The Ashoka Run 1.0
Ishaan Banerji, Class of 2019
In conversation with Abdul Majid, Sports Minister.
On the 21st of September, the Ashoka Run 1.0 took place, with more than 150 registering for the five kilometre run around the Ashoka campus. Organised by the Sports Ministry, the Ashoka Run was the first in a wave of events aimed at building an active sports and fitness culture on campus. The first 50 finishers won themselves medals, while the fastest 10 won cash prizes worth Rs. 27000.
Success Sibanda, Shantanav Rao and Shivam Sahu ended up on the podium(in that order), at the end of what turned out to be one of the liveliest events on campus in recent memory. The Cycling Club patrolled the Run route which went around the outside perimeter of the campus and ended at the Dhaba, which was a good introduction to the newly formed club for many. Runners were pleasantly surprised by the crowd that had formed at the finish line, with friends and acquaintances loudly cheering, and egging the participants on. At the end of the event, everybody spilled onto the cricket field where people listened to music arranged by the Cultural Ministry, before the awards ceremony presided over by Pro-VC Sankar Krishnan. The Run ended up being Sankar Sir’s last campus involvement, and he ran the 5 kilometres, gave out the medals and had a great time himself.
The Run did indeed seem to have a big effect on the campus: Abdul reports that he’s been seeing some people in the gym every day, after they secured an unexpected top 50 finish during the Run. Along with the Run, the Sports Ministry has already organised a Swimming Championship, and a Chess tournament in a bid to get more people involved in sports. Along with this, there are plans to conduct snooker and pool tournaments sometime this semester, as well as football, basketball and ultimate tournaments.
As our conversation came to an end, Abdul wanted to thank his Sports Ministry many of whom were instrumental in organising the event, and generally wanted to applaud the enthusiasm that participants showed. Specifically, he wanted to point the dedication that Shivam Sahu and Shantanav Rao displayed. Shivam ran with a blister on his right big toe, but still did exceedingly well, and Shantanav followed up a stellar performance in the Swimming Championship with a second place finish in the Run!
