Pakistan Army dominated the Punjab Sports Festival’s 17 kilometre Marathon Race by winning the top three positions from among scores of participants. Apart from an unfortunate incident in which a cameraman of ARY Aftab got injured when the finish line board of grill fell, the entire event was a fun and success to elaborate. Around 7000 athletes participated in the marathon while more than 10,000 took part in the family fun race and nearly 3000 ladies took part in the race. Army’s Mohammad Abid who hails from Gujrat took the first place in the marathon covering the 17 km distance in 16 minutes and 58 seconds and pocketed a cash prize of Rs 200,000.
His teammate Mohammad Sheraz (Army) took the second place and a prize of Rs 150,000 whereas Mohammad Arshad mahmood also of Army and the resident of Sahiwal grabbed the third position and a prize of Rs 100,000. The Marathon that was flagged off by the organizing committee chief Deputy Speaker Rana Mashood started at 9:30 am from the Punjab Stadium and the participants after crossing the distance, from Dharampura Bridge, returned to the finishing point at the Punjab Stadium again. Speaking to this scribe, Abid praised the holding of the marathon and requested the Chief Minister to make it a regular feature. “It will set new standards for the athletes and make them capable enough in the days to come to participate in the international events,” he maintained.
It was an all success story but the incident in which cameraman Aftab got injured left a bad taste in the mouth only due to the negligence of the sponsors but DG Sports Punjab Usman Anwar has assured action the sponsors. “All the expenditures will be borne by the government of the Punjab till Aftab’s recovery”, he announced.
In the other event of the day 3 km Family Fun Race followed the main Marathon and that started from the Siddique Trade Center and finished at Liberty Chowk with Kiran Rana, an intermediate student from DG Khan, won the first prize of Rs 50,000. She was followed by Farhat Latif of Sargodha University who claimed the second position and a prize of Rs 40,000 while Maria Ghafoor, a 12 year old gild attained third position and a won a purse with Rs 35,000.
The organizing committee to keep the atmosphere safe and secure particularly for the ladies runners deputed around 3000 police and rescue personnel to guard the runners from any miscreants. They jogged along the both sides of the road from the start and till the finish line and later the participants driven on buses to the Punjab Stadium.
Sadam Hussain of Faisalabad won the first prize males 3 km fun race. The student of Punjab College pocketed Rs 50,000 cash award while his teammate Usman got third position while a young boy whose name was not clear got the second position. He was wearing Pakistan cricket team t-shirt.
The total prize money for 17 Km Marathon race was 10,00,000 and were distributed among 25 positions holders whereas Rs 2,50,000 was given to first 13 winners of the family fun race.
Deputy Speaker Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan distributed the prizes among the winners and appreciated their stamina.
