Bangalore’s citizens will Run For Their City in the TCS World 10K Bangalore

In excess of 24,000 people are expected to participate in the 8 events on race day, when the TCS World 10K Bangalore 2013 is flagged off from the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on May 19 and it promises to be the biggest and best as yet.

A strategic tie-up with one of the world’s leading elite athlete management agencies, race categories to encourage the serious runners from the corporate world as well as colleges and universities, course record bonuses and many novel initiatives to enhance the running experience of every participant will herald the TCS World 10K Bangalore 2013.

These initiatives were announced by Mr. N. Ganapathy Subramaniam – Exec. Vice President & Global Head of Emerging Businesses, along with Event Partners at a grand launch press conference held at Regency I in the ITC, Windsor Bengaluru, the Hospitality Partner to the event on Monday. The favourite of Karnataka’s masses, Superstar Puneet Rajkumar was also present as the ‘Face of the Event’, along with representatives from the Karnataka Athletics Association and city custodians.

Mr. N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD of Tata Consultancy Services, who could not be present at the launch of the event due to prior commitments, had this to say, “It is great to see that the TCS World 10K Bangalore continues to grow in popularity and stature as the city's premier athletic event. With the citizens embracing this event as their own, we hope to see more people and their families participating in large numbers in the third edition of the race this year to spread the message about healthy living and wellness in their communities. As an organisation whose philosophy entails promoting an active, healthy lifestyle among our young employee base and the communities we operate in, we are delighted to support this wellness initiative every year in the city.” 

New Course record on the cards: With Procam International enlisting the services of Global Sports Communication (GSC) as the new Elite Athlete Coordinators, the focus will also be on lowering the existing course records

GSC, led by Jos Hermens, one of the world’s leading elite athlete management companies, proved their mettle in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2013, putting together a super-fast field for the race that culminated in new course records being set by the men and women. Bangalore is also set for a scorching race on May 19 and an incentive bonus of USD 7,500 is on offer for new course records, if set. The Indian athletes too have an incentive bonus of Rs 1 lakh if they lower the existing Indian course records.

The overall men’s course record stands at 27.51, set by Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse in 2008, while the women’s course record of 31.58 was set by Ethiopian Yimer Wude in 2010. The Indian men’s course record stands at 29.59, set by Kashinath Asawale in 2008, while for Indian women it is 34.32, set by Kavita Raut in 2009.

The Open 10K Challenge: This category will comprise the DHL Corporate Challenge and the Nike College Faceoff, open to Corporate teams and Colleges/Universities of Bangalore respectively.

The winning team of the DHL Corporate Challenge will take home Rs 1,00,000, with the runner-up team winning Rs 75,000. The next three finishers will stand to gain Rs 50,000; Rs 36,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively.

The three-member team will need to have two men and one woman, with each member needing to complete the full distance of 10 km. The average of the net finish timings of all three runners will decide the finish positions in this category.

The Nike College Face Off will give students an international platform to perform, and run in the footsteps of some of the world’s leading male and female athletes and India’s best for financial gratification, besides pride and glory.

The top three finishers among the boys and girls teams stand to win Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively.

Showcasing Bangalore’s giving side: The charity drive associated with the TCS World 10K Bangalore, spearheaded by Bangalore Cares, the Charity Partner to the event, is poised for a quantum leap this year.

This is in keeping with the trend witnessed over the last five editions of the event, which is a healthy indication that Bangalore has a strong giving side. The amounts raised for charity through the World’s Premier 10K Run had increased from Rs 41.35 lacs in the first year, to Rs 1.31 crores in the second year, Rs 1.41 crores in 2010 and to Rs 1.85 crores in 2011. The last edition saw Rs 3.06 crores being raised in clearly tracked figures and going by the trend, this edition should see a substantial increase.

In the last five years the World 10K Bangalore has helped generate over Rs 8 crore towards charity, propelling this event to amongst the largest charity raising events in the state of Karnataka.