Neeraj Goyal. It had over 300 participants and the winners of the first & second place were women competing to be in the Indian Squad for London Olympics which is later this year. It was then followed up by a "Spirit run", a distance of 10 km and the response was overwhelming with over 1100 runners participating! They were flagged of by Ms. Aparna Poppat, India's Ace Badminton player. Just as the dust settled after the "spirit runners' had started running, an equal number of enthusiastic runners turned up to enjoy the Sunday morning as they got ready to run the 5 km "Fun Run". This run was flagged off by the athletic Bollywood star DEEPIKA PADUKONE who was present there by 8am. To add to the entire DNA value was a that the Famous "fitness Guru Mickey Mehta' also took them thru the warm up motions.

In the words of Deepika Padukone who was the Bollywood star to wave away the enthusiastic participants, she said, " I am overwhelmed to see such a huge gathering of women and especially being cheered on by the men folk."

Even the celebrity quotient to the fun run was unique with over 50 celebrities from Bollywood, television and even the business honchos were present. While some of the names that ran were Tara Sharma (she won the celebrity fun run!), Payal Rohatgi, Queenie Singh, Nargis Fakhri, Raageshwari Loomba, Shazahn Padamsee, Simran Kaur Mundi, Tulip Joshi, Lina Tipnis. Also to cheer were Anjana Sukhani, Dipannita Sharma, Raell Padamsee, Udita Goswami, Archana Kocchar, Sofia Hayat, etc.

On the side of the Business Achievers we had ladies such as the while even the Wife of the RBI Governor Ms. Urmila Subba Rao running along with the likes of the CIO of the Reliance Communications- Ms. Alpna Doshi, the VP & DGM of Turner Time Warner ' Ms.Monica Tata.

To provide an element of surprise was the performance of FLASH MOB by the students of the "Artists in Motion Studio" at the start of the fun run!

As for another first in India, the event was closed by a performance by Rabbi Shergill whose claim to fame was the number "Bulla ki Jana main kaun"! More than the performance was the absolute phenomenal response of the women who left behind their inhibitions and dance away their tiredness! As always we had the women coming up to the organizers and requesting for the Marathon to be repeated at the earliest. It is this endearing words of encouragement has left us with the conviction to bring back the marathon again and with probably a DNA twist to the theme for the next one.