SCMM

Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon

SCMM (Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon) is one of the prestigious marathons of the world. Participants vouch that it is one of the well organized marathons in India and apart from that the crowd response is fabulous. People line up on both sides of the roads and cheer up the participants. Such public participation is a great motivation to the runners. No wonder, it is the dream of every runner to participate in the SCMM. This year in January 2015, I did not participate in SCMM as I had no place to stay and hotel accommodation is very costly in Mumbai. Now my daughter has shifted to Mumbai, I can and will participate.

Performance in SCMM is considered as a qualification mark for Olympics and other world level meets without passing any other qualification mark. O P Jaisha who made a record breaking performance in the 2015 edition by breaking the 20 year record on debut became one of the earliest qualifiers for World Athletic Meet in China during August 2015 and for next year Rio Olympics.  That shows the universal acceptability of SCMM standards. .

 Whatever way you manage, how much of money you spent, if public participation is not there, it robs of the sheen of the event. Few years ago football was the most popular game in India and matches were played in jam packed stadiums. Whether the popularity of the game was declined due to our poor standard or vice versa is a debatable question. Kabbadi is gaining popularity and let us hope that India will maintain and improve its pre eminent position.

Unlike other marathons qualification criteria is there for SCMM. Most of the other marathons enroll all the applicants without properly verifying their credentials. In SCMM if somebody is not having a certificate from a recognized agency he/she will be provisionally admitted with a condition to produce the certificate from a recognized event within a stipulated time. Registration opens 6 months before the event and closes with in a week’s time.

I am delighted to note that I have qualified for the SCMM based on my previous timings not only in my category but in general category also. I think now I should check up the Olympic qualifying mark and see whether I have qualified for next Olympics also. Unfortunately, there is no half Marathon in Olympics and no age category. However, I can explore the possibility of competing in the veteran Olympiad.

Registration for Half Marathon started at 10 AM on 30^th July. I have been trying since yesterday morning to get registered. Initially it was problem with SBI internet banking as the High Security Password was not coming despite request for resending. Other payments through SBI Net banking were also not possible. Subsequently, I tried the other payment through SBI Debit Card and it got through. Then I tried SCMM registration payment also through Debit Card. When I was nearing for payment after filling all particulars in a 4 tier system, a message was flashed “We are facing technical difficulties for online registration. We shall be back soon. Apologize for the inconvenience. “ 

At last I got it registered today with the help of my nephew and son of my friend Pawan Kumar Maithani.