Sport tourism is nothing new to Uttarakhand and the state’s popular hill station Nainital has a lot of potential to develop this. Blessed by Mother Nature, Uttarakhand is a popular destination for adventure sports, for instance, rafting in the Ganges, hiking and biking in the mountain routes. Not just this, the state also sends a number of athletes to participate at national and international events. 

 However, Nainital, with its charming weather and beautiful view of its lake, can offer challenging mountain routes that are perfect for running and hiking. This potential was brought home at the 7th monsoon marathon held in Nainital. Organised by an NGO named Run2live every monsoon season, the annual marathon was held this year on 29 August, attracting a fair number of atheletes. 

Tourist hub 

A charming hill station, Nainital has attracted visitors from all over India during summer months. People flock to this lake city to escape the heat of the plains and the pollution in mega cities. Normally people are scared to visit Nainital during monsoon season due to its weather. This fear has been heightened after the Kedarath deluge in 2013 that killed thousands of people. The tourism department is now striving to attract tourists to Nainital during the monsoon season, offering several packages and deals. 

Time for sports 

In addition, merging with the contention that marathon is good for health and also a perfect way to enjoy the beauty of nature along the hill routes, Nainital monsoon marathon has been organised annually since 2007. However, the question is whether Nainital can make or promote Monsoon Marathon to be a special sport to attract tourists (both domestic and international)? 

This is not the first marathon held in Uttarakhand. For instance, the Mussoorie Half-marathon is fairly well-known. But one cannot help but wonder why Nainital Mountain Monsoon Marathon is not popular for people outside the city and state? 

One reason that officials state is finance. For the success of any event, the ultimate reason behind is finance, they point out. 

However, this 7th Monsoon Marathon had attracted more than what Run2live expected even though most of the participants were locals. Thus, finance may not be the only problem that affects the success of the event. The organisers have only to look at the biking tourism or the Mussoorie Half-marathon as specific examples of how sport tourism can be developed in the hill areas. If Nainital can develop a proper plan to improve and innovate the Monsoon Marathon as a truly interesting event in the monsoon season, it may be the answer to the problem. 

Combined effort 

Additionally, in order to expand the scale and interest level of Monsoon Marathon, the organisers need to promote the image of Nainital tourism and coordinate with other channels and organisations. If Nainital wants to get more sponsors and support for the event, it needs to improve their public relations and make a strong linkage with the media, both state and national. The lack of communication and bond with media is a major reason that monsoon marathon is not known by people outside the state. 

Besides, Nainital needs to assure that this event will be interesting enough and worth it for people from other places to visit during the monsoons. Having a dream topography with extensive stretches and steep climbs, Nainital marathon courses would be the most attractive point for all athletes from other places to encounter. But how much advantage can Nainital take to attract amateur and professional athletes in the monsoon marathon? 

Nainital has not just a potential to increase tourism but sport as well. For this annual event to be more successful and better-organised, the tourism department must find more athletes to participate and challenge at national and international levels. This could also be a precious attribution for Indian sport as well as for tourism with a rising number of tourist arrival, especially during monsoons.