Agropoli, a coastal town in Italy, and Khardah, on the northern fringes of Calcutta, are more than 7,000km apart.

Eastern India’s biggest road race has linked them.

On Friday, a woman from Agropoli and a man from Khardah were at Netaji Indoor Stadium to collect their bibs and running kit for the Tata Steel World 25K Kolkata, presented by The Telegraph, slated for Sunday.

Gaia Punzo, 26, who has been living in Calcutta for some years, will compete in her first road race in India.

Punzo, who has previously run half-marathons in Madrid and her home town, has registered for the 25K category of the Tata Steel World race.

“I used to run regularly back home. However, here I have missed out on my regular running practice but I hope to finish as I have run half-marathons before,” said Punzo.

Soumitra Majumder, 65, a resident of Khardah, is one of the elderly participants in the longest (25K) segment.

Majumder has taken up running to improve his fitness levels. “I have been preparing for this run and have been running regularly in a field inSodepur,” said Majumder.

The two were among the 20,537 who have signed up for the ninth edition of the run. The count is the highest till now. The number was 17,557 in 2023.

The jump in numbers is in sync with the growing love for running in the city and much of eastern India.

More than 60 per cent of the total participants will run either 10km or 25km. In the first few editions, the percentage of runners in the 10km and 25km segments taken together would be less than 40 per cent.

More and more people are taking to serious running, the organisers said.

On Friday, the bib collection centre at Netaji Indoor Stadium was abuzz with runners. Megha Dasgupta, 33, who works for a software major, was among those at the bib collection centre. Dasgupta, a New Town resident, runs regularly and has taken part in several runs in the 10K category over the past several years.

This year, Dasgupta has registered in the 25K category.

“I have taken part in several runs over the past few years. This run takes the runners past some of the city’s landmarks and I thought of enrolling for the 25K category to test myself,” said Dasgupta. She will run with a couple of friends.

Suraj Agarwal, 44, a businessman from Bansdroni, will be at the start line with his cricket buddies on Sunday for the Open 10K category.

Agarwal, who plays cricket regularly with his friends in Bansdroni, said they wanted to take part in TSW “because of the electric energy of the run”.

“Three of us will run together and as we run regularly and play cricket together, we hope to finish with a good time. Even if we don’t, we will have a lot of fun on Sunday,” said Agarwal.

This year, 6,978 runners from outside Bengal will take part in the race, the most in recent years and a testament to the rising stature of therace.

The Open 10K segment, including the Police Cup, will see 7,950 runners; the 25K (including the elite runners and army contingent running for the Vijay Diwas celebrations) will see 4,765 runners; the 4.5km Ananda Run has 5,475 registrations; the Senior Citizens’ Run will have 1,957 runners and the Champions with Disability, 390 runners.

“All the segments have been oversubscribed this year,” said an official.