BENGALURU: The culture of running is taking rapid strides across the country, with the city also witnessing the same in the last few years. One visit to some nearby parks would reflect the growth of this running culture - people of different age groups can be seen sweating it out. The popularity of running can also be gauged from the number of participants in major marathon events in the city.
Most of these runs focus more on adults, which seems to be one of the main reasons for the Bengaluru-based company Sports Focus Investments, which is organising a run primarily focusing on kids. The run, titled ‘Rabbit Run’, is scheduled for January 13 at Cubbon Park, where kids aged between 3-14 years can participate.
“We want kids to get excited about the idea of running. We want to make it fun and exciting for children,” said Shriram Ramdas, founder of Rabbit Run. There are two different categories in the Rabbit Run – a 3k walk/run for kids (non-competitive) under nine years, and a 5k run (competitive) for those under 9-14 years. Hundreds have already registered, and the number is only expected to rise in the coming weeks, with a month left for the run.
Despite being in the first edition, the organisers are already looking at the future, with more runs being organised in different cities every year. As of now, their focus is to get the project off the ground and make as many kids as possible excited about running. “This is our first edition, but we have a long-term plan. In the next three years, we hope to do 5-10 runs around the country every year in ten different cities,” said Ramdas.
Though it is focussed on kids alone, parents can also participate under one condition: their kid has to participate in the run for them to be able to take part. The organisers are letting parents get involved hoping that they run together every day and make it a habit.
“We want kids to get inspired by their parents. We want to create a cultural habit that goes beyond the run. There are also categories like Father-Daughter Run, Father-Son Run, Mother-Son, etc, so that the activity allows for the entire family to have fun,” Ramdas concluded.