The seventh edition of ‘Vodafone Coimbatore Marathon 2019’ held on Sunday saw 16,000 people participating under three main categories.
C. Sylendra Babu, Director General of Police, Government Railway Police, flagged off the 21.1 km half marathon which had 2,300 runners. T. Balaji, Managing Trustee of Coimbatore Cancer Foundation (CCF), Aruna, a cancer survivor, and Admiral M.S. Pawar together flagged off the 10 km run participated by 5,500 runners.
The 5 km run had the highest number of over 8,200 runners and it was flagged off by S. Murali, Business Head of Vodafone India, Commodore Ashok Rai, Commanding Officer of INS Agrani and Dr. Balaji.
The race started at Park Gate road and the prizes to the winners were distributed at Stanes School premises. Hydration points, medical facilities, ambulance services, route markers, and course marshals were arranged along the marathon route.
According to Dr. Balaji, the quality of the event along with the cause is what has made the marathon special. “CCF has now moved into its own premises and that is making it more accessible to the community at large. We have launched our dream project ‘Aravanippu’ - a model rural home care palliative service which has been very well received and we are now ready to spread our wings and reach out to more rural communities,” he said.
Race director Ramesh Ponnuswami said that offering runners a fantastic running experience was the main goal of the event. “There are hundreds of participants who have run all the seven editions of our event, many from out of town,” he said.
