VISAKHAPATNAM: Over 15,000 people participated in the fifth edition of the ‘Vizag Navy Marathon- 2018’ (VNM-18) held at the Beach Road here on Sunday morning.
The largest running event in the ‘City of Destiny’, was conducted by the Eastern Naval Command. The VNM has become the signature running event which has been accredited by the Association of International Marathons, which makes the VNM an internationally recognised event and a qualifier run for the ‘World Marathon Majors’.
The event received tremendous response from people of all walks of life. People from all age groups, children with parents, veterans, youth, navy personnel, foreigners and schoolchildren ran side by side. In addition, denizens came out in large numbers to cheer the runners and enjoy the festive atmosphere from early in the morning. A total of 15,149 participated in the four categories of runs - 42.2 km Courage Run, 21.1 km Destiny Run, 10 km Friendship Run and 5 km Run for Fun. The starting point for all the categories was the seafront Viswapriya Function Hall.
The highlight of the VNM-18 is the participation of 20 Singapore Navy personnel in the Friendship Run to commemorate the 25 years of bilateral naval exercises between India and Singapore, “SIMBEX-18”.
The 42-km Run had 351 participants and it was flagged off by Captain Animesh Nagar, the sports officer of the ENC and race director Murali Nannapaneni, while 2,254 participated in the 21-km Run which was flagged off by Commodore Arvind Sharma, Commanding Officer, INS Kalinga. The 10-km Run was flagged off by Rear Admiral Edwin Leong, Fleet Commander, Republic of Singapore Navy, in the presence of Rear Admiral DK Tripathi.