Vadodara Marathon

VM Editions

10th edition of MG Vadodara International Marathon (MGVM 2023)

The 10th edition of MG Vadodara International Marathon was held on Sunday, 8th January 2023, to celebrate the spirit of fitness in Atmanirbhar India, with Title Sponsor MG Motor India and Powered by Joy E-bike.

The 10th edition theme was Heritage Run, dedicated to fitness as a lifestyle choice and conservation of heritage. This edition of the marathon was a testament to self-reliance and ‘Atmanirbharta’ towards achieving fitness for oneself and for the nation, as part of the Fit India movement. This milestone edition saw a new route being charted through the old parts of the city, traversing many iconic landmarks, buildings and gates that are part of Vadodara’s heritage, making this a special “Heritage Run”, with start and finish point at Navlakhi ground with the majestic Lukshmi Vilas palace as backdrop.

The 10th edition saw 92,890 registrations with over 72,000 participants on the ground. The 10th edition had Timed Runs: Full Marathon, Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay, and Quarter Marathon; and Fun Runs: Ami LifeSciences 5KM Swachhata Run and 5KM NGO Run. Special marquee runs included Jawaan Run by Finolex, 5KM Pledges Run, and 1KM Divyang Paralympic Run. The Jawaan Run by Finolex had 752 Jawaans run in the Timed runs and 5KM Swachhata Run. The 5KM Pledges Run had a group of 28 Pledgers, with their 72 associates, who ran to raise awareness and funds for various NGOs and causes.

The 1KM Divyang Paralympic Run with 1,500 Divyang had these categories:

Category 1	:	Ortho Handicapped Tricycle
Category 2	:	Ortho Handicapped Running
Category 3	:	Deaf
Category 4	:	MR Running
Category 5	:	Visually Impaired
Category 6	:	Physically Handicapped Wheelchair

*There was a separate group of ‘Blade Runners’, runners with prosthetic legs, who ran 10KM and 5KM in the Marathon.

Apart from the dignitaries on the stage, thousands of people lined up along the routes of the Marathon, cheering the runners, and the entire city bore a festive look. Knowledge inputs for the Heritage Run was provided by Heritage Trust of Vadodara, and runners were provided with virtual running maps of the routes. Water, energy drinks, bananas and other refreshments were available along all routes, with Marathon team members ensuring that hydration was readily available for the runners on all routes. Stages with live performances, music and dances by various schools, institutions and groups, were lined on all the routes, to cheer and motivate the runners.
For the safety of the runners, the police had ensured the routes were free of traffic. The timed runners were escorted by two groups of cyclists- The Cyclists Club of Baroda (TCCB) and Pedaling for Fitness (P4F), while the timed runners also availed the services of pacers from Baroda Road Runners (BRR) for all timed runs. Shri Harsh Sanghavi (Minister of State, Govt of Gujarat) ran 10KM along with other runners, before returning to flag-off 5KM Fun runs later.
Medical facilities and ambulances were continuously monitoring all routes, manned by medical professionals of Bhailal Amin General Hospital (BAGH). BLS/CPR training was conducted earlier for the en-route volunteers, including some runners. At the finish point, all timed runners were greeted by cheering crowds and Vadodara Marathon volunteers, with each timed runner being given Finishers Medal. Winners in each category for timed runs were given prize money and felicitated by the dignitaries at the Winners Podium.
The ambience at the finish point was of joy, satisfaction and a sense of euphoria as everyone danced to the tracks of the DJ. Stalls offering energy drinks, water and other refreshments were available. Medical facilities and physiotherapists offering massages to the tired runners was also available for all. Selfie points and photo ops added to the thrill of running the Marathon. The entire city had an air of jubilation and triumph, as runners and their well-wishers converged at the finish point, to celebrate their achievements and the sport of running at the 10th edition of MG Vadodara International Marathon. Team Vadodara Marathon and all the volunteers joined in the celebrations.

Lead-up to Marathon:

Vadodara Marathon has built a tradition of organizing unique pre-events in the lead-up to the Marathon, for each edition.

The ever-popular Queens Run was held on 2nd December 2022, with over 3,000 girls and women doing Zumba, dancing and running 2.25KM distance on the roads of Vadodara. Flagged off at 8PM by H.H. Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad, with Hon. Mayor Shri Keyur Rokadia, VM Brand Ambassadors, senior management of MG Shri Manish Manek and Shri Manish Patel, with other dignitaries; it was a sea of pink as participants wore VM pink T-shirts. The causes highlighted included voter awareness, women’s empowerment, and safety of Vadodara at night for women.
VM NGO Meet was organized on 4th December 2022, with heads of NGOs associated with VM invited to learn about VM NGO Pledges Run and VM Connect initiatives, and how they can leverage their NGOs’ causes through the VM platform.
VM Promo Run was held on 17th December 2022, for timed runners to test run 10KM route of the Marathon, giving their feedback and inputs for the route, to ensure a quality experience for Marathon runners.
The Kit Expo for participants was held over 3 days (4-5-6 January 2023) at Bhailal Amin General Hospital. This Kit Expo included health assessment and cardiac checkup for the runners, and information on managing their health parameters while preparing for and running the Marathon. Separate Kit Expos were held for NGOs and Divyang associations on 4-5 January 2023 at the gardens of Jyoti Ltd.
VM also held a few press conferences for all media and press at Hotel Grand Mercure Surya Palace.

Post Marathon:

VM celebrated 75th World Health Day on 7th April 2023, in collaboration with its medical partner Bhailal Amin General Hospital (BAGH); with the theme 'Health for All', to promote the idea of preventive health among the general public. The event spread awareness regarding primordial prevention of non-communicable diseases, with focus on diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Participants had an interactive session with cardiologists, orthopedic specialists, physical therapists and dietitians, along with an exercise and fitness session by VM certified fitness and Marathon coach. This event was acknowledged by the World Health Organisation.

