6,700+ runners participated in seven categories in this Virtual Edition of the Coimbatore Marathon 2021 held from 1st December to 31st December

Coimbatore: Over 6,700 runners participated in seven categories in the virtual edition of the Coimbatore Marathon 2021 held from 1st December to 31st December.

The premiere event had garnered the participation of people from all walks of life. The 2021 edition of the Coimbatore Marathon was a virtual event. The theme for the year was ‘Rise & Run’.

Dr. T Balaji, Managing Trustee of the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation said, “Greetings from The Coimbatore Cancer Foundation. Like the rest of the world, CCF was also in limbo in 2021. Working under challenging and frequently changing conditions was difficult and we had to continue reaching out to our patients and provide help in novel ways. A big help was in the volunteer force that we had trained who were our silent heroes. We could access our patients in the villages and provide nutritional supplements and medicines with their help, virtual counselling and bereavement support also proved of immense help.

Financial support continued focusing more on children with cancer with a good prognosis. Training MSW students continued on virtual mode as also skill enhancement webinars and online courses proved of immense help. CCF helped and assisted PSG Hospitals conduct a Palliative Care workshop and establish a Palliative care ward and Hospice. This year too, we had to conduct a virtual marathon which attracted more than 6,700 registrations compared to the 6500+ last year.

Hopefully 2022 will allow us to conduct our usual physical event God willing. Almost all our partners came back to support us which was encouraging and reflected their faith in us. We have a wonderful team at CCF and we wish all in the community A HAPPY HEALTHY JOYOUS 2022.”

N. Valliappan, Joint Race Director said, “The ninth edition of the marathon was conducted as a virtual event as in the year 2020. Given the concerns on holding a real or physical event, the virtual format had to be continued for one more year. While the format was not new, our team was initially skeptical about the support we would receive for one more year in the virtual format since the running community in general had enough virtual events and looked forward to the josh and festivities of a real event.

However, the cause of CCF made us go ahead with the belief that the event had its own place among not just runners, but the community at large. Our belief has been vindicated with the strong show of support by all stakeholders. Participation is more than the 2020 event and donations by participants is almost double the base amount fixed. In running parlance we say "rain or shine, we run'' on a typical running day. Now it is very clear, come what may Coimbatore Marathon will happen every year and it will continue to support the cause of CCF.

Our registration for this format is at about 42% of the physical event, making it one of the largest in the virtual format in India. Thanks to Coimbatoreans and various stakeholders who continue to repose faith in us. We are extremely grateful for this. As we close out the 2021 edition, we look forward to returning to the real format with our next edition in December 2022”.

The Coimbatore Marathon was brought to the city by Coimbatore Cancer Foundation in association with Coimbatore Runners & Show Space Events. All participants received an e-certificate (Finisher & Photo) and an e-badge.