Media Release
Mangaluru, Jan 16: The National Institute of Technology-Karnataka(NITK) Alumni Association Surathkal held a three tier beach marathon run for its students on Sunday, January 15.
Akshay Kekuda, one of the organisers emphasised on the theme of the run, which was the 'importance of health and the need to be fit' for techies for their careers ahead. Most of them completed the three tier marathon event in their respective tiers successfully, he said.
The marathon comprised of 10 km, 6 km and 3.3 km segments. Nearly 1500 students participated and proved they can run the extra mile. But the greater challenge was to run on the sands of the beach for half the distance they chose. “It is not easy to run on the sand, but again in this segment also our students completed their segments successfully,” said the organisers.
The Marathon was held in accordance with an international pattern. At every checkpoint, waterspouts were installed. Apart from the beach run, the participants had to run on roads, a bit of off-roads and ran along the woody areas of the sprawling NITK campus.
The Association members who also participated said, "This was the second annual beach run for NITK students. This program was aimed at improving the health and fitness of today's Indian youth. It is a growing concern today that the younger generation is completely addicted to mobile phones, laptops and seldom come out of their rooms, hostels and take part in games and social activities. To raise awareness on the importance of health and fitness, the NITK Alumni Association decided to host this Beach Run initiative for the students."
With nearly 1500 participants, the Beach Run was the first of its kind in such a large scale in Mangaluru. The program was flagged off at 6.45 AM at the entrance of the NITK Beach by the NITK Alumni Association. The marathon also witnessed good participation from the NITK professors and the alumni.
The NITK Alumni Association distributed prizes worth 19,000 to the winners of the 10 km category, 14,000 to the winners of the 6 km category and 7000 to the winners of the 3.3 km category. T-Shirts were also distributed to those who completed the Beach Run.
Team 'Incident', the cultural festival of the NITK, also conducted a street play after the conclusion of Beach Run as part of its I-Care initiative to increase awareness of child education to publicise and gather support to the social initiative. 'Incident', the annual cultural festival of NITK Surathkal has been conducting many such initiatives to promote child education among poor students around NITK Surathkal and the street play was organised to empower these poor children.
In coming years The NITK Alumni Association plans to take the Beach Run to greater heights. The Beach Run will be kept open to the people of Mangalore and not limited to the population of NITK.