SaptaShrungi Hill half marathon was organised by Nashik Runners .
Run was around the Saptashrungi Devi temple which is located at Vani near Nashik in Maharashtra.
This temple is one among the 51 Shakti peethas located on the Indian subcontinent.
The Devi is surrounded by seven (sapta-in Sanskrit) peaks (shrunga-in Sanskrit), hence the name- Sapta Shrungi Mata (mother of the seven peaks). The image of the Devi is huge-about 10 feet tall with 18 hands, holding various weapons. She is believed to be Mahishasur Mardini. The temple, sort of sticks to the cliff .
The run started at Nanduri which is the base station to reach Saptashrungi.
As the run starts, you start climbing the hill after few twist and turns, it goes up to almost 1500 metres .
The weather was very nice and chilly . The Organisers had blocked the traffic for the entire route from 5.30am till 10.30am . Route was very well supported by bikes and few cars moving to and fro apart from well equipped water stops . Great entertainment by Nasik dhol and adivasi folk dancers. There were inquisitive local onlookers and supporters around Vani , near the temple.
This race reminded me of Comrades down run half way because as we are running down towards the half way , we encountered the same type of hill and one could hear the music from top of the hill . Even here too, as we were returning from half way turnoff , we could here the music and the announcement at the finish line. This made us feel as if we are very close to the finish .
One can have a strong finish in this terrain because there is a down slope all the way to the finish.
Downhills aren’t so good for your knees but they’re so damn good for your soul !
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Felt good to watch few local talents. The second runner beyond the kenyan runner was only 1 minute behind and third was 4 seconds behind the second .
Best part I liked about this run was that the Organisors of this race were eminent doctors and remaining of them were industrialists but most importantly all are passionate runners . Just for the love of sports they were organising this race .
Since there were many doctors , they gave importance for providing best of medical care to the runners in case of emergencies . They had well Equipped Ambulances with Defibrillator , Drugs to treat a heart attack, CPR kit , Saline bottles , Dextrose solution, in addition to the other routine trauma management kits and dressing materials in all their Ambulances .
It will be fun to run in monsoon also , so don't miss their main event in July
