Siliguri half-marathon on 10 January

SNS | Siliguri | 29 December, 2015: As part of the forthcoming Uttar Banga Utsav, the North Bengal Development Department (NBDD) and the Agrani Sangha will jointly organise the Siliguri HalfMarathon 2015, an 8-Kmlong mini marathon, and a 5-km-long dream run in Siliguri on 10 January, 2016.

A national level 21 km marathon is also being organised as part of the festival. President of the marathon committee, Krishna Chandra Paul, who announced this at a press meet here on Monday, said that to instill confidence and a spirit of competition among aspiring runners in north Bengal, they have decided to rope top sports personalities to flag-off the national-level 21-km marathon, a mini marathon and a dream run for the people of north Bengal in Siliguri.

“Over 7,000 athletes from all over India participated in the marathons and the dream run last year. “We expect over 10,000 participants will take part in the three races this time,” he said.

The minister informed that the three races will be flagged off from Hashmi Chowk at 7.00 am. “The full marathon will pass through Mallaguri More, Champashari More, Checkpost More, Eastern Bypass, Bhabesh More, Fuleshwari More and NTS More before culminating at the Agrani Sangha enclosure.

The mini marathon will also end at the sangha enclosure, after passing through Airview More, Jalpai More, Tinbatti More and Netaji More. The dream run will pass through Airview More, Jalpai More and PWD More, before culminating at the Saktigarh Maidan,” he informed. Besides attractive trophies, the first five winners in the half-marathon will be awarded Rs.1 lakh, Rs.50,000, Rs.25,000, Rs.10,000 and Rs.5,000 respectively, while five other winners will be given consolation prizes of Rs.3,000 each. In the mini marathon,the first five winners in the men’s and women’s categories will each get Rs.5000, Rs.3000, Rs.2000,Rs.1,000 and Rs.500. The organisers will also hold a slogan competition during the races. The first three winners of the contest will be awarded Rs.3,000, Rs.2,000 and Rs.1,000 respectively.