Reserve Bank of India wins the second edition of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay in Mumbai

The second edition of the 2020 Bloomberg Square Mile Relay Global Race Series took place in Mumbai today with Reserve Bank of India winning the race and being named the ‘fastest firm in the city’, following their first place finish with a time of one hour, three minutes and 55 seconds. Over 500 runners from Mumbai’s biggest companies were on the specially designed one-mile (1.6km) course at Jio World Garden, BKC, competing for the prestigious title.

The Mumbai race was kick-started with a flag off by Mr Aditya Thackeray, Cabinet Minister of Tourism and Environment, Government of Maharashtra. The yearly event, which takes place in 12 cities across the world, is now a key fixture in Mumbai’s calendar and promotes team-building and bonding amongst colleagues in a fun, yet challenging, environment.

Reserve Bank of India team celebrating their first Bloomberg Square Mile Relay title

Madhu Sudan Mani, team captain of the winning team from Reserve Bank of India, received the coveted winner’s trophy on stage at the awards presentation and said: “We are delighted to be the champions of the second edition of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay. We finished third last year so this time we trained to be the champions.”

Reserve Bank of India were closely followed by Nomura in second place, and IDFC First Bank in third. The Fastest Mixed Team award was won by Bloomberg and the Fastest Female Team of the night was Nomura. Captain of Nomura’s all-female team ‘Run Like A Girl’ Pema Sherpa said, “We were the defending champions, so running the second edition with the same motivation was the aim. We ran like a team today and won like one. I hope to keep the momentum high for the next edition.”

The race culminated in celebrations in the Race Village which saw a high-spirited atmosphere with runners, supporters and the local community enjoying the music and complimentary hospitality.

Teams jostling for position at the start of the race.

The race has adopted sustainable practices, including a policy of no single-use plastic on race night, so provided runners with sustainable race medals and re-useable water bottles on site. In addition, all leftover food from the event will be donated to Zomato Feeding India NGO. Finally, with the collective objective of making an actionable impact in the society through The Extra Mile charity initiative, the event has set an enormous benchmark for years to come.

Ahead of participating, all runners were asked to select and run for one of three causes put forward by Magic Bus, The Extra Mile partner. The cause with the quickest average time was Education, receiving over 25% of each team’s race entry fee, amounting to INR 14,31,570/-. Magic Bus will now use this donation to deliver a year-long program to address this cause.

Expressing his thoughts on the Mumbai edition, James Hassett, Managing Director, Bloomberg Square Mile Relay said,” We are delighted to once again have experienced such a warm welcome from all the companies in Mumbai and enjoyed such a fantastic race and incredible atmosphere tonight. Congratulations to all the runners who took part and created such a fun sense of community. We are proud to support Magic Bus and their amazing work here in Mumbai through the brilliant cause chosen by our runners tonight, Education. We look forward to bringing the race back to Mumbai again next year.”

Other main sponsors included Experience Partner, White Owl Warehouse, Media Partner Bloomberg Quint and Fitness Partner Bombay Running.