Today’s report on the failure of pacers at the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2025 is again one of bad news.

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Unfortunately, the bad news is that there were many failures again this year. The very reasonable expectation is that there would be no failures. So, with 31 pacers in total, we would have liked a ratio of success-to-failure of 31-to-0. The reality this year was a success-to-failure ratio of 19-to-12.

Dealing with failure in an important and challenging task is rarely easy. An important outcome of any failure should be the learning from that failure that prevents future failures. The foolish rarely seem to learn from their own mistakes. [more]

I can sympathize with the pacers who did not finish their chosen distance with my benchmark duration, but the fact remains, as a messenger, I am only here to report on the hard numbers.

In a race, a pace-setter is someone who runs (with others joining their “bus”) to cross the finish line within a narrow time band before their advertised “target time”. I have “driven the 2-hour bus” at the Mumbai (Half) Marathon for many years. Anyone who ran with me all the way would have finished in “just under 2 hours”.

I decided I would leave heaven-on-earth (i.e. Goa) and be in Mumbai on race day, so I participated in the event by running in the 10km race. My own performance was not quite what I would have liked, but I was quietly satisfied to win the silver medal in my age category. But, we need not care about my podium finish or yours. Fortunately, my partner for this report, Gaurav Bhardwaj, achieved a new personal record in the full marathon. Observing his patience with me as a language-learning parent (my Oxomiya teacher) it does not surprise me that his tenacity, when applied to running, allows him to make continuous progress in his endurance running and lifelong fitness journey.

Contents

Pacing Results
123410Km
1234Half Marathon
1234Full Marathon
Tight Finishes
Towards Greater Female Empowerment
Previous Years’ Results
123456782024 Report
123456782023 Report
123456782020 Report
123456782019 Report
123456782018 Report
123456782017 Report
123456782016 Report
123456782015 Report
Parting Message

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Pacing Results [top]

The graph above shows the number of pacing failures in each race event. Ideally, we should have seen only green and no red. Ouch, ouch! So, the graphic gives us a clear message – the results are not great.

I present in tables the results for each pacer for the 3 events. I will try to comment a little based on what we can observe.

10 Km [top]

Half Marathon [top]

Full Marathon [top]

Tight Finishes [top]

Any pacer with a “Gap” of less than 30 seconds should be careful to finish a little bit faster next time. Although they received a yaay! there is a distinct possibility that a participant who started off a few metres ahead of them in the crowd and finished a few metres behind them will have missed the target by a few seconds.

Towards Greater Female Empowerment [top]

With females increasing their economic power within the Indian economy, tapping into the desire of women to be fit and healthy is a great win-win strategy. The manner in which females are encouraged to participate in such events can always be made more attractive. I say this because there has been a drop in female participation compared with the 2024 event. Starting with the home, including their workplace, to race organization, if we can make it easier for everyone, especially females to engage in lifestyle protocols to be healthier, that would only be good for any stated societal goal to empower females. What is good to see is that the ratio of males to females amongst the pacers was 16-to-15 this year. Last year that ratio was 28-to-17.

I won’t discuss the myriad ways to encourage more women to use recreational distance running for better health. Instead, I present the gender-wise split of participants in the 3 races for this year (2025) and last year (2024). It is only FYI – for example, we cannot draw any firm conclusions about why there are fewer women in the longer races. I cannot even say that they are wiser because they may not have chosen to run shorter distances out of wisdom. Or, it may just be that many women have realized that you do not need to run (to be fit).

Previous Years’ Results [top]

Mumbai Marathon Pacing Failures:

2024 Report
2023 Report
2020 Report
2019 Report
2018 Report
2017 Report
2016 Report
2015 Report

Parting Message [top]

I am only the messenger. Do not shoot me for making the effort to collect all the information (with Gaurav Bhardwaj’s help) and present it in an easily digestible format.

If everything you do is consistent with your core beliefs and desires, then a long and healthy life of joy is pretty much guaranteed to be yours. If you want to be guided in detail, you know how to reach me, and if you found this useful, please do share it with others.

Puru

Dr Purnendu Nath spends his waking hours focusing on helping individuals and organizations reach their goals, to make the world a better place. He speaks, writes and advises on topics such as finance, investment management, discipline, education, self-improvement, exercise, nutrition, health and fitness, leadership and parenting.