Bengaluru's Whitefield apartment dwellers clocked 500km indoors

BENGALURU: Elisha Nochomovitz, the Frenchman who ran a marathon (42km) within the seven-metre balcony of his apartment in Toulouse (France), made global headlines on March 20 by dedicating his feat to healthcare professionals fighting the coronavirus.
Closer home, residents of a gated community in Whitefield have together clocked over 500km to stay fit and fight the lockdown blues on Sunday.Interestingly, the people from 23 residential towers of Prestige Shantiniketan ran inside their houses and in balconies.
When the apartment’s fitness group, Running Ninjas threw the ‘PSN Indoor Running Challenge’, 60 people, including 14 women, said they were game. On Sunday, the runners and walkers in the 10-52 age group covered over 500.5km and recorded the same on activity apps.
Prakash Upadhyay, cyclist-techie, who coordinated the event along with runner Aashutosh, said the response was encouraging. “The challenge was to come out of the lockdown insecurities and collaborate with the community to stay fit in an enjoyable way,” Prakash said, adding that they all stuck to the pandemic-related guidelines issued by the government.
While eight runners completed half-marathon (21km), one went ahead to do 30km.
At 10, Vivaan was the youngest participant and ran 5km, while Prasanna (aka Anna) was the oldest at 52 and did 30km.
Anna said this was for the first time that he ran indoors. “I did not even go to the corridor or the balcony,” said the ultra-marathoner, who is also the fitness inspiration for fellow residents. “Work from home has made everyone’s life sedentary. Push-ups and squats that we do were not giving us the complete workout, so indoor running was good,” he added.
The event, according to Prakash, has made the residents share their indoor workouts on social media, especially with those befriended on Sunday. “We are happy the challenge has made them active,” he added.