Navy officers on mission to raise health awareness

The numbers are daunting — 4,431 km, 56 days, 11 States, and 91 cities. And rightly so, because it is no mean feat to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.  
Navy officers on mission to raise health awareness

COIMBATORE: The numbers are daunting — 4,431 km, 56 days, 11 States, and 91 cities. And rightly so, because it is no mean feat to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.  

Meet ultrarunners Ram Rathan and Sanjay Kumar who have taken up this challenge to run the entire length of the country — from Kanniyakumari to Kashmir. And there’s more to it: they would also raise awareness about non-communicable diseases and the importance of staying fit. The duo, who work in the Indian Navy, reached Neelambur on the outskirts of the city where they took part in a felicitation.  

The runners have embarked on the mission, titled K2K Run 2021,  supported by Together We Can, a public charitable trust based in Kochi that focuses on advocacy work related to child rights, disability, education, and mental health. The run started on January 12 (National Youth Day) and would go on until March 8 (International Women's Day). 

Both members of  Panampilly Nagar Runners, a chapter of Soles of Cochin, the officers have prior experience at running long distances —  Ram has run ultramarathons ranging from 100 to 200 kilometres, while Sanjay has run a whopping 480 km from Manali to Leh, said a release.  Ram hails from Rajasthan, while Sanjay is from Haryana.

Ram credits Sanjay for inspiring him to take up the run. “Although I had run short distance ultramarathons ranging from 100 to 200 kilometres, I had never considered the idea of embarking on a run across the country," he says. He has also run a distance of 111 km from Leh to Ladakh.

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