‘Twisterhood’ and the school of running wizardry

On the eve of Tower Twisters’ anniversary, a look at the systems that make this running group special 

Imagine a Zoom session on pure mathematics by college professors being interspersed every now and again with a raucous recital of the first ten numbers by kindergarteners.

Though both exercises deal with maths, throwing them together is an incongruity. Tower Twisters, a chapter of Chennai Runners, spotted a similar mismatch with the result that it now operates with four official WhatsApp groups.

Vikram Mohan, one of Tower Twisters’ founding-members, notes that one WhatsApp group hosts those members with a blinkered vision, being fixated only on running. The group has a low tolerance threshold for any attempts to get a non-running line in, straight or edgeways.

There is another for members “who are serious about running” but simply cannot resist the temptation of running through every topic at hand, “chatting away to glory”, as Vikram puts it. This group countenances these digressions, as almost everyone is guilty of them at some point.

Another WhatsApp group is for cycling enthusiasts.

The fourth is for the “tenderfeet”, starting out on their first runs and it is called an incubation group. Being baptised into the running fraternity though this group is a test by fire. The term “incubation” does bring the full extent of its meaning to the table, but quietly papers over the closer scrutiny that is behind it all. These beginners are “on probation”, their seriousness about running being silently gauged by the core team members, who are present in all four groups.

Vikram explains: “There are people who would want to join such clubs either to network for business or socialise or both; we want to keep such people out,” says Vikram. “Do not get us wrong. We want our members to form friendships with each other; only that we want friendship to be a byproduct of the joint pursuit of excellence in running and fitness training, and not the primary objective. In fact, we pride ourselves on being as close-knit as a family, and we have coined a name for this bonhomie: Twisterhood.”