MAKING STRIDES: Women participating in the walk in Guntur on Sunday.

GUNTUR: Thousands of people walking on Guntur city streets is a common sight every morning, but on Sunday a sea of people took a brisk walk to bring awareness among citizens on the need to maintain one's health.

Organised by the NRI Academy of Medical Sciences and Indian Springs School, some 2,000 men, women, old and young, physically and mentally challenged enthusiastically participated in the 45-minute walk from Indian Springs School in Lakshmipuram to Brahmananda Reddy Stadium and back.

While 1,200 of them had registered in advance, 800 more took part in the walk registering on the spot. It had a professional competition section for men and women, while consolation prizes were given for children. Enthusiastic kids in their tracksuits followed their parents, while people in their mid-70s also completed the entire 10-km stretch.

Youth bubbling with enthusiasm waited for the flag-off eagerly and the regulars at the walking tracks in NTR Stadium, BR Stadium and Parade Grounds reached much ahead of the 6 a.m. scheduled start. Elderly women draped in sarees gave a tough fight to the young women in chudidaars and tracksuits.

"Our purpose of organizing this walk is to send across the message of creating awareness on personal health among the citizens," the Indian Springs correspondent Alapati Rajendra Prasad said. This was the most professionally organised walk and matched the Athletics Federation of India norms, said the judges from Tamil Nadu - V. Narayana Swamy and M. Narayana Rao assisted by local athletes P. Amanullah Khan S.L. Vazir and G.J. Kishore. The former Mayor Chukka Yesuratnam, the Mayor Kanna Nagaraju, organising committee member T.V. Rao participated in the flagging off.

The winners

The winners were decided in a photo finish based on the video recording. The male winner K. Govinda Raju completed the walk without any deviations in 44 minutes 25 seconds, while the last person completed the full walk in 1 hour 30 minutes. The other winners were A. Srinivas and B. Harish among men.

The women's title went to V. Saraswathi, while next two places went to B.H. Swarnalatha and M. Rajyalakshmi. Ten consolation prizes were given to participants from different categories. The oldest participant was D. Rama Murthy, a paediatrician. Supported by Pioneer Automobiles and several other organisations, a `rangoli competition' was also organised at the NTR Indoor Stadium for women after the 10K walk.

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