10,000 People Ran for Cancer Awareness in the 3rd Edition of Coimbatore Marathon

The third edition of Coimbatore marathon was kick-started at the Nehru Stadium entrance and ended at Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. Over 10,000 people participated in the marathon to spread awareness on cancer and the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. C. Sylendra Babu, additional director general of police, coastal security guards flagged off a 21.1km half marathon at 5am. Around 1,300 people participated in it. Following it, Dr T Balaji, the managing trustee of Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, flagged off a 10km race that had over 3,000 participants.

Mayor P Rajkumar flagged off a 5km event at 7am with around 6400 runners participating. Students, professionals, industrialists, educationists, working women, home makers and senior citizens participated in the marathon. Soji Mathew won the 21.1km half marathon in the men's category and R Poonkodi finished first in the women's category. "I am happy to be a part of this marathon. More than winning, I am happy that I could be a part of an event that is supporting a noble cause," said Soji. Poonkodi said, "It is such a great feeling to run for a cause, and winning the marathon has made it more special. I trained hard for it."

Vasanth, 25, Arun Karthick, 22, and Jagadeesh, 23 -- three differently abled people also participated in the marathon. They had undergone a two-month training to participate in the race. They participated in the marathon last year too, report sources.

Source-Medindia