Inagural World 10K Marathon

With the second edition of the World 10K Marathon round the corner in the month of May, I thought to rewind and put together some of the last year's World 10K marathon in images showcasing the professional runners and then the cross section of society who ran for their city's pride.
The World 10K run was organized by Procam International, which also organizes the Mumbai International full marathon and New Delhi’s International half marathon.
The World 10K run also became the richest one by summing up a total of 41.35 lakh rupees towards charity. The second edition will be held on May 31st 2009.




Ashwini Nachappa and Dhanraj Pillai along with other runners at the Sunfeast World 10K Marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.





Young and old run shoulder to shoulder during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.

Hari and his wife Ashiwini along with their 11 month old baby run during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (Left) as A father carries his son on his shoulders during the Open and Maja run (right), all they had in mind was complete the 10 kilometers.





So What if we are tired to run as participants we will walk to complete the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.




One for the album: a group of runners get them selves photographed near the Vidhan Soudha during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (Left) as a woman poses and shows her thumps up sign while being photographed (right).

Some of the participants came dressed up for the occasion and ran to kill the onlookers but ensured that they did not slip on their way to completing the World 10K Maja run.

Some of the participants did not get deterred by their children or their pets but instead ensured that they complete the Maja run and get the certificate for completing the first World 10K Marathon.

The determination with which the garden city responded was just great as seen from the two pictures above where one got to see elderly people along with the blind and disabled not only participating but completing the run with sheer grit of any Bangalorean has.

Elite men runners speed through the streets of Bangalore in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon (left top), Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea and Moses Kipsiro from Uganda approach the Kantreeva stadium as they run in Cubbon Park with the majestic Bangalore Central Library building in the backdrop (top right) and then finish first and second respectively.

Elite women runners speed through the streets of Bangalore in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (top left), Elvan Abeylegesse (24) and Grace Momanyi of Kenya (27) lead the pack to the Kantreeva Stadium on Cubbon road, (top right) and then declared as the joint winners after the organizers could not get a photo finish picture to finalize the results.



Through out the event the traffic came a to a stand still and the daily commuters cheered the participants all along the 10 kilometers stretch heralding an new era of marathon running for the sport loving residents of the silicon city of Bangalore.

Special Guest at Aero India 2009

The Aero India International air show 2009 had some special guests apart from the the defense chiefs.

Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor inspects the static venue of the air crafts and also takes keen interest in the Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems display counter while taking a feel of the Helicoat simulator and the Spike-MR (Gill) with range of 2,500m, Spike-LR with 4,000m range. Spike is anti-armour weapons. The weapons are lightweight fire-and-forget anti-tank missiles and use electro-optical and fiber-optic technologies. The systems are used by infantry soldiers, special rapid reaction forces, ground forces and helicopter aircrew.

Defense Minister A K Anthony and MOS Pallam Raju, Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall F H Major along with other senior officials of the Defense ministry at the inaugural function of the Aero show 2009 in Bangalore (left) as he along with Rahul Dravid look at some of the manuvers of the Sarang Helicopter team (right).



Admiral Sureesh Mehta interacts with some of the officials of the Russian Mikoyan the builders of the MIG-35 at the display stall in the Aero India 2009.






Tamil Film actor Ajit was there to have a close look at the static display. He spend more than five hours being escorted by the HAL employees. He claimed that he was a very personal visit and that's why he was sporting a moustache along with the beard so that he will be able to hide his identity. Anyway after speaking to for a few moments and requesting him if I could take some pictures of himself freeze framing the Iron eagles on display he obliged and wanted me to picture him with the Sukoi static display plane and mail it to him. After framing him into my Canon-EOS D50, he handed me over his Nikon with a 80-200mm ED lens mounted to shot his pictures. With my pictures taken I parted ways with him and started to concentrate on the air show again.

