Kargil, Sep 9: Army chief Gen Manoj Pande will virtually flag off the fifth edition of Sarhad Kargil International Marathon on September 19.
According to a press note, the event will be held in association with the Ladakh Police and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil and District Administration Kargil. Lt Governor Radha Krishna Mathur, UT Ladakh, and Ladakh Police Chief ADG Satish Khandhare will be physically present.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council CEC Feroz Ahmed Khan and Kargil-Ladakh UT CEO Santosh Sukhadeve recently reviewed the preparation for the event. This was revealed by Chief Organiser Sanjeev Shah and Organiser Dr Shailesh Pagariya.
Around 2,000 national and international athletes will participate in the Run for Apricot. The apricot fruits from Kargil were allowed to be exported after 35 years in January 2022. The decision of the Central government has been welcomed by local apricot growers. As many as Rs 8 lakh cash prizes will be distributed to winners in various categories. The first Sarhad Kargil International Marathon was held in 2017. The Athletics Federation of India (AI) and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have recognised the Sarhad Kargil International Marathon.
Sarhad is a Pune-based social, cultural and educational organisation dedicated to the cause of the violence-affected children, youth, women and people of Kashmir for the past 30 years. As many as 36 students from Kargil region and 120 from valley are studying at Sarhad for the last 15 years.
Sarhad has been actively working in the border areas of the country for the last several decades, including Punjab, Assam, Manipur and Ladakh. Post-Kargil war, Sarhad has been taking care of the educational and other needs of the children from the region without any government support.
With participation by marathon runners from India and abroad, Sarhad hopes to amalgamate the region with the whole country, and popularise its tourist potential throughout the world. The event has been acknowledged time to time by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, Former Minister of State (Defence) Dr Subhash Bhamre. We are starting a public movement to increase the interactions between local youth and Army Jawans through Border tourism.