It was still quite dark and a chilly breeze along with light rain greeted me as soon as I stepped my hotel. Though not - particularly a morning person and definitely not someone very fond of the rain, I was humming along cheerfully.
No, it was not a song from a popular Hindi movie, instead it was the background score of the epic film, Chariots of Fire. Almost from the moment that I had woken up that day, this tune had gotten glued to my mind and for a very good reason. After all, I was about to witness the first Marathon in my life and for me, a marathon race is Chariots of Fire and vice versa.
The film that had depicted the hard training, the struggles and the challenges that any athlete faces, was one of the most inspiring movies that I had ever seen and what made that day so special was that I was about to witness and even participate in a similar climax in real life.
We were in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, in South-Eastern Australia at the invitation of SriLankan Airlines, the flag carrier of Sri Lanka, which offers convenient connections from various Indian cities to Melbourne, via Colombo.
The SriLankan Airlines was the Title Sponsor for the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival, which features several races of varying distances, from 10-km to 5-km run to the full Marathon and a 3 km walk as well, to round off the races offered as part of the festival.
SriLankan has been associated with the Melbourne Marathon since 2017. The airline says that as an iconic event in Australia and since the country is all about outdoors, the Melbourne Marathon Festival is its key marketing and branding promotion.
Bu hikaye India Outbound dergisinin November - December 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye India Outbound dergisinin November - December 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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