Goa River Marathon 2017 – Goa Runs for Homes and Hopes for the Street Children

With more than 5000 participants the Goa River Marathon 2017 has created the history today. Goa ran for to raise the funds for the homeless street children who are in the need of the shelter and food. According to the press note from Al-Shadai, the organizers of Goa River Marathon, it was the 6th edition of the Goa River Marathon that has continued to attract more than 5500 marathoners from all across the country. Similar to previous years, the Marathon featured four races – the 21 km Half Marathon, 10 K Run, 5 km Dream Run and the School Run for children under 14 and 16 years of age. The 10K Run and the School Run continued to be large crowd pullers.         

The half marathon attracted runners from all over India and overseas in the men and women’s open category. The 21km was flagged off at 6:00am from the Campal Ground with runners progressing across the streets as they experienced the rustic charm of Old Goa, turning around at St. Peter’s Church and back to the start point. The winners for the 21km run were 1^st place to Ranjit Singh (01.07.38), 2^nd place to Praveen Pawar (01.11.06),3^rd place to Vicky Singh (01.12.53) under the men’s open category. And 1^st place to Supriya Mali (01.25.48), 2^nd place to Rajashri Sunil Tarihat (01.33.36), 3^rd place to Ankit Ankush Palekar (01.45.37) from India under the 21K women’s open category.       

The 10 K run saw locals from Goa participating in large numbers. The run was flagged off at 6.15 am from the Bandodkar Ground and progressed along the banks of the scenic Mandovi River moving towards Raibandar and back to the start point. The winners for the 10km Men Open run were 1^ST place to Amarnath Chauhan (00.33.13), 2^nd place toTeddy Davecelia Cardozo (00.33.19), & 3^rd place to Amit Ramesh Patil (00.34.18) from India under the 10K Men’s Open category. And 1^st place to Heena Hemant Mali (00.38.42), Shruti Narayan Gojekar (00.41.04), Ankita Menon (00.49.25) from India under the 10k Women’s Open category.             

The Dream Run (5km) had several groups from corporates including Novotel Grand Mercure Goa Shrem Resort, Taj Exotica – Benaulim, Open Destinations Infotech Pvt Ltd, Optel Vision, Vedanta, Teva Pharmaceuticals . The Marathon also drew participation from runners groups all across the country including the Susegad Runners Group from Goa, Fitness Freaks , Aamhi Antruz Runners from Ponda. Novotel Goa Shrem Resorts, Candolim bagged the trophy for ‘Largest Corporate Team’ with 125 runners across different races.    

The School Run saw schools sending in large groups of children with Mary Immaculate Girls High School bagging the ‘Trophy for the School with Maximum Participation’ with 180 students participating across the four race categories. With its reputation of having one of the most scenic marathon routes, the event continues to draw the participation of several professional distance runners.             

The event organised by El Shaddai Charitable Trust and was supported by the Goa Athletic Association and Council for the City of Panjim. Speaking with the media on the occasion Matthew Kurian, Founder Trustee – El Shaddai Charitable Trust said, “The Goa Marathon is mainly organised to create awareness about health in Goa and encourage more people to run as a habit. Apart from this we are also seeking to create awareness and raise funds for the work of our organisation of addressing the needs of the poor in society.” El Shaddai Child Rescue is a charity dedicated to the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of street children and children at risk from abuse & exploitation. The Goa River Marathon 2107 was organised in association with Goa Athletic Association, Corporation of City of Panjim, Goa Tourism,  D’ziners,  Real Drinks