VM held its first ever Night Run on 29th April 2023 - “Night Run – The tough laps of Glory”. An endurance run of 4 hours with minimum distance of 24km, the event was a resounding success with over 130 runners. The Night Run was effectively managed by VM team and volunteers, with arrangements for nutrition and hydration, along with medical and physical therapy assistance, for all the runners. All runners received Finishers Medals and certificates; and winners were awarded Winners Medals with certificates, to celebrate their achievements.

Causes supported with each edition of Vadodara Marathon

The 12th edition’s theme is to bring awareness regarding the sustainable development goals to 1 lakh school children across Vadodara, while continuing to support fitness and healthy lifestyle for all, with the theme “Har Kadam Mein Hai Dum”.

The 11th edition’s theme was health and sustainability, with the slogan “Run the Green Mile”. This edition supported the Vadodara City Historic Landmark signage project, executed by Heritage Trust jointly with Vadodara Municipal Corporation, to create awareness about the rich heritage of the city.

The 10th edition’s theme was Heritage Run and promoted fitness as a lifestyle, with Atmanirbhar India and Fit India movement, with the routes chosen to showcase Vadodara’s iconic landmarks, buildings and gates as part of the city’s invaluable heritage.

With every edition, VM offers a platform for local NGOs to partner with the Marathon, to raise awareness and funds for their causes and achieve their objectives. A continuing initiative by VM is VM Connect, which brings corporates, individual donors and NGOs together on a shared platform, promoting the NGOs causes and activities, and offers an ongoing mechanism to assist NGOs in capacity building, operational efficiency and raising resources. Another initiative is VM Pledges Run during the Marathon, which sees industry leaders and citizens pledge a run for their preferred cause in their personal capacity, and highlights the causes of the NGOs.

Over the past 9 editions, VM has supported Vadodara Traffic Education Trust (VTET), Clean Vadodara Green Vadodara campaign, Voter Awareness campaign, Breast Cancer Awareness campaign and its early detection, Vadodara as a Safe Smart city for women, Vadodara’s heritage and culture, unity and harmony, water conservation, women’s empowerment through IT Skills Development, organ donation awareness, Swachhata Abhiyaan, and Mission Clean and Green Vadodara, to name a few. VM has celebrated the Spirit of Vadodara, as a tribute to Vadodara being recognized as one of the Top 10 “Smart Cities” of India. The 8th edition supported the causes of Organ Donation awareness, Say No to Plastics awareness (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), and Swacchhata. For the 7th and 8th editions, VM was a member of Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s initiative- Nirmalayam: Mission Clean and Green Vadodara campaign, to help create awareness and educate Vadodara’s citizens on Swachchata and how to keep Vadodara clean and green. VM created a FB page “My Vadodara-Clean Vadodara” for this purpose. The 9th edition promoted water conservation and need for raising water levels of ground water. VM actively promoted and carried out rain water harvesting for ground water level restoration at certain public areas of Vadodara.

MGVM: Fitness during the Pandemic (2020-2022)

During the pandemic and lockdown period of 2020-22, VM planned and conducted various activities, to ensure that families and individual remain fit, and follow a healthy lifestyle even within their homes, as fitness helps keep immunity levels high, thus ensuring good health. Taking care of the community also meant caring for those under-privileged communities who couldn’t take care of themselves, and VM fulfilled its community serve obligations throughout the pandemic enforced lockdown.

VM organized and conducted these events:

TCCB: The latest edition of The Cycling Club of Baroda’s “Epreuve de Force: Race to Pavagadh” was held on 7th May 2022, with winners and participants felicitated by VM at the finish point at Pavagadh.
Vaho Vishwamitri Walk: A walk was conducted on 1st May 2022, in collaboration with Vaho Vishwamitri, to promote the cause of maintaining the river Vishwamitri as a crucial waterway for the city. The walk had over 750 participants participate and much needed awareness for rivers as a life-source was raised.
Milebank Challenge: This was a running-walking challenge where 450 participants, across India, ran/walked daily, setting their own targets, and uploaded their results, for prizes which were awarded to top 3 runners/walkers in various categories.
Virtual Marathon: This was held from 4th to 10th January 2021, where 1,440 participants registered and ran/walked in their homes or neighbourhoods, across India and in other countries around the world, with flag off done by Shri Vijaybhai Rupani, then Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat, in a virtual ceremony.
Medical Supplies: VM donated 2 ventilators, one each to SSG Hospital and Gotri Medical Hospital at Vadodara, on 24th September 2020.
Global Running Day: VM enthused people to celebrate this event on 3rd June 2020 by running at home; all VM members ran within their homes also.
Ambulance Donation: A fully equipped ambulance was donated to SSG Hospital on 23rd May 2020.
Meals: VM provided for 8,200 lunches and 8,550 dinners, from 28th March to 30th April 2020, to the homeless and other needy people.
Kit Distribution: VM donated 560 kits of grains, from 1st April to 15th April 2020, to needy families, of street dwellers and migrant labourers.
VM Connect: Held on 18th February 2020 at Hotel Grand Mercure, with corporate organizations, and all VM sponsors and partners along with NGOs that have partnered with VM. The event had key note address by PadmaShri Dr. MH Mehta on water conservation; a panel discussion on understanding and leveraging CSR for corporates and NGOs; and a presentation on 18 NGOs whose projects require CSR funds. This was followed by direct engagement between the corporates and the NGOs, for various projects to take forward.