KOCHI: The Navy on Sunday conducted Kochi Navy Marathon as part of its Navy Week celebrations. The main event, the 21-km Venduruthy Run, was flagged off by Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command Vice Admiral AK Chawla. The Marathon’s purpose was to promote healthy living and fitness through running and developing harmony between the Indian Navy and the local people.
Speaking at the occasion, Chawla expressed happiness at the overwhelming response received for the second edition of the Half Marathon. He reiterated the importance of being health-conscious and highlighted the tagline of the Kochi Navy Marathon: ‘Run for a healthy Kochi’. The Commander-in-Chief himself participated in the Garuda Run. The Marathon saw an active participation of people from all walks of life. Sanjay Agarwal, with a timing of 1 hr 18 min 01 sec, and Mukesh Balodiya, with a timing of 38min 01 sec, won the 21-km and 10-km runs, respectively, in the male category. In the female category, Keerthy CP, with a timing of 1hr 51 min 25 sec, and Dheishana Raghunathan, with a timing of 57 min 33 sec, won the 21-km and 10-km events, respectively.
The Garuda Run was won by Rahul with a timing of 17 min 59 sec, and Avantika Gupta with a timing of 27 min 25 sec, in the male and female categories, respectively. While all finishers were awarded medals, sponsored prizes were given to the top three candidates in each age group and category. Special cash prizes of Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 were also announced by Vice Admiral for the first three finishers of the ‘Half Marathon’.
The 10-km Dronacharya and 5-km Garuda Runs were flagged off by Rear Admiral R J Nadkarni and Surgeon Rear Admiral Joy Chatterjee, respectively.