The fifth edition of the Belagavi Half Marathon which was held in the early hours of Sunday, 6th November created history with many new initiatives. Flagged off from the Golf Practice Range grounds this edition also saw it being certified by the International body of AIMS ( Association of International Marathons and distance races). BHM is Conducted as a charitable initiative by Lakeview Foundation with the Race Management partners being YouTooCanRun.
The Title Sponsors were KMF Nandini and Vayavya Labs powered the event. Sneham International & Titan were the sponsors for a Cash prize worth Rs 5 Lakhs and Titan Smart Watches.
The event had three distance categories of 21K Half Marathon, 10 Kms, and 5 Kms. Conducted with the active cooperation of the MLIRC, the flag-offs were conducted by Brig Joydeep Mukerjee, Station Commandant of MLIRC, Mr. Nitesh Patil, DC Belagavi, DIG Ravindran of CRPF, Brig Dayalan & Sanagamesh Nirani MD of Nirani sugars. The event had 1200 participants across all race categories who came from all over Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra.
About 35% of the participants were women, including many first-time runners in their quest for good health and establishing their timing on a certified course
The oldest participant was Mr. Janardhan from Bengaluru who is 90 years young and successfully finished a 21 km Run
The International accreditation elevates the event to the next level enabling Belagavi’s to participate in international running events of their choice without having to travel to other cities to get qualified.
PD Chaugale Cup was introduced as the winner of the Half Marathon in the Men’s category in honour of PD Chaugale who is the first Indian Marathoner to participate in the Olympics (Antwerp Olympics 1920) and was a citizen of Belagavi. The winner of the cup this year was Mohammad Sahil Annigeri who received a cash prize of Rs 50,000/- sponsored by Sneham International along with a Titan Smart watch.
Similarly, for the Womens category, the cup is named Kittur Rani Chennamma Cup and carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a Titan Smart watch. The winner was Preenu Yadav.
The prize distribution was done by Dignitaries – Brig Joydeep Mukherjee, Sri Nitesh Patil DC, Dr Borlingaiah Commissioner of Police, Sri Srinivasa MD of KMF, Sri Anish Metrani MD of Sneham International, Dr Shashikant Kulgod & Dr. Girish Sonwalkar.
The horses from MLIRC led the race and added grandeur to the event.
Inclusion Run – There was special fun run conducted for children from Maheshwari Blind school to include the Persons with Disability in such events and 25 blind students participated in the event.
All the finishers were provided with Medals, E certificate, Digital split times, Hot breakfast as well as route support.
