NEW DELHI: Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) organisers Procam International continue to be optimistic about holding the celebrated run this coming Sunday, 19 November, in the capital and have said they would present their case with “full facts” to the Delhi High Court on Thursday, when they have been asked to file their response to the petition seeking postponement of the event.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response from the city government, police and DPCC as well, after receiving a letter from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) urging that the ADHM scheduled for November 19 be postponed due to poor air quality.
Procam is going ahead with its preparations for now, but Procam’s joint managing director Vivek Singh told PTI, “We have not received the notice yet, but we’ll present our case with the points and full facts that we have and what we are trying to do. We hope to convince the court the sensitivity that we have and the amount of preparation that has gone into holding this event.”
“This is a participatory sport and not a spectator sport. For the last four months we have been preparing for this event and we have made a lot of sacrifices. An athlete would know how much he or she has put into to prepare for this particular race day. To me it is not practical (to postpone),” he added.
The organisers are also wary that a postponement may result in top stars like world marathon champion Geoffrey Kirui and women’s 10,000m Rio Olympics winner Almaz Ayana skipping the event, which has recently been granted the status of a Gold Label Race by the International Athletics Federation.
A postponement at this juncture could throw everything out of gear, as Rs 50 million has so far been raised to be used for philanthropic purposes. “30,000 people have been training for this race. They have stopped intensive training two weeks back, their training has tapered now in preparation of the race. I don’t know what will happen to them if the race is postpone or cancelled,” Singh said.
“As of now everything is going on full swing. All the international and Indian elite athletes are coming, the event ambassador is coming. There has not been any change from what we have planned. This commitment from the athletes give us the strength to move ahead,” he said.
