Sixty nine-year-old Venugopalan Arunachalam, a fitness enthusiast and a well-known name among runners from the city, often had to practise alone. After moving from Trichy, he settled in Anna Nagar years ago. He was an athlete in his younger days but hadn’t worn his running shoes after joining work.
However, in his sixties, he decided to relive the passion. He started running on the roads of Anna Nagar, often alone. He then heard of Chennai Runners Club and joined them in 2007. But he had to travel to the other parts of the city to be a part of the group, until recently, when Chennai Runners, a group comprising passionate runners, started its Anna Nagar Chapter.
“The initiation of this chapter will allow many enthusiasts to take up running. Often, people avoid physical exercises due to lack of motivation and when they see something like this happening in their own neighbourhood, it will inspire them to come out and join us,” says Venugopalan, who has been an inspiration to many to take up fitness seriously.
The group has over 50 members and they meet thrice a week for a run. “We run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Based on the fitness levels, the runners set a target. The beginners run from 4 kilometres and others go for 7 or 10 kilometres and beyond, depending on their stamina. We have a Facebook Page, where we post the details of the run. This apart, we have a What’s App group,” says Clement Williams.
Explaining further the various runs, M. Vikram says, “We have designated different days for different kinds of runs. For instance, on Tuesday, we do a Tempo run, where we start from Bougainvillea Park, run till Kilpauk and back. Depending on their strength, the participants cover up to 10 km. On Thursdays, we do flyover repeats. Running on inclines improves muscle strength.”
While running on the flyover, they adopt all the safety measures such as wearing bright clothes and running in the direction opposite to oncoming traffic. “On alternate Thursdays, we train to improve our pace by doing multiple short-distance runs. We either do it at Bougainvillea or Shenoy Nagar Park. We have dedicated Saturdays to LSD – Long Slow Distance Running. This is to train people for marathons. Sundays we meet again at the Tower Park for strength training exercises, where we have a professional guiding us. This apart, we encourage everyone to participate in other form of sports or exercise at least once a week,” says Vikram.
Most of the members of the group are either seasoned long-distance runners or aspire to be one. E.T. Sathyabalan, who has run six full marathons and around 20 half marathon says, “It’s a good opportunity for the people from the area to test their fitness level.”
You can find this group on Facebook as ‘Tower Twisters’
