Lucknowites take steps for road safety
Over 2,500 people participate in the 10th edition of this 10km marathon held in association with UPSRTC
LUCKNOW: Thousands of people from various localities of the city on Sunday participated in the 10th edition of the Lucknow City Run, hosted by the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L), to create awareness among citizens on road safety.
The 10-km marathon, held in association with the Uttar Pradesh State Road transport Corporation (UPSRTC), began from Lohia Park, Gomti Nagar, at around 7 am.
“The marathon witnessed participation of over 2,500 people who showed solidarity to the cause and enthusiastically participated in the event,” an IIML student claimed.
While men were required to cover the distance of 10 km and women had to cover 5 km. There was a special children’s category of 5 km as well.
The second edition of Run for Fun, which was an open-for-all event, also garnered heavy participation.
The run was aimed at creating awareness about potential threat arising out of lack of vigilance on road and to promote road safety.
“It’s cold out here but we are enjoying,” said a participant. While the young participants ran fast, elderly were even higher in spirits.
“Road safety has been one of the pressing issues of modern India for a while now with major corporations as well as governments heavily investing in campaigns. However, the war against road rage, accidents and disasters is far from over,” another participant said.
“As a citizen, you are responsible for all other citizens on the road as well. To raise awareness for the cause, IIMLucknow’s Manfest-Varchasva conducted this marathon to create awareness,” a student volunteer said.
Several differently-abled people also participated in the race. Wearing colourful outfits, the participants ran or walked briskly in Gomti Nagar as traffic remained thin on Sunday morning.
“The theme of the last year’s edition was to raise awareness on any kind of injustice and to underline the fact that the voice of every aggrieved person is heard, irrespective of the fact whether he or she is from the highest or lowest strata of society. This year the theme was road safety as thousands of people get killed in accidents. We organise the marathon every year to promote social cause,” said an IIM-L student.
UPSRTC’s chief general manager Jaydeep Verma, who was the chief guest for the event, felicitated the winners.
Khushbu Gupta stood first in the women’s category while Shravan Kumar won in the men’s category.
The winners were awarded prizes worth ₹1 lakh, mementos, certificates and T-shirts.
Certificate of participation and T-shirts were awarded to remaining participants.