Ambuja Jaipur Marathon

 SPORTS

Superstar Akshay Kumar flags off     Ambuja Jaipur Marathon   Biggest ever marathon in India   Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar today morning flagged off largest ever marathon turnout in India at the ‘Ambuja Jaipur Marathon’ which was in its 4th episode with a record turnout of about 43,000 national and international runners, highest ever participation in any Indian marathon.  On this occasion he   said ‘I am very happy to be a part of such huge initiative in Jaipur and surely this looks taking over Mumbai’ he further said ’Daudo Jaipur..asli power dil me hota hai..’, while cheering the runners who came from various walks of life namely -youth, senior citizens, women and children. He further said ‘Its important to respect dignity of women as behind every successful man there is a women’.   Bollywood actress Kajal Agarwal (Singham fame), who is his co-actor in their upcoming film ‘Special 26’, was also present at the marathon to cheer the runners from all over Jaipur and India also from 20 foreign countries. Bollywood celebrities-Mukesh Khanna, Asmit Patel, Sara Khan alongwith cricketers Rahul Dravid and Shreesant were also present and cheered the runners. One of the unique features of this marathon was a huge participation of Police and Defence personnel, which were about 5000 in number.   Addressing a press conference at the iconic ‘World Trade Park’ (Marathon’s finishing point) after the marathon , Akshay said ”youth today should be more fitness conscious for the better future”, he further said  ”a car on good roads of Jaipur can easily survive upto 10 years as compared to hardly 3 years on poor Mumbai roads”, sounding clearly impressed with Jaipur city’s good infrastructure which is aiming to be a world class city.     He further shared a personal chord by remembering ‘Once upon a time during my struggle days I use to stand in front of ‘Aashirwad’, superstar Rajesh Khanna’s bunglow for hours to have a glimpse of him and whenever he use to drive out in his posh car I use to wonder whether one day I will also become like him! Destiny had it and one day I went to his same house to seek his daughter Twinkle’s hand, which was one of my proudest moments ‘. He then said about his relationship with the superstar ‘He use to call me ‘buddy’ and that’s how our relationship stayed forever’.     Charles Vacheramena of Kenya emerged as a overall winner for international elite group for men   with the race winning time of 1:03:40 hrs, thus winning it for consucative 2nd year. Amos Mayomandy also of Kenya was runners up with the race timing of 1:03:42 hrs and Rattiram Saini of India finished  4th with a time of 1:04:58 hrs,which was his personal best. In the elite women category Agnes Jepcosky of Kenya emerged as winner for the timing of 1:12:58 hrs and Galdis Zypisis also of Kenya finished second with the time of 1.11.33 hrs. In elite Indian women category Sudha Singh emerged as a winner with the timing of 1.16.00 hrs, whereas Supriya Pati came second with a time of 1.22.00 hrs. In overall men Indian category Rajkishore came first in the time of 1.13.11 hrs  whereas Vipin Singh with a time of 1.13.44 hrs and Raj Kumar with the time of 1.15.32 hrs finished at 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.   ‘Amubja Jaipur Marathon’ is an annual event organized by ‘Sanskriti Yuva Sanatha’ to create awareness about various social causes and better health through regular activity amongst youth for better future. Tourism Minister & Green Activist Mrs. Bina Kak was the face of the event, whereas leading social worker Pt. Suresh Mishra was the chief organizer. Mr. Anup Bhartia, Chairman of World Trade Park was the chief promoter and Mr. Mukesh Mishra was the CEO of the Marathon.