It was a Sunday like no other. While
most people took their own sweet time to get out of a slumber, 11-year old Ram
and a bunch of health conscious individuals that also involved his mother, were
up and running (quite literally) in Panjim on February 1. The contest was a
simple one that required no skills or specialised training but was a grueling
test of stamina. Organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and
Young Indians (Yi) and conducted by Adventure Breaks, the second edition of Goa
Tower Run, required the participant to start at the bottom of a building, run
and climb up and down the stairs of five such buildings, and then to the finish
line. If you thought this was a cakewalk, mistaken you are! We are talking of
840 steps in total, which makes it as good as 1680 steps since the participant
was required to go up and come down all the five 7-storeyed buildings!
Aswin Tombat, Director of Adventure Breaks
says, “Most endurance sports require either special skills or very high levels
of fitness. Walking, unless done correctly, vigorously and regularly, does not
provide sufficient levels of exercise. But anybody can climb stairs. Climbing
stairs provides fitness, no matter what pace it is done at. That was one of the
two basic reasons behind the Goa Tower Run, 2015. The second was to establish a
sport that is rapidly expanding worldwide in India’s tourism capital.” This
stair climbing race up and down five seven-storeyed buildings at Patto Plaza on
1 February 2015 with an objective of promoting health in the corporate world.
The event received participation from around 90 individual runners and 25 teams
of five runners each participated in the event. The idea was to run to Gera’s
Imperium II, climb up and down the stairs of Gera’s Imperium II, Gera’s
Imperium I, Kamat Plaza, Star Bhavan (Bank of India) and Dempo Trade Centre,
and run to the finish. Furthermore, to make it even more exciting, the
organisers had two categories for the participants – a team race and an
individual race. The team race required a team of five participants who completed
running up the stairs and down of each of the five buildings.
