The Chief Secretary, Jammu & Kashmir, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta IAS today flagged off the 3rd edition of Jammu Half Marathon from Zorawar Singh Auditorium University of Jammu here today.
The traditional flagging off was done in the presence of the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Mukesh Singh IPS, Vice Chancellor of University of Jammu, Prof Umesh Rai, Commissioner Secretary Information Technology, Prerna Puri IAS, Deputy Commissioner Avny Lavasa IAS and Excise Commissioner Pankaj Sharma JKAS.
The marathon was organized by Jammu Athletes Club in collaboration with Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM and more than 1000 runners took part in this grand event. In the Post Covid 3rd edition of this marathon, despite rainy season the participants marked their presence enthusiastically with the high level of ‘Josh’ filling the whole environment with youthful activity.
The title of the marathon was quite aptly chosen as “Say no to drugs yes to Life” and the main objective of today’s sports event was to spread awareness among the people especially the youth about the dangerous consequences of drugs not only on the addict but the whole society.
The Event was divided into 3 categories i.e. Half Marathon (21.097) Km; The Great Jammu Run (10 Km) and FIT Fun Run (5 Km).
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta lauded the efforts of the team of Jammu Athletes Club in holding national level event which serve multiple purposes especially creating awareness among the people from cross sections of the society. He said that since there has been a drastic transformation in the lifestyle and living patterns especially during the past few decades, therefore in the present day scenario there is a dire need to stay fit as physical activity stands reduced to a bare minimum. Moreover the theme of this event is going to leave an impact upon the people by making them alert against the menace of drugs in the society and motivate the youth to stay away from drugs.
Gaurav Gupta and Vikram Gupta, founders of Jammu Athletes Club in their address on the occasion thanked the people of the City of Temples, Jammu and runners from across the country for marking huge participation in the event and making it successful. They also thanked Sumit Kakkar, AVP Upper North Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM and the whole team for his overwhelming support to the event.
Meanwhile, the Club founders also expressed profound gratitude and thanks to the Chief Secretary for sparing his precious time to flag of the Marathon. They said that after the 3rd edition held today, the 4th edition of this Marathon will be held in November this year. The event concluded with the distribution of prizes among the winners.
Gaurav Gupta and Vikram Gupta also expressed gratitude to SSP Jammu, Chandan Kohli and SSP Traffic City Jammu, M Faisal Qureshi for extending their support towards safety of the runners and adequate traffic arrangements for smooth conduct of the event. They also thanked all the sponsors for supporting the event and making them a success. They also thanked Sanjeev Mahajan, Administrator General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, University of Jammu and Dr. Daud Iqbal Baba, Director Sports and Physical Education, University of Jammu, for making necessary arrangement in University of Jammu in successful conduct of marathon.
The event was managed by the core members of Jammu Athletes Club and Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM team including namely Prince Khajuria, Vasu Gupta,Jai Sharma, Ishaan Gupta, Kritika Gandotra, Vasudha Samnotra, Akshun Gupta and Kanav Padha besides team Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM; Shwetima Jamwal, Programming Head, Chaitanya Gupta , GM Jammu, Shobhit Vaid, Kritika Chaudhary, RJs Rohit, Tani & Chaitanya.
JAC is thankful to Cyclists Groups of Jammu for their support to the runners throughout the run and all the volunteers for their help in the smooth management of the event.
