Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 12: A number of young students and citizens from different walks of life Sunday participated in a marathon meant to create awareness among people about the rights of girl children.
The marathon christened ‘X-Athon’ kicked off from the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar campus and culminated at Patia Square covering a distance of 10 km. This was a kind of curtain raiser ahead of the XIMB cultural extravaganza Xpressions which is slated to be held in November.
Shilpi Agarwal, member of media and PR cell of XIMB said, “X-Athon’15 had the theme ‘Save the girl child- You run, the girl child wins’. Through this theme awareness was spread amongst the public about the importance of a girl child and also the importance of staying healthy and fit. The amount of `75,000 that was collected as charity during the registrations was also donated to the CRY foundation to extend our help to the girl child.”
The event started with the inaugural ceremony at the XIMB campus at 6.30 am. Participants from various corporate organisations and schools registered at the campus and started with the marathon. The 10km route covered the terrain from XIMB to Patia Square and back.
Enthusiasm among the participants was evident throughout the journey as they were cheered on by the by the spectators. Moreover, an under-14 section had around 20 under-14 jubilant children participants. Nine pit stops en route the marathon refuelled the volunteers running throughout the route while volunteers from XIMB offered glucose and water to the participants.
The winners of the marathon at the end of the event were also felicitated for their performance and participation. Sixteen-year-old Anil Nayak won the first prize while Prasanti Nilayam bagged the second prize.
Interestingly, a participant aged 56 named Mangal Munda finished fourth. Nevertheless, Yamini Kothari, a second year student of XIMB, finished first in the women’s category. It was astonishing to see the will power of such enthusiastic participants ranging between 12 and 60 years of age who put all their effort at running for the cause of spreading awareness about protecting the girl child.