To restore the lost greenery in the city, especially in Kovaipudur area which has lost a majority of its greenery 'Go Green Kovaipudur’ marathon was organised this morning by the Kovaipudur Runners Club along with Orchids, a gated community in Kovaipudur. About 1,300 runners participated in the various run categories 5-km, 10-km, 21-km run and 42-km run.
“Our city has hosted marathons of various capacities for several social causes in the past. This is the first time that a 42-km marathon is hosted in our city. Hundreds of runners from different walks of life including students, homemakers, professionals and the senior citizens from across the country, participated in the marathon", said the organisers C. Rajasekhar, Vignesh, Saravanan, Prabhu, Peter, S.Kavipriya, Reena, Maya, Pricilla, Mary.
Foreign nationals from Kenya participated in the full and half marathon and they won prizes in the men’s category. Since the aim of this marathon is to improve the green cover, all runners were given a sapling and were advised to ensure that the sapling grows into a tree. Organizers share that a wide variety of saplings were sourced locally and were distributed to participants at the venue today.
Mr. V. Arumugapandi from DMK flagged off the 21-kms and 10-kms run categories. A special guest from the Lions Club of Kovaipudur flagged off the 5-kms run. The ground at Kovaipudur was the start and end point for all the categories. Runners passed through CBM College, ran across Banjara Hills and JRD Hills and finally finished off at the Kovaipdur ground (start point). Depending on the run, participants did either two, three or four rounds of this route.
During the valedictory function a total of rupees 1.80-lakh was given as cash prizes to the men and women winners. Mr. T. M. Anbarasan, Former Minister for Labour, Tamil Nadu, Dr. P. Krishnakumar, CEO & Secretary, Nehru Group of Institutions Mr. Veerapandi S Arumugam from DMK and representatives from Orchids gated community among others participated.