The thousands of people of all walks of life took part on the Family and Funs races of three kilometres that started from Sadiq Trade Centre and terminated at Liberty Roundabout. Ali Mohammad and Rabia Ashiq won their respective races with flying colours amidst hot conditions. Though both the races were given a go ahead by Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan along with Usman Anwar, these races were given a gap of about half an hour to start. During the course of the race, Deputy Speaker also expressed solidarity with the victims of the Saturday’s fire at Badami Bagh. He also walked with the children and other members of the families whose houses were burnt to express Punjab government’s support. He also termed it an act of terrorism and said that those people who took heinous step ate the real threat to the solidarity of the country. The Marathon and the Fun Races were the events of the months long Punjab Youth Festival the rolled into action in August last year. Although there were no winners or losers to be counted in the fun races in which ladies outscored the male folks, the participation was quite healthy. The ladies were in greater number than males in the races. Their races were held separately but despite hot and brightness of the sun, the enthusiasm was immense. In the fun race, Ali Mohammad of Sargodha took the fun race while Abdul Samad and Farhan won the second and third position in the category. Meanwhile, Lahore’s Rabia Ashiq, who is also an Olympian, left all the participants of the ladies and family race of three km behind to claim the first position. She saw Samabia also of Lahore take the second place while Farat Batool and Kiran Rana got the third and fourth positions.
