Chennai Marathon attracts tens of thousands of athletes

CHENNAI - Tens of thousands of enthusiastic people including international athletes participated in the ‘Idea Chennai International Marathon’ held here on Sunday.

The race was dedicated to under-privileged children.

This 21- kilometres long marathon was organised from the War Memorial to the Eliiot Beach by Tamil Mayam, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) engaged in social service.

According to the organisers, the participation touched the mark of 70,000.International marathon runners from Kenya, USA, Singapore and Malaysia also took part in the race.

Chennai Mayor M A Subramaniam, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment D Napoleon and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, flagged of the race.

On this occasion international marathon runner Wambua Musyoki of Kenya said: “I am very happy to participate in the marathon. But I found it difficult because of the weather but the cause of the event is very good.”

“I am trained enough for this race, I have so much endurance for the same but the weather was odd, so I could not be at my best today,” Musyoki added.

“Before the start of marathon I thank God for the showers in morning. The weather is going to be fantastic, so the runners are really going to like it. We are expecting around 40,000 to 60,000 people to participate, said Gopal Raj organiser of the event.

There are great facilities being provided to the runners, within every one-kilometre. There are water booths and medical teams and within every 2 kilometres there is an ambulance with doctors, a staff nurse, paramedics and an ECG facility,” Raj informed. (ANI)