Mangalore: Over 6,000 descend on city streets for Nitte Half Marathon

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Pics: Bhaskar Amtoor

Mangalore, Feb 24: The second edition of Nitte celebration Mangalore half marathon, 10k, 5k, 3k run and 5k celebration run took off to a rousing start from Mangala stadium early morning on Sunday February 24. Over 6,000 participants took part in the event organized by Life is Calling in association with Nittte and Dakshina Kannada Athletic Association, sponsored by Nitte with Corporation bank as the associate sponsor.

President of Nitte Education Trust N Vinaya Hegde flagged off the 21 km half marathon for various categories in one go sharp at 6.30 am. The 10 k run was flagged off by BJP MLC Monappa Bhandary soon after.

Ajay Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank flagged off the 5k run for college boys and girls. This was followed by the 3 km run for high school boys and girls, which were flagged off by Fr Wilson D Souza, Secretary Catholic Board and MLA and Deputy Speaker of Karnataka State Legislative Council Yogish Bhat.

The last event of the day the 5 km celebrity run also witnessed highest number of participants, which demonstrated the sportive spirit of Mangaloreans.

MLA U T Khader, MLC Captain Ganesh Karnik, Dr Shantharam Shetty, RTO Mallikarjuna, Fr Gomes, Fr Denis D Sa and many other VIP’s witnessed the flagging off of the event from Mangala Stadium.

Well Organized

In fact all the roads of Mangalore led to Mangala Stadium early morning which was brimming with enthusiastic runners of various age groups. High school and college boys were present in huge numbers to participate in the event and needless to say the mood was quite upbeat among the participants. Though the participation was huge there no chaos at the venue largely because the organizers had given the chest numbers, Timing chips and route maps to participants much in advance. Apart from a few Kenyans athletes from different parts of the country took part in the event.

The entire event was well organized and participants did not face any inconvenience regarding the route as volunteers were present at every nook and corner. Water station and refreshments were also provided to participants at various intervals. Ambulance and medical team also followed the runners of each category of race. After the race all the participants were provided breakfast.

The major attraction of the day was the prize distribution ceremony. N Vinay Hegde, Ramamurthy, General Manager of Corporation Bank, John D Souza, Dy General Manager of Corporation Bank, Captain Ganesh Karnik, Manjunath Bhandary, President of Dakshina Kannada Athletic Association, Arun V Rao, Secretary, P B Mitra, Director Life is Calling, RTO Mallikarjuna and brand Ambassadors of the event Anand Shetty and Vandana Shanbhogue were present on the stage.

John D Souza, Dy General Manager, who will retire by the end of this month, was felicitated on the occasion, for his support for the event.

Vinaya Hegde who spoke on the occasion patted the organizers for their meticulous preparations in conducting the event. “Sponsoring the event is much easier as compared to organizing the event which calls for lot of hard work and planning and credit should go the organizers for conducting it in a professional way”, he said. Vinaya hedge assured continued support of Nitte for the event in the years to come.

Ramamurthy, General Manager of Corporation Bank also assured the full support of his bank for the organizers of the event saying such events should be held to promote the sports spirit among the people.

The dignitaries on the dais gave away cash prizes and certificates to all the winners of various categories of the race.

The winners of the various categories of races are as follows:

Half Marathon - Men - Open

Kalidas Hirave
Babu Ram
Pramod Kumar

Half Marathon - Women - Open

Shabeena
Archana K M
M Sudha Sudha Mani

Half Marathon - Men - Open - DK

Vishwa A M
Shivananda Baskar Naik
Bella Naik

Half Marathon - Women - Open - DK

Archana K M
Kripa
Chaitra

Half Marathon - Men - Senior

Sabhajeet Yadav
Joseph Francis D'souza
Rajbir Singh

Half Marathon - Men - Veteran

Ajaib Singh
Ramasubramanian Viswanathan
Manjunatha Aithal

10k - Men - Open

Mukesh Rawat
Kuldeep Chauhan
Durga Bhadur

10k - Men - Senior

Bhaganna
Rananna M M
Madhava 

10k - Women - Open - DK

Smitha
Sujatha
Akshatha

10k - Men - Open - DK

Pradeep M N
Suraj Poojary
Sidney Vijay Pereira

10k - Women - Open

Thippavva Sannakki
Priti Lamba
Smitha

10k - Women - Senior

Jyothi U Shetty
K Arunakala S Rao
Susheela V Rao

10k - Men - Senior

Bhaganna
Rananna M M
Madhava M

10k - Men - Veteran

Nemanna Gowda N
Anis Ahmad Khan

10k - Women - Veteran

Suneetha Prasanna