Over 19,000 Enthusiastic Runners Participate in the Vizag–Navy Marathon

Over 19,000 Enthusiastic Runners Participate in the Vizag–Navy Marathon

The sixth edition of Vizag-Navy Marathon, the largest running event in the “City of Destiny”, was conducted at the Beach Road on 17 November 2019. On the pleasant Sunday morning, 19,108 enthusiastic runners participated in 42.2 Km Courage Run, 21.1 Km Destiny Run, 10 Km Friendship Run and 05 Km Run for Fun, starting from Vishwapriya Function Hall on the pristine Beach Road along the Bay of Bengal with a main theme of ‘Reduce – Reuse – Recycle, making the Marathon an environment friendly run and to contribute to ‘Fit India’ movement.

The event had a tremendous response from all walks of life. Participants from all age groups, children with parents, veterans, youth, naval personnel, foreigners and school children ran side by side, stride by stride. In addition to the participants, citizens of the city came out in large numbers to cheer the runners with spontaneity and enjoy the celebratory atmosphere from early in the morning.

458 runners participated in 42 Km Courage Run which was flagged off at 0415 hrs while 2739 runners participated in the 21 Km Destiny Run. The 10 Km Friendship Run with the participation of 5850 runners was flagged off at 0630 hrs by Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, Chief of Staff Eastern Naval Command and Shri Gautam Sawang Director General of Police (DGP). The 05 Km Run for Fun witnessed record participation of 10061 runners was flagged off at 0700 hrs by Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command. Vizag Navy Marathon has become the signature running event in the City of Destiny, Visakhapatnam which has been accredited by the AIMS – Association of International Marathons, which proudly makes VNM an internationally recognized event and a qualifier run for the ‘World Marathon Majors’.

The event was conducted without any untoward incident thanks to the effective traffic management from the Police Department and a host of facilities manned by volunteers manning hydration points, medical points and restrooms throughout the route. An event of this scale and proportion has inscribed the name of the ‘City of Destiny’ on the Marathon Map of the country with wholehearted support from District Administration, City Police Authorities, GVMC, AP Tourism Department, Sports Authority of AP, Indian Oil Corporation(IOC), Care Hospital and the numerous volunteers.

Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, Chief of Staff ENC, Shri Gautam Sawang DGP, Shri K Rama Mohana Rao, Chairman VPT and Shri Rahul Bharadwaj Executive Director IOC presented cash awards to the winners on completion of the Marathon. In the Men’s category, Felix Cheruiyot Rob and Mohit Rathore emerged winner and runners-up in Full Marathon respectively while Nicodemus Kiprugut and Moses Kiptaniu emerged winner and runners-up in Half Marathon respectively.  In the Women’s category, Etregenet Belete and Sally Jebiwott emerged winner and runners-up in Full Marathon respectively while Caren Jebet Maiyo and Phoolan Pal emerged winner and runners-up in Half Marathon respectively.