The Sunday that was…

 

Most Bangaloreans woke up to an early start on Sunday, 23rd May. After a brief warm up, a Carbohydrate rich breakfast and tons of energy they all headed towards the Kanteerava Stadium for the Sunfeast 10k Marathon. Some of the first to arrive at the Stadium, were the differently abled, to participate in the first event of the day – The Wheelchair race. After some amount of confusion, chaos and  unreasonable logic( The pA vehicle with physically challenged people was not let inside the stadium to park, as it was reserved for VIPs and VVIPs..who had their hands and legs intact) we got to the start line and the race started at 7.10 am. proVISION had 16 people representing it, and the participants wheeled  along, with early spectators cheering them on from the stands.

 

      

 

The race was for a total distance of 4kms. The weather was quite pleasant since the race started early and with plenty of volunteers and cheerleaders to pep up the mood and energy levels of the participants, the race proved to be an enjoyable one. At the end of the race, although most of the particpants looked as fresh as daisies, the volunteer who wheeled some of them was beat, and made it to the finish line, huffing and puffing!

 

 

Although we didn’t get to see our open 10k participants Sean and Esther( who, after the 10k high, wants to cross the finish line of a 21km Marathon coming up 6 months later) start the race, we heard that they both finished the run within a laudable timing! Kudos to both of them for being such sports and participating in the run!

 

 

After a racey start to the day, we had a cricket match waiting for us at The XLR8 sporting arena at 6 in the evening. It was a charity mach to raise funds for pA and was mainly organized by Mike and Melvyn. It was nice to see some lovely ladies cheering for their husbands who were playing for us. After a rather long " these are the rules" bit, the match started and most of us in the audience had no clue as to what was going on inside the nets! With sixers becoming 7s, wides earning 2 runs, batsmen continuing to play even after they got out – the audience( and some players – spotted Mike and Roger exchange dazed and confused looks, soon after the rules session) were trying to figure out this game of cricket. As one player rightly said – you had to play one match just to get the rules striaght!

 

 

 

 

The match picked up pace after a couple of overs and saw some remarkable shots from the batsmen. The bowlers and fielders too were on thier feet, never missing an opportunity to hit the bails and get the batsman out. Roger with his excellant bowling and powerful shots displayed a lovely show of cricket errrm with some traces of baseball in it and kept the crowd thoroughly entertained. Melvyn was another player who hit some wonderful shots, was very quick in between the wickets and displayed true sportsmanship when he got up and ran to get a score even after he’d just been hit by a ball. As Mike said "Melvyn proved to be ONE dark horse". Way to go Melvyn!

 

 

 Roger in control!

 

In all, the cricket match was a super hit and was a great way of meeting you – the people who make it possible for us to make a difference.  A big round of applause and a huge Thank You to all the organizers, the participants, the donors and the spectators for making the match firstly possible, and then a huge success. It was a pleasure meeting you all and watching all of you sweat it out for our cause. We hope to remain in touch and continue our relationship with you. Please visit this page for regular updates about the outcome of the 2 events and our mobility aids consignment. Thank You all once again for being there for us!