Over 5,000 people take part in Lucknow City Half Marathon
LUCKNOW: A large number of Lucknowites woke up early on Sunday to take part in the third edition of the Lucknow City Half Marathon-2018.
Over 5,000 participants gathered at the 1090 crossing in Gomti Nagar to take part in the event aimed at bringing diverse people of Lucknow together to create awareness about the importance of fitness.
People from all walks of life including, local administration staff, school and college students, homemakers, elderly and others, participated in the run.
‘Ultraman’ Abhishek Mishra, 34, led 5,000 others in Lucknow’s mega running carnival themed ‘Run for a healthy YOU’. District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, along with the mayor Sanyukta Bhatia, flagged of the 21-km, 10km and 5-km runs.
Indian tri-athlete Abhishek Mishra said, “Lucknow City Half Marathon is an initiative to bring diverse people of the city on one platform to create awareness about the importance of fitness, vote in elections and conservation of fuel. This time, the event was rolled out in association with UP Athletics Association to promote the message ‘Run for a healthy YOU’.”
Avinash Verma, executive director, Indian Oil, Sanjay Gupta, executive vice-president, HCL Technologies and many others attended the third edition of the mega running carnival.
The event saw a participation of 650 runners in the 21-m half marathon, 550 runners in the 10-km and around 3,800 runners in the 5-km marathon.
People from various parts of the country like Mumbai, Kochi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Coimbatore, Allahabad, Meerut, Pune, Chennai and others came to Lucknow to participate in the event.
The event also witnessed participation of runners from New Zealand, Dubai and Spain.
Avinash Verma urged the participants to run for a healthier and happier life. He said he was proud to see more than 5000 runners participate in the carnival and expected that the event would grow bigger in future.
Over 180 employees of Indus, including associates and technicians, ran the half marathon to spread awareness around road safety, healthy lifestyle and personal well-being.
The company was appreciated for its efforts to aware masses and was also felicitated with an award for ‘Maximum Participation by a Corporate’ by the organizers of the marathon, said Ajay Duggal, CEO, UP East circle, Indus Towers, who received the award on the behalf of the organization.
The event was organized by Tabono Sports, founded by Abhishek Mishra, who is a professional runner.