Maligaon, February 5 (MExN): The first ever Northeast Half Marathon was flagged off on Sunday at NF Railway Sports Association (NFRSA) Stadium, Maligaon in the presence of Nisith Pramanik, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Sports & Youth Affairs; GP Singh, DGP Assam; General Manager of NFR Anshul Gupta; and Director of Jindal Stainless, Tarun Khulbe and other dignitaries.
The event was graced with the presence of many eminent sports personalities of national and international fame. Around 7000 runners from across India and abroad took part in the event.
According to a press release from the NFR Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De, the NFR partnered with Jindal Stainless, a leading stainless steel manufacturer and Innovations India to organise a series of Half Marathons in the North-eastern states, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of overall development of North-eastern region and nation building.
The Northeast Half Marathons are being conducted across North East India with the aim of empowering the sportspersons and development of sporting activity in Northeast India, it said.
Participants competed in three different race categories - 21 Km, 10 Km and 5 Km run both for men and women. The 21 Km- long half marathon began at 05:30 am starting from NFRSA stadium passing through Gosala, Jalukbari PP and up to Hajo Road and returned back to NFRSA stadium. Among the 21 Km-long half marathon runners, Paul Eyanae from Kenya won the men’s race in 01:02:15 while Chernet from Ethiopia won the women’s race in 01:09:39.8. Berhanu (Ethiopia) came second in 01:02:19 in the men’s race while Emebet (Ethiopia) emerged as second runner in the women’s race clocking 01:12:59.2. James Kiplating of Kenya bagged third position in men’s race clocking 01:02:54 while Indian runner Neetu Kumari bagged third position in Women’s race in 01:13:37 in the 21 Km-long half marathon.
Winners of 21 Km, 10 Km and 5 Km run for both the categories were awarded with prize money, medals and certificates, the release stated.
The second event of this series is scheduled to be organised at Darjeeling on February 26 followed by third at Tawang on March 12. The NE Half Marathon would highlight all states of Northeast India as one entity and would surely catapult the complete Northeast Region of India into limelight at both National & International Platforms, the release maintained.
It also informed that a website related to the Northeast Half Marathon is designed for online registration. The aspirant participants can visit http://www.nehalfmarathon.com/ and all the social media platforms of NFR for accessing details about upcoming events of the series, it added.
