CMS Vidya Mandir organized CMS Mini Marathon on Sunday in the city, and it had an overwhelming participation of more than 2000 people.

The Mini Marathon was held as a run against drug & child abuse, and it was flagged off by the chief guest, C. Sylendra Babu,Former Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu, who also participated in the event.

The event had 3 categories, 2KM run (for kids and their parents), 5KM and 10 KM run, on different routes. The first ten runners in the open categories were honoured with a total cash prize of Rs.1,00,000/-.

The first ten places in the Student Category were awarded trophies. All participants were honoured with medals and certificates. The event T-shirt along with refreshments were provided for all participants.

The members of the CMS Management led by the President K.K. Ramachandran and General Secretary K. Rajagopalan along with the Vice Chairman of CMS Vidya Mandir Srikanth Kannan, Secretary T.A. Venugopal and Sports Coordinator M. Gunasekaran, Principal G. Daniel and the Secretary of Coimbatore Athletic Association Srinivasan conducted the program.

Speaking at the sidelines of the event to the press and media, former DGP of Tamil Nadu Sylendra Babu said that this marathon is being held here for a good cause.

“In the recent few years, Tamil Nadu Police Department has taken various initiatives like Operation Ganja Vettai, to reduce and prevent drug usage in the State. Even a separate department was created to prevent inflow of drugs from other states. Also, a massive awareness campaign was held in the State for school and college students, and a pledge was administered by our Chief Minister and it was taken by the students.”

Taking about the importance of physical activity, he said ” It is becoming a rare sight to see kids run these days. Running is a basic physical exercise. Our body is hardwired to do physical exercise. In the entire school-hood period, there are numerous kids who don’t even run 5 kms.”

“All kids should run 5 kms a week, only then they will get happiness and a strong body and mind. If all schools conduct a marathon a year, that would be really incredible”, he opined.