Corporate Social Responsibility activity : The half marathon by the Pune FLO FICCI, Magarpatta City

Posted by storiesbyankita October 04, 2016

Corporate Social Responsibility activity : The half marathon by the Pune FLO FICCI, Magarpatta City - Pune

A half marathon was organized by the Pune FLO FICCI. The aim was a fund raiser via FLO Marathon to support women empowerment – by increasing employment and encouraging entrepreneurship. It is their second year in Pune.

Let me tell you little more about FLO (FICCI Ladies Organization), from their official site -

"FLO was established in 1983, as a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and industry (FICCI) which is the apex body of industry and commerce in India. As an All India Organization for women, FLO has chapters in Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and Kolkata with its head office in Delhi. Our members comprise of entrepreneurs, professionals and Corporate Executives."

It was through our company Amdocs, that we came to know about the marathon being held at Magarpatta. To support the cause, Amdocs sponsored the first 1500 registered employees.

The marathon was scheduled to be held in Magarpatta City on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on 2^nd October 2016. There were 4 categories – 3 kilometers, 5 kilometers, 10 kilometers and 21 kilometers.

For all the marathon runner there was an impressive goody bag which had the FICCI brochure, a t-shirt, a pair of socks, pen,head cap, safety pins, BIB, some discount coupons.

The assembly point was the Laxmi Lawns in Magarpatta City. The marathon was very well organized and setup taking care of the needs of the runners and facilitate them well. The route maps were provided prior with proper markups for first aid counters, toilet, ambulance point and water stations.

This was first time that I was part of a marathon – and I decided to take baby steps and had registered for the 3 kilometers category. I was quite excited, yet getting up at 6:30 am was a herculean task - had to drag myself up,literally!

The reporting time for the 3 kilometers run was at 7:15 from Laxmi Lawns – me along with a friend made it just on time. The run started sharp at 7:30 am. It was nice to see the innumerable people participating for the good cause. This I say owing to the fact that it was a Sunday and weather was cloudy, drizzling – the crowd turn up for participation was applaud able.

Through the run - they had setup water, juice, fruit counters for the runners. The volunteers were constantly on their toes, helping the runners to grab water,juice or fruits on the go.

For the route on the 5 kilometers onward - they had pulse and heart beat monitor counters setup, to avoid mishaps.Their BIB even had sensors which would give their approximate time for the run completion.

There was dhol tasha throughout – musical and surely pumped up the energy levels.
There were plenty of volunteers through the way - guiding and cheering the runners.

A marathon is one place you will find people of all ages participating – I was in total awe with the number of children who had participated, and all the more astonishing was the older lot of grandpas and grandmas who were part of the run. Kudos!!

At the end, I felt accomplished and it paid off to be part of this marathon.

There was provision for fresh and hot breakfast catered by Cocoon - perfect after a tiring run ain't it?! 😉

To many more and a new start, cheers!!

Some points to keep in mind post run:

1. Stretch.
2. Drink lots of water, you need to stay hydrated.
3. Eat something within 10-15 minutes of the run.

Few pictures from the visit: