Hyderabad Runners’ Society celebrates 16th anniversary

Hyderabad : Hyderabad Runners, the city-based running group, completes 16 years and celebrates its 16th anniversary. To mark and celebrate the occasion a symbolic 5K Run was organised here on Sunday from Jalvihar to Lumbini Park and back. One hundred and fifty runners of all walks joined in the celebrations. They have also taken a pledge for safe health and safe environment organised by GHMC as part of *Meri Life, Mera swachh shehar* campaign awareness. The GHMC Khairatabad circle AMOH, SFAs and sanitation staff participated in the run.

Speaking on the occasion, Abhijit Madnurkar, president, Hyderabad Runners Society, said, anything you do in the morning is fitness. Run, walk, skip, ride, skate anything that you do in the morning is very important to the good health of people. ”Pandemic has changed the way we run. Awareness for fitness has increased manyfold. The funning community in the city is one of the best in India. Hyderabad Runners aims to achieve a fit, athletic and active Hyderabad, by reaching out to every corner of the city. We have an ambitious programme, the Couch to 5K training programme. It helps new people to get into running. We helped more than 5,000 newbies to start running and lead an active lifestyle since its inception in 2015.”

Recreation and Child Health (REaCH) is another initiative that aims to teach the importance of physical activity at an early age and promote a healthy lifestyle in children and young adults, Abhijit added. Another initiative is the Train & Shine training programme to achieve running goals and make a runner a better and efficient runner.

Arun, the secretary of the society said, Couch t 5k is a Hyderabad runner’s initiative to help people who aspire to become runners and bring an active lifestyle. This programme is driven by experienced runners and group mentors. It is available at various locations in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The minimum age to register is 10 Years. The training is for eight weeks. It is just three days--Monday, Wednesday & Saturday-- a week between 6 and 7 am across 40 locations in the city. The fee is very nominal, he said.

The Society has been instrumental in the transformation of thousands of individuals and families to take up active lifestyles leaving behind their sedentary past. The group promotes responsible running with safety and being injury-free as the key focus areas for all the runners associated with it.

Registered as a not-for-profit NGO, the Society organises flagship programmes like Couch to 5K, Marathon Training and Outdoor Kids training on a regular basis throughout the year. Blood donations and CPR training sessions are some of the social causes that Hyderabad Runners have been involved in recently. All the major running events have charity partners to raise awareness and funds for various NGOs working for the respective causes.