Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 11: Several runners from Jammu along with national and international athletes including those belonging to Kenya and Denmark put on their running shoes, braving the morning chill making Jammu Half Marathon, organized by Jammu Athletes Club a grand success.
The Marathoners were grouped as per race category around 5:30 am and then a stretching session was followed. The marathon was flagged off by dignitaries BB Vyas Advisor to Governor, Prof Manoj Dhar, VC Jammu University, Basant Rath, IGP Traffic, Ramesh Kumar DC Jammu, Talat Parvez Rohilla Commissioner Excise Department, Arvind Kotwal Commissioner JMC, Syed Mureed Husain Shah Deputy Excise Commissioner, Dr Meenakshi Kilam Registrar Jammu University and CA RK Gupta.
The runners were tapped on timings through the tracking chip on the bib and the result of the timings was sent to their respective registered mobiles after finishing the race in the registered category.
The half-marathon, started from University of Jammu and culminated back on the campus. The winners were encouraged by the dignitaries which included BB Vyas, Navin K Choudhary, Prof Manoj Dhar and many more and were given prizes and certificates in their respective categories.
In 10 km category male category, Pazam Viren, Bhushan Kumar and Deepak Kumar bagged first, second and third positions respectively, whereas in female category, Amandeep Kaur, Amanmeet Kaur and Sheetal Lalotra clinched top three positions respectively.
In 21 km category (age 18-45 male), Satinder Singh, Flex and Martin bagged first, second and third positions respectively. The top three position holders in 21 km category (age 18-45 Female) were Preeti, Mandeep Kaur and Simran Kocher.
In 21 km category (age 46-60 male), Ramesh Raina, Surinder Choudhary and Sandeep Singh bagged 1st, 2nd and 3rd position respectively, whereas in female category, Pawan Sharma, Sudesh Barotra and Indu Jamwal clinched 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
In 21 km category (above 60), Rajesh Padha, Prabhat Singh and Amar Choudhary bagged 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
Jammu Runners Group (JRG), which had brought laurels to the State in several marathon events earlier, received five podium finishes and above 90 finisher medals.
The event was very well organized and drew shrieks of praises from international runners. They were in awe of the level of professionalism followed at the event. It was quite surprising that runners including men, women, and children, seasoned and amateur gathered at the university at 5:00 am which was half an hour before the gathering time. They were grouped as per categories followed by a stretching session. The track had hydration and medical points and also entertainment zones that lifted the spirits of the runners.
“I am so proud and excited to run in this kind of event happening in our city. I congratulate JAC for this endeavour and wish to see more events of such stature in the city. I have attended the marathons across the nation and also the ones earlier in Jammu but nothing come close to the standards JAC has set,” a runner shared with a smile after finishing the marathon in 21 km category.
“It felt great, I didn’t know what to expect as there is a certain image in mind when you come to J&K. It is surely none of that and is so peaceful. The event speaks high of the progressive mind-set of the organisers. I am sure I along with other international runners will be coming often to Jammu,” a Kenyan runner said.
The founders of JAC Gourav Gupta and Vikram Gupta along with Vasu Gupta, Prabhat Singh, Surinder Chowdhary, Sham Suri, Rajinder Gupta, Dilawar Khan, Gagan, Prince, Ishan, Kanav Padha, Jai Sharma, Rasmeet, Rakesh Kumar and Rajeshwar were elated to see the excitement, encouragement and hopes the race can grow from here, already planning a second one and also other events in line.
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