Running to educate girls

BANGALORE: The third edition of Contours India — Women’s Day Run kickstarted at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Sunday morning with the aim of encouraging all, especially women, to run and concentrate on fitness.It is held every year to celebrate Women’s Day.On Sunday morning, several people who sweat it out in gyms, stepped out to run in the stadium and through Cubbon Park.Excited children kept pointing to birds in the park and took several pit stops to enjoys the views.“It is not often that I come here at 6 am.I was feeling sleepy, but after coming here, all I want to do is run,” said Avinash Shastry, who accompanied his mother to the event.There was the 10-km run that started from Kanteerva Stadium at 6.30 am and ended at Cubbon Park main gate.Participants ran two laps inside the stadium and proceeded to cover five km inside Cubbon Park.Then there was the 5-km run, which followed the same route and started much later.But, the crowd-pulling event was the majja run — A 1.6 km run where you could do everything but run.Most participants walked, jogged, and some even executed dance moves on hearing their friends cheer.While the participants were invited to wear wacky costumes, most of them restricted their costume to colourful wigs.An event was organised only for children between 6 and 14 years where they played games such as Bend it like Beckham, Bounce Basketball, Nerves of Steel, and The Hurricane.Fitness trainers conducted a warm up session before the start of the various events, athough many just chose to watch the exercise.The run collected money to donate to Parikrma Foundation and Asha Foundation.The organisations will use this money to educate girl children