Smart Run – OMITF 2019

s a run up to the upcoming Organics Millets International Trade Fair 2019 (OMITF2019) scheduled for Jan 18th-20th, 2019, at the Bangalore Palace grounds, there are a series of related events that will take place at various locations.

The Smart Run (literally :-D) was a Run up event to the Organics  Millets International Trade Fair 2019 and took place on Sunday, Jan 6th, 2019 at Cubbon Park at 6.30 am. This was an initiative by the Department of Agriculture, Govt of Karnataka and was executed by the team of Roopamouli Mysore, the founder of Sahaya Hastha Trust.

This was the 3rd edition of the Smart Run, the first 2 being held during the earlier 2 trade fairs of April 2017 and Jan 2018.

The Smart folk of Bangalore, did not disappoint yet again and turned up in large numbers to Run for the farmer, Run for the planet, Run for health and Run for Karnataka … and as a reward there was nice, hot, delicious breakfast as a reward

Read all about it and view the event virtually.

Roopamouli Mysore was the Mrs Global International 2017 and  she and her team of Aakash Nambiar, Anju Kp, Navya Arshi, Sunil and Dharma,ably organized and executed this event.

Registrations –

The Free registration for the run was done at – Smart Run Registration with an incentive that entitled all registrants upto Number 3000, to get a  ‘Letsmillet/Go Organic’ T shirt and millet breakfast.

The Run – 

The 5 K Run was well routed and participants of all ages, right from children to adults, enthusiastically took to the track despite the January chill.

The Flag off point was opposite the Bandstand, Cubbon park where in parallel, classical dance performances was being provided as a part of the usual Sunday cultural fare.

Water and medical aid stations were on hand.

The Process –

SMS messages had been sent to the participants the day previous to the run, with essential details like pre allotted counter numbers, registration timings, location map and other logistical information, in order to have an organised process. Due to this, the formalities of registering and receiving T shirts was a smooth affair at the counters that had opened as early as 5 am. The counters were also segregated according to registration numbers, to make the process quick.

Warm up –

Running is best performed after a warm up and that is exactly what  Nikita Suresh and team did, with the energetic crowd wholeheartedly participating right from little children to adults, zumba’ing to peppy english and kannada numbers.

Nikita is a Nutritionist and Zumba Fitness instructor and had also conducted the zumba session in Jan 2018.

Introduction of the dignitaries – 

The zumba was followed by the dignitaries and celebrities coming up on the stage and there were short speeches made, including a witty but informative talk by Dr Manjunath – Director Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology and the Minister of agriculture, Shri Shivashankara Reddy. 

Those present on stage included Shri N H Shivashankara Reddy, Dr Manjunath, Shri Krishna Byre Gowda – former Minister for Agriculture GOK, Shri Maheshwar Rao – the Principal Secretary (agriculture), Shri Jagadeesha – the Commissioner (agriculture), Ramasamy Selvaraju – executive chef Vivanta by Taj, Indian athlete and Arjuna awardee Anju Bobby George and Ms Roopa Mouli. 

The run was then officially flagged off at around 7 am. The runners did a great job of demolishing the 5 km, with the earliest ones coming in within the short duration of 15 minutes.

There also was a good participation from members of a few running groups and Women only groups.

Breakfast and beverages –

Hot and tasty millet upma, khichdi, payasam, millet badam milk, millet vitamin drink etc, greeted the victorious runners and the effort of waking up at unearthly hours on a cold Sunday morning, quite paid off. The event ended after breakfast around 9 am.

Green Path Organic also had a stall selling millet dosas and other snacks.

Guest appearance – 

Towards the end of the event, there was a surprise fleeting appearance by the celebrity fitness promoter Milind Soman. Milind had been a part of the promotion videos for the run.

For a short while there, the slogan went from Let’s Millet to Let’s Milind as he was mobbed by selfie hunters. Well the price that he demanded per selfie was a set of push ups and even the person with the least ‘push’ for exercise, was not spared (aka yours truly) However my reward for 10 pretend push ups was a picture that was worth the effort. And it was quite a consolation when even the commissioner had to do his share

Selfie booths –

To preserve the memories of the run and to continue the awareness campaign for the OMITF2019, there were Selfie booths with placards bearing the theme messages like Letsmillet, Go Organic etc both English and Kannada and people also clicked energetic ‘jump’ photos even after running. Well I guess, that was the magic of millets.

Credits –

A host of sponsors and volunteers made the event a memorable and smooth one.

A grateful thank you to –

Sponsors of the T shirts – ICCOA and Phalada

Breakfast snacks and beverages – Soulful, Phalada, Laksmeshwar, Easy Millet, Green Path organic.

And to the Volunteer groups – Youth for Parivarthan, Mount Carmel, Share a Smile, Running Roadies.

For more pictures see My Facebook – Smart run – OMITF2019. Also catch me on My Twitter and My Instagram

Jan 6th, 2019