Thousands of runners from across India and abroad descended on the City Beautiful on Sunday to participate in the second edition of the international level “Daily World Marathon”.
The participants exuded enthusiasm and displayed true sportsman spirit as they started assembling at the Capitol Complex even before 5 am much before daybreak.
Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator, VP Singh Badnore flagged off the last run – a five km one – along with Punjab DGP Suresh Arora, Chief Information Commissioner SS Channy, Principal Secretary to Punjab CM Tejveer Singh, UT Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal and Secretary to Punjab Governor JM Balamurugan, besides several top IAS and IPS officers of Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh.
The first three runs – 42-km of full marathon, 21-km of half marathon and 10-km run were earlier flagged off at 5 am, 6 am and 6.30 am respectively from the Capitol Complex to the Sukhna Lake. The Governor lauded the efforts of the UT Administration and Daily World in organising the mega event. He made an impassioned plea to such events an annual feature and said that the administration would extend full support to such events.
Yadav from the Indian Army won the first prize in the male category by completing the race in 2:25:57 hours, while Seema bagged the first prize in the female category of the 42-km run by completing the run run in 3:05:49 hours.
In the 21-km run, Semir Naser from Ethiopia won the first prize in the male category whereas Varsha Devi got the first prize in the female category. In 10 kilometre run, Pradeep Kumar bagged the first prize in the male category.