Vadodara Half-Marathon Held On Sunday
By Swatilekha Paul, Gaea News NetworkSunday, January 23, 2011
VADODARA, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- The much-awaited Vadodara international half-marathon was held on Sunday in which thousands of enthusiastic participants took part to turn it into a grand success. The event kicked off on Sunday morning with a whopping 30,000 runners from all across the country as well as other nations participating in it. The half-marathon was inaugurated at the Vaccine Institute ground by none other than Chief Minister Narendra Modi by flagging off the runners in the 21-km route followed up by the rest of the participants in a variety of other categories. The entire route of the half-marathon was sealed off with heavy vehicles being diverted and the area being declared as a no-parking zone.
While divulging details of the half-marathon in Vadodara, one of the organizers, Amit Bhatnagar said that during this year’s event, a number of changes have been undertaken to further upgrade the management of the half-marathon which includes the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) to track the participants as well as keep disputes related to timings at bay. The event organizer had also revealed that all the runners were divided into groups, each with a specific reaching points in a bid to avoid any kind of confusion at the end of the marathon.
With police authorities maintaining the smooth functioning of the Vadodara Half-Marathon and added security personnel looking into the security arrangements, the event took place without any untoward incident. According to marathon officials, around 3,700 runners took part in the 21 km run, 3000 ran for 15 km while the 5km race saw 25000 participants. Around 18,000 runners haling from various corporate houses in the city also took part in the event.
