The final preparation for Vadodara International half Marathon in association with Khel Mahakumbh is at full swing before it gets flagged off on the 7th of February 2016.Till date more than 50,000 people have registered to run at the 5th edition of Vadodara International half Marathon. Also there have been almost 1500 registrations in the “Divyang Run”. The honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel will be flagging off the marathon.
The theme of Vadodara international Half Marathon is “My city My Marathon”. Social causes like Women Empowerment and Swachhata are also included in the Marathon this year. Efforts have been made to include all the sections of the society.
Various Corporates, Social organizations, public bodies, Educational Institutions and the common citizens have supported the event tremendously.
More than 30 International runners are gearing up to participate in this edition of Vadodara Marathon which also includes winners of the previous marathon.
We also had incredible support from the school students which includes both Private and Government Schools. Team VIHM also conducted various training sessions at different schools to make the students physically fit to run the marathon. To impart training to all the people, prominent gyms of the city had conducted one hour free “Fun to Fitness” sessions daily.
The industries in and around the city like Linde, L&T, Reliance, Jyoti Ltd, Alembic Ltd and various other companies have given immense support to the Marathon and their employees are also going to run in the marathon in huge numbers.
This year the biggest attraction of the Marathon will be the “DIvyang Run”. The 1Km Divyang run has almost 1500 participants. This is a symbol of infallible hope and strong mental will and determination. To make this Divyang run successful, almost 48 organizations of the city have supported it.
This year Vadodara Marathon has joined hands with Khel Mahakumbh in organizing the 15Km and 21 Km run. For the first time in the history of Khel mahakumbh, marathon has been recognized and offered as an option for runners. There have been 1685 participants have registered for the 15km and 21km run of Khel Mahakumbh. Also more than 150 senior citizens will run in the marathon.
Vadodara Marathon has emerged as not only a sports event but also as a platform for promoting social causes., in which 14 social organizations will be raising funds for their causes. Apart from this beauticians in the city will organize free training camps for the women of “Nari Kendra”. They will also give free services of makeup to the underprivileged brides from Nari Kendra.
Marathon will have the presence of religious heads of all religions. Also Sri M of Walk of Hope will be walking in the Marathon. Also famous sports celebrities like Lajja Goswami, Veer Patel, Meera Erda and other sports personalities will be running in the marathon. Also famous athletes like Razia Sheikh will be adding spark to the marathon.
This year 18 musical bands will be playing on the route live to increase the enthusiasm of the runners in the Vadodara Marathon. Also in the whole route of the marathon almost 6 pacers will be running. these pacers will be running with boards specifying the time in which a marathon is supposed to be completed and they will be the guiding light for the rest of the participants of the marathon. The well-known band of EME will also be performing in the event.
There will be signage displayed at every km of the race. And there will be a total of 9 water stations, each at every 2.5km of the race. Approximately 3000 bottles will be made available at every water station.Also to prevent dehydration, Oranges will also be provided at regular intervals. Physiotherapists, medical points and ambulances at regular intervals will be made accessible to the participants in case of emergency.
A new concept of Relay race of 21 km is also introduced for the first time in this edition of the Marathon in which about 40 teams will be participating. 4 people will be running 5 kms each in the relay race.
Also in collaboration with Yuva Unstoppable, Vadodara Marathon took up the renovation of a school in Bhaily area of the city to promote the cause of Swachhata.
Also to empower women, two cottage industry units will be started on the 7th of February this year. Also before the Vadodara Marathon has started, Rs.20 lakh has been disbursed for various social causes of the city. Vadodara Marathon has also received immense co-operation from Vadodara Municipal Corporation and the Local Police Department.
