Lifting Ideas, Recipe for Failure – A different Patna Marathon
Thursday, March 21st, 2013A different Patna Marathon!
What happens when someone very critic of your idea of Patna Marathon, lifts it and tries to implement as their own? One idea which was formed as part of willingness to do something for the motherland, and on the other hand, lifting it and the execution with a motive just to prove the former wrong!
Sample this:
Circa 2011: A enthusiast group of self motivated people, proud of their origins try to do something on their own for their motherland. They come up with the idea of Patna Marathon to be held. They get good response from Government representatives and change the schedule to match the same with Bihar Diwas centenary celebrations and schedule it on 26th Feb 2012 to avoid other Government functions. Since the purpose of having the event is pure evengalist, people from various walks of life join the event and it gathers momentum – reknowned personalities from marathon fraternity, medical fraternity, sports fraternity, Non-resident Biharis, local people, school & college students. The event preparations garner good media attention in local, national and international media. Atheletes from far away countries and regulars at international marathons express their willingness to participate and attend.
And then, a section of people start working against this in a covert manner. A media house joins hand, annoyed at the fact of not getting preferential treatment. They have reach in government functionaries and they start influencing them. The result – 3 days before the event, district administration states that they can’t provide security required for the event and hence the event can’t be held.
Not saying that there couldn’t be a fault with the people trying to organise the event, but then things could have been sorted out, if there was a will to have an event of this scale at Patna. Ultimately, to the dismay of thousands of people connected to the event, the event is called off.
Circa 2013: The same media house, who has reach to government functionaries, lifts this idea of having a marathon attached to Bihar Diwas celebrations. The government also comes in full support! Of course they have money with them and think that with the money, they can execute any idea, no matter they don’t have the necessary expertise and planning. They lift the name, theme and even graphics with some change, lest someone accuses them of plagiarism.
Result? Just have a look at the below video report from Times of India site. This is what has been flashed today at national media. What a shame!
Ruckus at Patna marathon [Times of India]: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/Ruckus-at-Patna-marathon/videoshow/19102596.cms
Full news is reproduced below from ANI site with the headline: Management plays spoilsport as Bihar marathon was called off.
Patna, Mar 21 (ANI): The much anticipated Bihar Marathon ended being a farce on Thursday, as participants expressed their unhappiness with its poor management and created a ruckus.
Following the chaos, one participant lashed out at the organizers for mismanagement.
“There is no management here. We got our registration done. They made us run two kilometres twice, and when we reached the finishing line, they said that we were not registered. After we have run twice, they tell us that we are not registered, that this is not the winning point.
The marathon was organized as a part of the celebrations of Bihar Diwas, a celebration held in commemoration of the creation of Bihar.
It was also going to be a starry affair as tinsel town stars were slated to make their presence felt, but all was put under the carpet after the mayhem.
Newspaper advertisements were spread out to lure participants to the event and people from all walks of life participated in the marathon.
Dissatisfied, the agitated participants created a ruckus and denounced the organizers.
While speaking to media persons, a participating athlete, Krishna Kumar, criticized the organizers of the event.
“We have run 21 kilometres from Rohtas and they have not even made arrangements for water. We ran very enthusiastically thinking we can come here and relax. There is nothing here, no facilities have been organized for us,” said Kumar.
The dates for registration of the chest number were given as Tuesday and Wednesday but the registration started late on Wednesday with all the participants congregating together and struggling to get registered due to the sheer number of people.
The participants present were dispirited by the negligible facilities present for them and felt that the marathon was a farce.
Police personnel present on the scene tried to control the situation warning the participants not to create a scene of lawlessness in the area. (ANI)
Epilogue: Patna Marathon is not dead yet. It will be back and it will be successful. Yes it needs double the time and planning now.
