Leading the athletes were Kavita Raut (women’s 21-km champ) and Surender Singh (men’s 21-km winner), both national campers at Bangalore, who said they had agreed to participate in the Mumbai event on explicit promises by the organisers regarding providing accommodation, food and return airfares. The two also went on to say that they might not return to the event next year if this was to be the treatment meted out to Indian runners.

Six elite Indian runners each from the men’s and women’s sections are entitled to stay in a five-star hotel at Marine Drive which transforms into a runners’ base-camp during the marathon. Assured of facilities in order to participate here and taking a break from their ongoing camp in preparation of the January 27 Asian Championship at Doha, Priti Surendran (who finished third) found herself being directed to Narsinha Lodge instead, where her pre-event preparation turned into a nightmare.

“It was like a dormitory, definitely not suitable for girls,” she said, adding: “They didn’t even guarantee us the safety of our luggage. We slept clutching our bags on Friday, not ideal preparation for running such a big marathon.”

Further, Raut — a triple 10,000-m national champion, who was on the list of six elite athletes eligible for the five-star stay — opted to express solidarity with her camp-mates and moved to the Lodge. “Our Russian coach Nikolay had asked us to stick together, and it’s unfair that only I get to stay there while they had to stay in the dorm. Also they handed me Rs 5,000 for three persons’ air-tickets,” she said incredulously of the trio’s pitiable condition upon landing.

Rohit Pawar, athletes co-ordinator for the Mumbai Marathon, who allegedly promised the India-campers regarding the facilities on phone-call, expressed his helplessness and countered the allegations. “We’d offered Kavita accommodation and she was to check in, which she refused to do. The list of 12 elite runners is handed to me by the organisers, I only co-ordinate,” he said.

“We should’ve been informed earlier, we’d have sorted it out. We’ve never had a problem before. It’s an open event, and we are not obliged to provide accommodation to all. But next year we’ll look into this issue,” said Vivek Singh of Procam, the promoters of the marathon.