Patnitop Half Marathon organised

Participants of Patnitop Half Marathon posing for a group photograph at Patnitop on Sunday.
Participants of Patnitop Half Marathon posing for a group photograph at Patnitop on Sunday.

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, June 19: Patnitop Half Marathon-Indian’s most beautiful hill race was organised by Ironman Kapil Arora, who is an international tri athlete, ultra marathoner and Fit India Ambassador, today.
The title was sponsored by Skyview by Empyrean and supported by Patnitop Development Authority and Jammu Tourism, whereas Yokohama Tyres, Brooks India, Enerzal India , Kapahi Contractors, Kangra Fort, 91.9 RED FM and major running groups of Jammu including Jammu Hills Sports Club and Kathua Distance Runners were among the co-sponsor of the event.
The event was organised to encourage people of Jammu and Kashmir towards fitness wherein District Information Officer Udhampur, Anil Kumar Sharma and ACR Udhampur, Rafiq Jaral participated alongwith 300 enthusiastic runners from India and Udhampur.
Enthusiasm was electrifying when this group of some of the best runners in the country were running among the meadows of Patnitop Hills towards Natha Top and back. Rajesh Padha was the chief mentor of the race.
There were three categories of the run including 5km, 10km and 21.1km which were divided into four age groups including 18-35 year, 35-45 year, 45-55 year and plus 55 year age groups.
In 21.1 Km (Half Marathon), Avneet Singh, Ashish Kotwal and Surinder Kumar stood 1st, 2nd and 3rd in male category, while Rimpy remained 1st in female category of 18 to 35 year, whereas in 35 to 45 years, Vijay Sharma, Abhishek Sharma and Sindhu Sharma bagged top three places in male category, while Kirti, Vasudha Sammotra and Shweta Mittal clinched top three places in female category respectively.
In 45 to 55 (Male), Rakesh Raina, Sajad Haider and Satpal Gorka stood 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively, while Manminder Kaur remained first in female category, whereas in plus 55 category (Male), Ram Paul Kapoor, Rajesh Padha and Om Parkash Sharma clinched top three places respectively, while Durga Sil stood 1st in female category.
In 10 km (18 to 35 year), Raghav Sharma, Ajay Singh and Manohar Kumar bagged top three places respectively in male category, while Shweta Jamwal, Ishani Gupta and Ragini Sadotra stood 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in female category, whereas in 35 to 45, Mangat Singh, Pritam Kumar and Rahul Sharma were the top three runners in male category respectively, while Dr Pratiksha Raghuwanshi, Dr Rahilla Parveen and Anupama were among the top three runners in female category.
In 45 to 55, Bhushan Sharma, Ajay Singh and Joginder Paul secured top three places respectively in male category, while Bhavna Salathia stood first in female category, besides in plus 55, Naresh Sharma, Anil Katoch and Dr Sanjeev Mohan won top three positions in male category, while Rekha Katoch and Sudesh Basotra stood 1st and 2nd in female category.