Enthusiasm marks Salwan marathon

On the foggy morning of Sunday, young kids of the City woke up with enthusiasm and delight to participate in a marathon race.

More than 40,000 students from 800 schools lined up to run for the 18th edition of Salwan Marathon, one of the largest races for school children. With sports, fun and competition, all rolled into one, the Marathon race turned out to be huge event at Delhi’s Army Equestrian Centre.

Started as an initiative to bring out the spirit of courage and determination among children and to promote sports, the’ Salwan Cross Country Marathon started with 300 students in its first year (1995). With the passage of time the number of participants increased and this time it crossed 40,000 mark.

“Response from the students was marvellous. The movement has truly gathered momentum. For us bigger than the run is the safety and security of the students.
We would like to thank the Army Services Sports control board, the 3500 marshalls and the Delhi Police who have extended their support to ensure that everything went off smoothly”, said Inder Dutt Salwan, a member of the trust.
The marathon also witnessed the participation of specially challenged kids.

More than a 1000 visually impaired and 150 intellectually challenged students participated in the race.  

Supported by UNICEF and FICCI, the Marathon tied up with various schools for visually impaired students across India, and 'Special Olympics Bharat' to get specially challenged students and street kids to participate in the run.

The marathon categorised participants in eight different categories. Visually impaired,  intellectually challenged and under 14 girls and boys  had to run 4.5 kilometres, while under 16 had to run 6 km.

For under 18 students category target of 8 km was set. In an attempt to tell participants that there are no shortcuts to glory, the winners in each category were made to undergo a dope Test and age Test.

Rahul Kumar and Meenu of AK Senior Secondry School came first in visually challenged category; Rupali and Gaurav Negi in intellectually challenged category; Shabnam Shokeen and Priyanshu Bharadwaj in under 14 category; Usha Sati and Deepak in under 16 category  while Bharti and Deepak in under 18 category.