Chandigarh, June 26th: With India hosting the Commonwealth Games for the first time, sports in our country are likely to get a major boost.The arrival of the Queens Baton to India was celebrated in City beautiful with a keenly participated Common Wealth Games Run Organised here today by The Times Of India in association with FENFURO, the leading drug in diabetes management.
The Run which started early in the morning witnessed hundreds of enthusiastic morning walkers , The famous and the unknown, athletes and stodgy, chefs and scientists, live-wires and the elderly , civilians and the army— all arose as one to welcome the games to India. The run saw youngest participant aged 1.6 yrs and the oldest of 78 yrs.The Run started from Sukhna Lake early in the morning with a flag off by Mr Ram Niwas, Home Secretary, UT administration who was flanked by Pawan Goel, Dinesh Mongia and several important guests and participants on the occasion.
As the 1000 strong crowd took to Sukhna lake road with renewed vigour, participants ended the 2.5 kms run at Bougain ville garden in sector 3. All the three winners were from the CRPF with Hari Shankar Sharma bagging the 1st position and Vikas Kumar and Ashok Kumar came 1st and 2nd runners up respectively , who were given cash prizes worth 10,000/-.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ram Niwas hailed the effort of Times of India in organizing the show which is the first event in Chandigarh to mark the games. He said that we need to be perfect hosts and also imbibe the spirit and make every effort in making the CWG successful.
Mr Pawan Goel , CEO Chemical Resources and Fenfuro remarked that the run is simply a milestone in raising awareness on CWG and also raise health consciousness among the denizens of city beautiful.The event was supported by a keen participation by members of CRPF, ITBP, NCC, IMA, Bharti Walmart, Desh Bhagat colleges, Verka, Crdnal Health, Chd Traders Assoc to name a few.The Run was a successful show in terms of carrying forward an honest endeavour to raise level of public interest for the Common Wealth Games
The walkathon ended with health drinks and refreshments for the participants at Bougainvillea garden.