Running Marathon is a Mission with Passion for BITS Pilani Alumnus Bhasker Sharma

Online, January 20, 2010 (Newswire.com) - To quote Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder, "The marathon is a charismatic event. It has everything. It has drama. It has competition. It has camaraderie. It has heroism. Every jogger can't dream of being an Olympic champion, but he can dream of finishing a marathon."

The marathon, 26.2 miles, is not necessarily the easiest sport. In fact, most people think marathon runners are downright nuts. Marathon running is about mental preparation more than a lot of other factors. One needs strength, stamina, endurance and a super strong mental attitude which brings the determination to keep running no matter how tired one is. Nothing beats the exhilaration of marathon running. It doesn't matter whether one come first or last as it is a race against oneself.

Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ quote sums it up all: "The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy .... It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed"

Many students who graduate from Birla Institute of Technology and Science - popularly known as BITS Pilani take up marathon running as a mission with passion to ensure that there are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond reach. Some Proud to be BITSians like Bhasker Sharma are in fact marathon maniacs. Bhasker was a student at BITS during 1974-1979 and obtained his B.E. (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree.

This Techie presently is an IT professional from Bangalore who is very passionate about evangelizing running. He has been running for over 25 years now and took to running beyond 10 Kms in 2002 and got addicted to distance running after completing his first Full Marathon in January 2003 at Chennai. He has been playing a stellar role in Runners For Life - RFL a movement to popularize distance running in Bangalore.

In year 2005 he participated in NJ Marathon (Long Branch) which was his first outside the country. Year 2006, he took the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, NJ Marathon and Times of India Bangalore International Marathon. Year 2007 he went on to complete the Standard Chartered Mumbai, Flora London, Bangalore Midnight, SunTrust Richmond and the First Bangalore Ultra.

Starting year 2008 with the Mumbai marathon he went on to Hyderabad Half and Full Marathon, RFL Kanakpura Road Run, Kaveri Trail, Bangalore Ultra and RFL Ballandur Run. Year 2009 he completed the Mumbai, Auroville, SunTrust National marathon Washington DC, RFL Hennur - EGL - Bellandur - Olde Run and the Bengaluru Ultra marathons.

With 1 marathon each in 2003 and 2005, 3 marathons in 2006, 5 marathons in 2007, 6 marathons in 2008 and 8 marathons in 2009, Bhasker had completed 24 marathons by December 2009.

His participation in Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on January 17, 2010 became his 25th Marathon. With BIB number 513, veteran Bhasker completed the Mumbai marathon with overall ranking of 89, Finish Time of 4:01:15 and Chip Time of 4:00:56. Finish or Gross Time is the time from Gun Time to individual finish time. Chip time or net time is the individual start time to finish time. The overall ranking is based on Finish Time.

Bhasker runs for a cause which is Dream A Dream founded in 1999 a registered charitable trust which seeks to empower children from vulnerable backgrounds by developing life skills and at the same time sensitizing the community through active volunteering leading to a non-discriminatory society where unique differences are appreciated. Currently, Dream A Dream reaches out to over 1500 children through an active network of over 1000 community volunteers. Bhasker has set a goal to raise Rs 3 Lakhs this year for Dream A Dream.

Apart from Mumbai marathon, Bhasker for the year 2010 has targeted the marathons at Auroville (Pondicherry), Hyderabad, Athens and Bangalore ultra. Bhasker a dreamer, performer and achiever who graduated from BITS Pilani Rajasthan has a goal of completing 60 marathons by the age of 60 and the rate at which he is going, no one has any doubts about him achieving that.