Avadi Night Marathon for a ‘Drug-free Tamil Nadu’ attracts 3,500 participants

Avadi Police Commissionerate plans to make it an annual event; winners announced and prizes given away in the 10 km and half-marathon caregory

The first edition of the Avadi Night Marathon 2022, “A Run for Drug-Free Tamil Nadu”, was conducted on October 2, on occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

An initiative of the Avadi Police Commissionerate and jointly organised with Velammal Nexus, Vel Tech educational institutions and Chennai Runners on the Outer Ring Road, the marathon was flagged off by Director-General of Police C. Sylendra Babu.

Nearly 3,500 people from across the country participated in the event, according to a press release.

“Night marathon is a unique event and this is the first such event in Chennai since 2016. Chennai is now added to the circuit of night marathon. All arrangements were made to international standards to cater to the needs of international runners,” the release said.

The Avadi police have planned to organise this event annually, it added.

Sandeep Rai Rathore, Commissioner of Police, Avadi Police Commissionerate, Shilpam Kapur Rathore and chairperson of Vel Tech institutions Mahalakshmi gave away the prizes to winners of half marathon and the 10-km run.

The winners for half marathon in the open category men were Rameshwar Munjal (first prize), Govinda Durai (second prize) and R. Prabhakaran (third prize). For the open category women, Bijoya Barman, Sandya Shanker, Karthiga Arunachalam bagged the first, second and third prizes respectively.

In half marathon senior category men, while Shanmugam got the first place, Nanjundappa M. and Anish R. came second and the third respectively. Mamta Rautela, Goldy Manoj and Barkavi Arvind came first, second and third in the half marathon senior category women.

In the half marathon veteran category men, Joseph EJ, Baba A, Seranthaiah Pillai emerged first, second and third respectively. For the veteran category women Alli Premila and Rashmi Dongre won the first and second prizes respectively.

In the 10-km open category men, Siva Sanjay, M. Pandi and Pankaj Yadav won first, second and third prizes respectively. In the open category women, Elavarasi, Kiruthika and Vinodini came first, second and third respectively.

For the 10 km run, in the senior category men, N. Ranga Kounder, Jagadeesan M. and Venkatesan S. bagged the first, second and third place respectively. In the senior category women, while Theyana Baskaran got the first prize, Mohana Ranjitha and Abi received the second and the third prize respectively.

In the 10-km run veteran category men, Sarfudheen A.K., Nanjundan Kari and Venugopal R. got the first, second and third prizes respectively. In the veteran category women, Aarti and Janaki Venkat won first and second prizes respectively.