Sachin Tendulkar is not hooked on to running, but he was quite thrilled with the energy and enthusiasm shown by runners of all age groups in the inaugural IDBI Federal Life Insurance Mumbai Half Marathon last year.
Nominated as ‘Face of the Half Marathon,’ Tendulkar said: “It’s amazing to see young kids and 70-plus aged runners compete and complete the different races. When I was in school, I used to run two laps of the Shivaji Park ground after practice sessions.”
Read: Tendulkar recalls 'Desert Storm'
The batting legend donated 100 pairs of shoes to encourage running and fitness at a promotional event of the second edition of Half Marathon to be held here on August 20.
Registrations for the second edition of the Mumbai Half Marathon opened in April and in a little over three months around 15,000 runners have entered the street race. The organising committee will accept registrations till July 30.
Speaking at the promotional event, Vighnesh Shahane, CEO of the company said: “Running is a culture we are trying to spread across India and also promote sportspersons at grassroot level. We are associated with P. Gopichand’s academy. Last year when we debuted, we wanted to give a positive spin to life insurance. We aim to celebrate life insurance by making it synonymous to health, fitness and well-being. Today we have half-marathons in four major cities in India - Mumbai, New Delhi, Kochi and Kolkata - and we are delighted to see more and more people being conscious of their health and fitness. There was no running or fitness culture when we played; Tendulkar was functionally fit, he batted for hours and hours and then bowled.”
Approved by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), the event will see see three main categories in
(1) 21.1K Half Marathon (minimum age - 18 as on 20th Aug 2017),
(2) 10K Timed Run (Minimum Age - 15 as on 20th Aug 2017), and
(3) 5K Heritage Run (Minimum Age - 10 as on 20th Aug 2017).
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