More than 100,000 people take part in Jaipur Marathon
JAIPUR: More than 100,000 people took part in the 11th edition of Jaipur Marathon on Sunday, said organisers.
Gura Dayal Singh, 79, was presented with the ‘best athlete award’ for participating in the half marathon of 21 kilometres, they added.
Governor Kalraj Mishra flagged off the marathon early Sunday morning. Energy minister BD Kalla, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, Rajasthan Cricket Association president Vaibhav Gehlot, banker Sanjay Agarwal and politician Lokendra Singh Kalvi were also present at the flag-off dais.
Runners from 35 countries and 140 I ndian cit i es, aged between 6 and 79, participated in the marathon, the organisers said.
The event was divided into different categories: full marathon of 42 km, half marathon of 21 km, 10 km run, timed run of 5 km and dream run of 6 km.
For participants, cheer-up zones were made at every 1km, which had over 1,000 Rajasthani artists and three Army bands.
In addition, there were cultural presentations of different states showcasing different art forms like dance, music and paintings.
A number of NGOS took part in the marathon and created awareness on issues such as ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, ‘I want every girl to know that your voice can change t he world’, ‘Respect life; say no to female feticide’ etc.
Japhet Reno and Nicodemus Kiprugut were announced winners in the elite international male category, and in the Indian category, winners were Srikant Yadav, Dhiraj Solanki and Mohan Lal. Hansram, Sushil Yadav and Dev Singh Gurjar were winners in the male category of half marathon; in the women’s category, the winners were Tripti Agarwal, Sunita Jat and Sneha Chaudhary.
Under 10 km (male) category winners were Harkesh Meena, MD Gulsher Alam, Devesh Kumar; and in women’s category, Reenu Devi, Shivani Chaurasia and Mishthi Kajla. Under 5km (male) category winners were Hemraj Gurjar, Rakshit Khairwa and Mukesh Kumar Sharma; whereas in women’s c at e g or y, i t was Pri yushi Sharma, Rituka Chauhan and Drishti Sharma.
The p a r t i c i p a n t s wer e awarded medals as well as prize money worth ₹10 lakh.