BHUBANESWAR: Around 6,000 women, clad in traditional sarees, took part in ‘Pattathon’, a special mini-marathon, organised by the KIIT university here on Sunday.
The Pattathon, in its second edition, was organised with the message of ‘women’s empowerment’ and ‘Education for All.’ The Pattathon featured women employees of KIIT, KISS, and KIMS, along with women from various parts of the state, who ran from the Shikharchandi temple square to the KISS athletics stadium.
Kiran Mahato from Rourkela secured the first prize of Rs 50,000, while Tejaswini Kispatta and Sasmita Behera from Cuttack won the second and third prizes, receiving Rs 40,000 and Rs 30,000, respectively. Seven runners-up were awarded Rs 10,000 each. All winners were also gifted exquisite handcrafted sarees.
Speaker Surama Padhy, mayor Sulochana Das, Olympians Dutee Chand and Anuradha Biswal participated in the event. KIIT, KISS and KIMS founder Achyuta Samanta, KIIT University V-C Saranjit Singh, registrar JR Mohanty also took part and motivated the participants.
KIIT officials said apart from the special Pattathon, mini marathons were held in 37 locations across Odisha and more than 65 places across India. The marathon is organised every year since 2016 under the leadership of Samanta to spread the message of ‘Education for All’, they said.