MUMBAI: At 70, Amarjeet Singh Chawla measures his running life not in medals but in numbers that speak to consistency. On Sunday, the visually impaired runner completed his 103rd half marathon at the Tata Mumbai Marathon. In all, it marked his 269th marathon, a body of work that includes six ultramarathons, 163 half marathons, and, just last week, his 100th 10-kilometre run.Chawla began running at the age of 49, balancing training with his work as a lottery shop owner and insurance agent. What started as a late entry into the sport soon turned into a demanding schedule. Today, he runs between 20 and 25 marathons every year and has competed across 13 states and 33 cities. “The run was good,” he said after finishing on Sunday, “but it was quite crowded, which can become a problem for visually impaired people like me.”
Crowding, he said, poses risks that many runners do not consider. “Normally, people say ‘excuse me’ if you are too close,” Chawla explained. “But nowadays, everyone has earbuds in. They don’t hear me when I ask for space.” He recalled a near-accident during the race. “A couple overtook me at an unnatural pace. I couldn’t see them, and they didn’t hear me coming. We banged into each other. We could have fallen and been gravely injured, but thankfully that was avoided.”Despite the challenges, Chawla remains attached to the Mumbai course, especially its most demanding stretch. “Peddar Road is the best part of the run,” he said. “The local people come down to cheer, and many of them recognise me from all these years. That makes the whole experience special.”Reflecting on two decades of running, Chawla said the sport and the city have changed significantly since he first started in 2004. “In many ways, things have become much better. Potholes and bad roads are now a rarity,” he said, before adding a caveat. “But places like BKC are still a huge problem. There are too many potholes and those small yellow reflectors on the road. You keep banging into them.”He also pointed to broader changes in the running ecosystem. “Twenty years ago, there were four or five marathons in a year. Now there are probably that many every week,” he said. At the same time, environmental factors have taken a toll. “Lung capacity has been affected because of pollution. People can’t run as fast or as much as they used to.”Among the many cities he has run in, Chawla has clear favourites. “Jaipur is the best, because of its butter-like roads,” he said. “Second is Bathinda, for the roads but also because the people are very supportive and beautiful. And then Vasco in Goa, which is also one of the best.” For Chawla, the numbers continue to add up, but it is the course, the people, and the persistence that keep him running.
