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Vashi2Panvel.Com: Navi Mumbai: September 3: Airoli Sports Association organised the fifth ‘Run for World Peace’ marathon for schoolchildren here at 8:00 am today. Around 1500 students from eighteen schools enthusiastically participated in the event. Pravin Modi, Vice President, Airoli Sports Association says, “When the idea of a marathon was concieved by us there were several terrorist attacks in Mumbai and elsewhere. We decided that we must start a marathon to campaign for world peace. Hence the name, ‘Run for world peace.’”

The programme was slated to begin at 7:00am but two school buses did not arrive at the destination on time. Therefore, the programme was delayed. Enthusiastic kids of all age groups thronged the place in sports uniform at 7:00am. The kids busied themselves with a light warm-up session. Meanwhile a small band of schoolchildren played the drums to keep up the mood of the environment. Mr.Purushottam, Gen.Secy, Navi Mumbai Schools Association points out, “Some of these children are very good sportspersons. They work out regularly and make good long distance runners. Though it’s difficult to predict the winner at this juncture, we can at least figure out which students would be in the winners’ list.”

The programme started at 8:00 with U-16 boys amidst thunderous claps and deafening sound of the drumbeats. Dinesh Tanaji Patil of New Municipal High School, CBD-Belapur who clocked 20.32minutes was declared the winner in this category. Karan Sandhu of St.lawrence School was a close second with 29.59min. U-16 girls’ race followed soon after. The number of participating students was quite less in this category. Everyone betted on the tiniest girl in the lot who finally emerged as the winner clocking an amazing 23.08mins. Snehal Shinde of New English High School, Nerul was followed by Priyanka Ghodera of Radhikabai Meghe Vidyalaya. U-14 and U-12 races followed immediately. The event got over at around 10:00am.

Six winners were announced in each category. “As this is a long-distance race, we want to encourage more students. Therefore, we are giving away 6 winners’ certificates,” says Modi.

Text: Swati Pandey
Pix: Jagatdeep Singh