VIP's who Came and Took Free Rides at Aero India 2009

This Aero India International air show witnessed a whole lot of VIP and special guests queuing up to take an close look or be taken for a free or paid ride by the Four main contenders for the multi billion dollar 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) by the Indian Air Force.
The four companies were Lockheed Martin builders of the F16-IN Super Viper, the Alenia Aeronautical, BAE Systems, and EADS, the consortium of three separate partner companies who are the builders of the Euro fighter Typhoon and The Mcdonnell Douglas (now Boeing), the builders of the F-18 Hornet and of course where there are two USA companies one cannot count the Russians out with their main jet company Mikoyan the builders of the MIG-35, the 4.5 generation fighter jets on the fray.The queue was never going to end with the list growing by the day and the frenzy media on their toe, (me included too).
First to start the list was Suman Sharma who took the wings on an F-16In Super Sonic jet followed by her joy and free ride on the F-18 and the MIG-35. All this she had claimed to the media was that she was undergoing training for the last two years and had applied for the same in the previous edition of the Aero India in 2007.
Suman created a flutter in the media circle with her flying ambition taking on new heights by flying on all three fighter jets during the five day Aero India International air show, in Feb 2009.




Suman Sharma the first Indian woman civilian co-pilot shows a thumps up sign to the media, before her sojourn on the MIG-35 at the Aero India International air Show at the Air force station in Bangalore. Suman had earlier flew in the F-16In Super Sonic Jet and the F-18 Hornet during the 5 day aero show.




After Suman Sharma's fantasy with the F-16In jets, the next turn for the Lockheed Martin company to put another big face on it's combat aircraft was Abhinav Bindra the first Indian Gold Medalist in the Olympics. Though Bindra looked tense before the take off he was relaxed after his return to the ground.
To read more on Abhinav Bindra's Fantasy flight follow the below link.
Scroll down or http://shivselvan.blogspot.com/2009/03/abhinav-bindras-fantasy-flight.html

To quickly react to the situation was the Boeing Company the builders of the F-18 Hornet Combat fighters by roping in former Indian Air Force retired Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who had the distinction of becoming the first Indian to touch space and also roping in Naveen Jindal the sitting Member of Parliament from the Congress Party. This proved that the Boeing Company had credibility in their choice to voice their Combat aircraft’s stealth and also to promote their deal with the Indian Air force and the defense ministry through these two persons with professional and knowledge on the subject as their forte.

Experience shows: Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma inside the cockpit of the F-18 Hornet before his 45 minute fantasy flight and later talking to the media and smiling to affirmatively say that this flight was good but not as good as seeing the earth from the Soyuz -T11 Russian space shuttle, but quickly added that the F-18 Hornet are good and easy to handle Combat aircraft so that he keeps the promoters Boeing on the good sheet.

The Ruling National UPA Government's main party Indian National Congress sitting Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal inside the cockpit of the F-18 Super Hornet combat aircraft during the Aero India International air show 2009, in Bangalore. Jindal looked very tense and had asked the flight commanders for various sitting positions and also wanted to know more about the fighter jet, and waved a cheerful goodbye to his wife before touching the skies with the speed of sound, and later to update his party members of the F-18 Super Hornet.

Through out this show the US based builders of the F-16In and the F-18 kept the media busy with the special guests appearing for their special flight, while the Russian Company Mikoyan the builders of MIG-35 and the Alenia Aeronautical, BAE Systems, and EADS the builders of the Eurofighter Typhoon kept an low profile, while show casing the stealth and high speed maneuvers of their product through their own well trained fighter pilots.



The Eurofighter Typhoon had the Air Chief Marshall of Germany, Deputy Chief of Air Staff from Spain, Britain and Romania to push their case for the big deal with the Indian Air Force at the Aero Show 2009, in Yelhanka Air force Base. The Pilots did some splendor maneuvers to the visitors, to keep their chance of bagging the contract.

While the MIG-35 team kept everyone on the tender hooks with the easy vertical climb and fall and also the highly trained pilots had a few master strokes up their sleeve to sell their product to the Indian Air Force which is filled with The Russian MIG's.


The Russian fighter test pilots put the MIG-35 to the limits while performing highly dangerous multiple barrel rolls and also did some extra ordinary vertical climbs at top speed followed by the vertical fall at a rather slow speed. What took the cake from this team was the 'Cobra sting maneuver' which is that the plane takes to a vertical high, then made to float vertically with the engines off and all of sudden the engines come on and they dive leaving behind a line of smoke of which look similar to the sting of an cobra.

Well after all this glitz and glamour hope the Indian Government go for the Combat fighter jests which will be cost effective with no kick backs as seen in most defense deals all over the world.