IIM Raipur, in association with Intripin, organised a marathon on Sunday in which about 3,000 runners beating the early morning winter chill participated in it with passion and excitement.
The event was kicked off from Telibandha lake in Raipur and charted an either 11 km or 5 km course depending on the event.
The theme for the run this year was ‘Swasth Bharat’ with the objective being creating awareness regarding personal health and encouraging people to take a greater interest in it.
Bus arrangements were made to pick up participants from all points of the city to facilitate transportation of participants and ensure adherence to the schedule.
Kits including t-shirts and bibs were distributed to the registered participants as a memento to flaunt. Ambulance, health check, route markers and volunteers apart from water and glucose were all in place before the start of the marathon to conduct ground operations smoothly while spot registrations were on at multiple registration points to ensure spur of the moment attendees were not denied a chance to be a part of the marathon.
The main guests in attendance included the Karan Kundra, a model and a stalwart of the small screen who has featured on some of the most popular television on the most popular networks in the country, Sanjay Kumar Alang (IAS), Director, Social Welfare, Chattisgarh, Deepak Soni (IAS), CEO, District Panchayat Raipur, Basavaraju S. (IAS), Pramod Dubey, Mayor of Raipur, Anil Rawat, Founder of Intripin, Mrs. Khushboo Rawat, Director Planning and Coordination at Intripin, Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Director of IIM Raipur and Prof. Parikshit Charan from IIM Raipur.
Also in attendance was Shanmukha Rao Dharmana, who was associated with the Divyang Run. Dharmana’s participation was particularly inspiring, for despite having lost a limb in an unfortunate accident a few years ago, has not stopped running and has been a part of over 39 marathons since 2014.
The marathon was inaugurated at 6 am, following which the flagship 11 km run was flagged off amidst thunderous applause, a few minutes after which the 5 km run was also flagged off.
Following the 5 km run, the Divyang Run was flagged off. The Divyang Run is an initiative especially intended for differently abled participants.
Pukeshwar Lal walked away with the first prize for men in the 11km event while Smt. Tejashwari Sahu won the women’s event. Both were the recipient of a handsome cash prize of Rs 25,000. Also finishing on the podium in the women’s category were sisters Smt. Chandrawati Rajwade and Smt. Sonika Rajwade. The Rajwade sisters mentioned how they have been training since a very young age under their coach.
The 5 km event winners were Mr Deep Patel and Smt. Balmati for men and women respectively, walking away with lucrative cash prizes of Rs 20,000 each. The first place in the Divyang Run went to Mr. Siyaram in the mute category and Mr. Rupesh in the visually challenged category and both of whom received a glistening trophy.