Mumbai: 

HEART AND SOUL: Runners at the Marine Drive last year. The marathon is moving towards new milestones in raising funds for charity

The Mumbai Standard Chartered Marathon has broken away from the charity partner that it had tied up with since inception five years ago. The January 18, 2009 edition of the race that has become a Mumbai movement will now be partnered by United Way Mumbai, which was set up in 2002.

The charity aspect of the marathon is huge and like the race itself, growing in stature every year. Last year, the marathon collected Rs 6.75 crore in charity, through clearly tracked funds. At that time, Give India had said that 2008 has shown that one could make this a Rs 50-crore event five years hence. It looked like Give India, which got tremendous branding because of the marathon, was here to stay with the race.

But that was not to be. Jasmine Wadhawan, who has been a familiar presence at the pre and post marathon events, as organisers Procam International announce the routes, charity efforts and other details prior to the race and then hold a conference announcing charity amounts post-race will not be present this time. Confirmed Jasmine, "Yes, we are not going to be the marathon's charity partners this time. We (Procam and Give India) took a mutual decision to part ways. Give India now wants to refocus on other stuff in the organisation."

Incidentally, a new charity partner may not be the only new thing in the next marathon. PWD Minister Anil Deshmukh had announced that the 42-km runners might run on the new Worli to Bandra Sea Link next year. If that happens, the marathon 2009 might see a new route as well.