Thirty-six-year-old Prakash Singh Sodhi lost his right leg in an accident in 2005. But that did not stop him from doing what he had never done before the accident — run a marathon. A blade runner, he was among 5,000 persons to participate in a marathon on Sunday and complete a 10-km run for a social cause.
The Dream Runners Half Marathon 2014 was organised on the lines of “Anyone can run” in aid of SNEHA, an organisation that works for the prevention of suicide. The participants included blade runners, wheelchair runners and prosthetic runners. As it promoted family running, close to 500 families ran together, according to a press release.
Prior to his accident in 2005, Mr. Sodhi had never participated in a marathon. After getting blade prosthesis in 2013, this civil engineer took part in several marathons in Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai.
“I had a Jaipur Foot (an artificial limb) till 2012. Then, I met blade runner Major D.P. Singh, who had lost his leg in the Kargil war, and was really inspired. I went to a rehabilitation centre in Hyderabad and got blade prosthesis that was specially designed for running in 2013,” he said.
Among the 5,000 participants were 1,000 women and 120 children. There were four blade runners too. Runners from 30 cities across India, Brooklyn, New York, Seattle and Singapore participated.
The marathon, which began at Besant Nagar, was flagged off by Hiroshi Kimura, director of Yamaha Motor India Sales and Lakshminarayanan, chairman of Butterfly Group. World squash champion Dipika Pallikal distributed the prizes to winners of the 21-km and 10-km runs.
