How a group of passionate Indian runners are clubbing their vacations or business trips with marathons

Offbeat destinations are fast catching up with Indians. Getaways in Greenland, Iceland and adventure trips are gaining traction. An increasing tribe of travellers are also clubbing sports activities while vacationing abroad.

While most of them would want a long and leisurely trip, a group of passionate runners love to club their vacations or business trips with marathons. A few of these diehard long-distance runners will be running the Berlin marathon in September-end, some obviously staying on to quench their after-run thirst at the Oktoberfest in Munich.

Kalindi Mehta runs a multi-designer textile store in Surat. She’s run in 14 marathons so far, and Berlin will be her 15th and first international one. ‘The Berlin marathon is special as I’ll be celebrating my 50th birthday by running,’ says Mehta. Incidentally, it’ll also be 50 years of the Berlin marathon.


Anuj Sonpal, CEO of investor relations management company Valorem Advisors, has completed two full and six half-marathons. He plans to spend five days in Berlin and the next 15 days in Munich, the spa town Baden Baden, and at Tegernsee, the Bavarian lake, with his wife. ‘I started my running journey in 2019 at 39. The Berlin marathon will be my first major international marathon.’

58-year-old Rajiv Sheth, MD of Vishwa Fashions, who has completed 147 races so far, plans to compete in Berlin and then head off to Norway, Sweden and Iceland for 10 days. ‘Earlier, I used to club my marathon with business trips to Scandinavian countries. But now I’ve wound up the businesses there,’ he says, whose firm used to ex- p o r t F I B C (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container) jumbo bags and ground covers for farming to the US, Mexico and European countries. This will be one of Sheth’s many runcations.

Subhash Motwani, founder of Namaste T o u r i s m that or- ganises offb e a t t o u r s i n lesser-explored foreign shores, is a regular marathon runner since 2004. His company organises trips for distance-running events in India and abroad. ‘It was during the Basel run [in the Swiss town] that I realised that there are many who may be interested in international runs and would need professional help to not just get to the city but also for the travel logistics.’ Motwani says a typical trip costs around Rs 1.12-1.10 lakh per person, including hotel charges

Radiologist Santanu Datta, with 30 marathons across India, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and Bahrain under his belt, will be adding another at Berlin. He plans to spend 5-6 days in the city with a fellow marathoner friend. Most of these runners have been undergoing special training and diet. ‘I drink 5 l of water a day, and my diet comprises more proteins and less carbs. As the race nears, I will alter the diet plan to more carbs and limited protein,’ says Sheth.

‘I feel [maintaining a] diet is harder than actual marathon training,’ says Sonpal. ‘Endurance sports such as marathons can’t be done without a strict diet. From higher intakes of proteins, carbs, high-nutrient vegetables, superfoods like chia seeds and supplements like BCAA, EAA, I sometimes work with a sports nutritionist to meticulously plan my daily diet and my runfuelling strategies,’ he adds.

So, off they go to the starting line in Berlin. Remember, it’s a German film that enthused us with ‘Run. Lola, Run!’