Indian Faces Among the Chevron and Aramco Marathoners

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: The Houston Marathon certainly has come a long way from when it started in 1972 with a field of 113 runners who ran through a 5-mile loop at Memorial Park. The winners then were Danny Green in 2:32:33 and Tanya Trantham in 5:11:55. This past weekend, on Sunday, January 15, the course, now called the Chevron Houston Marathon, wound through downtown, Greenway and Uptown before heading back to finish at Discovery Green, a typical 42.2km or 26.2 miles course.

The winners of the full-marathon were for men, Kenya’s Dominic Ondoro clocking 2:12:05 and for women Meskerem Assefa of Ethiopia, coming in at 2:30:18. In the Aramco Half-Marathon (21.1km or 13.1miles), among women, Veronicah Nyaruai Wanjiru of Kenya won in 67:58 and among men, Leonard Korir of the United States came away with a time of 61:14.

In 1972, Houston’s population was about 1,250,000 and the number of desis were measured only in the low hundreds and none of them participated in the marathon. Fast forward 44 years, and the Bayou City has grown to 2,232,000, the desi population now is estimated at around 150,000 in the five county area and there were at least as many desi runners in this year’s marathon as all those who ran in 1972!

The number of desi runners has only been increasing over the past two decades as more of them take up running – and other endurance races – as a sport. Just through a rough sampling of common Indian last names which registered for the 2017 marathon, there were in excess of 150 desis who participated in Sunday’s marathon in all the ten types of races that were run.

Among them were the constant runners, Dr. Kuldip Kaul of Clear Lake and Dr. Sanjay Sharma of Houston. Kaul has also participated in the MS100 bike race to Austin and Sharma took part in two races this time and has also been running other marathons and the Ironman Race over the past three months. Dr. Randeep Suneja of Katy, who has been running marathons in Houston, Katy and New Delhi with very little preparation, even took to sending a live Facebook feed during his half-marathon run!

So, maybe the other story in this is that the desi community is ready for a marathon of its own, with corporate sponsorship from some large firms like Infosys, Tata Consulting, Mahendra and other local giants! And the proceeds could go to some deserving local charities or groups! It’s an idea whose time has come!!

2017 Houston Marathon 

HOUSTON: It was warm and muggy at 7 AM at start of the race. The temperature stayed in mid 60s and it was overcast and a bit windy most of the day. About 3 hours into the race it rained hard. The Houston Marathon organizers had warned the runners of these weather conditions and advised caution even to the extent of saying not to push for the personal best in timing. As it turned out, the weather did not affect performance and enthusiasm that badly. A determined group of Indo Americans were out in open space, running and walking, and making their presence felt at the 46th annual Houston Marathon on Sunday, Jan 15, 2017.

The Chevron Houston Marathon is a world-class event happening right at our doorsteps; it attracts athletes from over 40 states in the US and many countries around the globe. The 2017 Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon featured 27,000 registered participants, 7,500 volunteers and over 200,000 spectators, making it the largest annual single-day sporting event in Houston. The 27,000 is split evenly between Full Marathon (26.2 miles) and Half Marathon (13.1 miles). The 5K race was held the previous day for better crowd control and management. The Marathon starts and ends at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. The guaranteed prize money for the Full Marathon first place was $45,000 and for the Half Marathon $20,000. It is the same amount for men and women.

Of the 4 top purses, this year, 2 of the top prizes were won by Kenyans, one by an Ethiopian and one by an American. The Houston Marathon is also a charitable event; the runners and the organization raise money for many area charities.

Each year the organizers make some changes. This year the route was the same as in 2016 except for the home stretch in downtown. The arrangements for the flow of such a large number of runners at start and on finish inside the George R Brown Convention Center were outstanding. Security precautions were very visible. The organizers deserve high praise for the management of the race.

A casual scanning and observation suggested the participation from the Indian American community this year has grown after being steady for a number of years! Facebook postings are on the rise. There were many young runners as well as veterans. There were quite a few Indo American volunteers at the water and Gatorade stations on the course. In particular there were many youngsters helping out as volunteers.

The Houston Marathon is very popular but has limits on how many can sign up. For the Jan 14, 2018 Marathon, the registration was already open on Jan 15, 2017, but open just for 5 days for first 10,000 registrants. It will open again in May and Jun in stages until sold out. For the last 12 years the marathon has been a sell-out. The details are at the site www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com. Organizations like USA Fit and Fort Bend Fit will help getting trained. Email SeshBala@hotmail.com to learn more about Houston Marathon participation.