Different run during London Olympics - that of Couriers

Some, somehow get in to trouble all the time – sometimes, the most of the documents, you feel would reach safely when handed over to a reputed Courier, rather than sending the same by the State run Postal Dept.  While, people narrate at length their tale of woes with Postal Dept, there are also stories of trouble when documents sent through Courier either do not reach or are delivered much beyond the scheduled time……… there could be a dedicated call centre or a single line handling customer complaints – you might never be able to reach that no. or would get some vague answer, depending your luck !!!!!

Olympics are the most attractive games of the modern era.  The modern day Games originated from the ancient games, which were a series of competitions held between representatives of several city-states and kingdoms from Ancient Greece, which featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events. During the Olympic games all struggles against the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished.  There are many interesting legends attached to the origin - it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years. A legend has it that  after Hercules completed his twelve labors, he built the Olympic stadium as an honor to Zeus. The most widely accepted date for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia. 

The modern day Olympic Games held once in 4 years,  is a Major International Event wherein thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. International Olympic Committee (IOC) founded in 1894 is the governing body of the Olympic Movement. As in modern times, running events at Olympia were the cornerstone of the Games. For the first 13 Olympiads, the only event was the stadion, a footrace the length of the stadium, roughly 200 meters.  In the early years, runners competed on an open stretch of level ground with a line drawn in the sand to mark the start, a practice that led to the saying "starting from scratch.". 

Today, Athletics and the running events – the track and field events are the most watched one being the high profile events and Man who wins the 100M dash comes to be known as World’s fastest.  Apart from the sprint there is the marathon, the long distance running event with official distance of 42.195 kilometers.  This commemorates the fabled run of Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger who ran to Athens. 

With London Olympics occupying more headlines, comes the news of a  Courier firm hiring delivery runners to beat congestion during London Olympics.  With close to five million visitors expected for the July 27 to August 12 games - along with stringent security measures and special Olympic lanes reserved for athletes and employees - getting around is expected to be a challenge.  Hence there are reports of  German express delivery service DHL  enlisting London-based JogPost's team of foot couriers to help make sure packages get to their recipients on time.  The team of 400-odd roster of largely part-time runners  are called as 'congestion-busters'.   It is hoped that even during Olympic chaos, this team would still be able to get crucial documents to business, especially when the  transport infrastructure has been identified as one of the biggest risks to the games' smooth running.

DHL  is quoted as announcing the deal yesterday that traffic was expected to increase along London's core routes by 30 per cent and that the uniformed runners, whose speed varies between 3mph and 8mph, would have an edge over the capital's ubiquitous bicycle couriers.   It is claimed that they would be able to do long-distance delivery much faster with public transport. Bikes can't go on trains.'  The joggers reportedly are  mainly contract workers - anything from students to semi-professional soccer players - and suggested that they would leave feats of endurance to the Olympians.

There is a phrase that in a jungle – whether you are the hunter or the hunted, it makes sense to be up on one’s toes and keep running.  For the Lion will have to run faster than the slowest deer to get its prey and the deer will have to run faster than the fastest of the Lion not to become its prey’.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.