Nobody loves the Mumbai Marathon as much as Girish Mallya. The 50-year-old is among only four runners to have competed in all 20 editions of the prestigious Gold Label race in the city. Mahesh Salvi, Hirendra Kurani and Raj Vadgama are the other three. The foursome are part of the TMM’s Legends Club. And ahead of his 21st shot at the Tata Mumbai Marathon, Mallya’s raring to go.
It all began with cricket
Mallya’s tryst with endurance running began at the age of 15, with cricket. “I used to play cricket at the school and college level, and loved fielding. In fact, I used to field for both sides. I was probably one of the few weird guys, who would willingly field as a sweeper [deep midwicket on the leg side or deep cover on the off side],” the Deonar-resident told mid-day on Thursday.
The reason behind the Mumbai Marathon being so close to his heart is also because it was his first ever full marathon (42.195 km). “Six months before the inaugural Mumbai Marathon in 2004, a friend, who was into strength training, told me to sign up for it. I didn’t even know the distance of a full marathon then, but I signed up because I like to push myself. In those days, there was very little information about marathons available in India, so I would read international blogs and tried to follow the training programs. That helped me with the basics. I remember it took around six hours to finish that race and I was cramping as it was very painful, but never did I feel that I could not finish the race,” recalled Mallya, the publisher and editor of T3 India magazine.
Much has changed for Mallya since those early days. His endurance racing journey has taken him across six continents, where he has competed in marathons, triathlons (a combination event of swimming, cycling, and running) and even ultramarathons (distances of over 42km). He even had a five-year period (2013-2017) as a professional, where he served as the brand ambassador and running expert for Puma India after he became the first Indian male to complete Marathon Des Sables, one of the toughest footraces in the world.
‘Whole city cheers for us’
Meanwhile, he has enjoyed seeing the Mumbai Marathon evolve too. “Back in 2004, we didn’t even have a thousand full marathon runners. Now, it’s nearly 15,000. In the first year, the only people, who came out to cheer, were the residents of Peddar Road. Now, nearly the whole city turns up to cheer for us. This is not the case in other cities,” explained Mallya, who is looking to complete this year’s edition in under five hours though he insists that he only runs for pleasure and not to compete.
The ultra-fit Mallya, who trains by running 20 to 30 kms on weekends along with shorter runs that add up to 20 km throughout the week, however, has one massive item on his Mumbai Marathon wishlist. “My aim is to run the 50th edition of the Mumbai Marathon. I’ll be 80 at the time, and may not be able to compete in every edition till then as there could be health issues, but If I’m lucky enough, I hope to be able to do the 50th edition,” Mallya signed off.
22.8k
No. of participants at the 2004 inaugural edition
60k+
No. of participants at the 2025 Tata Mumbai Marathon
