To encourage people of Jammu and Kashmir to make health and wellness a top priority and to support Fit India Mission - Directorate of Tourism Jammu, in collaboration with IRONMAN Kapil Arora, organised Jammu Marathon on Sunday.
Kapil is an International Tri Athlete, Ultramarathoner and a Fit India ambassador. The theme of the event was “Celebrate Josh” The Event was Flagged off by ADGP Mukesh Singh and Director Tourism Jammu Vivekananda Rai in presence of Joint Director Tourism Jammu, Sunaina Sharma and Col Ranveer Singh, the First Indian to climb the Seven Summits and triple Everest climber.
Speaking during the flag off ceremony Mukesh Singh, ADGP Police said that the event is being organised to spread awareness about physical fitness and endurance among the citizens of Jammu. Vivekanand Rai, Director Tourism Jammu said that such marathons shall be added as a regular feature in the calendar activities of the department so that people across the country come to Jammu especially for attending the same.
Both Mr Vivekanada Rai along with his wife Dr. Aruna Singh, and Ms. Sunaina Sharma along with her husband SSP Sandeep Mehta also participated in the 10 km race. This activity is the first major Full Marathon sporting event which happened this year in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and over 450 runners and Volunteers from different parts of India participated in this event.
Enthusiasm was electrifying when this group of some of the best runners in the country were running from Gulshan Grounds towards Sidhra Highway and back. There were three categories of the run viz, 42.2km Full Marathon, 21.1 km Half Marathon , 10km & 5 Km respectively.
Race was divided into 2 age groups i.e., 18-40 and 40+ age groups. Ms. Sunaina Mehta Sharma,Joint Director Tourism in the felicitation ceremony briefed the participants that such sporty events shall foster a spirit of adventure, team work, camaraderie and brotherhood among all.
The department of Tourism J&K is working to promote sporting events beyond traditional fairs and festivals. It is worth mentioning that many Senior Citizens also Participated in the said event and were appreciated by all.
It was heartening to see Jammuites Running in Biting Cold weather on a beautiful Sunday morning. Full Marathon, 42.2 km category was won by Sahil Saini Singh in the Below 18-40 age Category and Abhishake Gupta in the 40 and Above age categories respectively.
21 Km Category –
Top Rank in Male Category below 40 years was secured by Sanjay Sharma with and Mamta Sharma with a timings of 1hour and 56 minutes in female category. In the 40 years and above age category Top Position was secured by Vijay Sharma with and Manminder kaur respectively.
In the 10km Category, Top Position was secured by Ritik Sharma with and Rimpi in the Below 40 years category. In the Above 40 years age category, winners were Abhishek Sharma and Princy Bansal respectively.