The Hindu : New Delhi News : Aged, but still not past their prime

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 05, 2006
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New Delhi

Aged, but still not past their prime

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Senior citizens to run in the Capital

NEW DELHI: With their running shoes on, thousands of grandparents - "dada-dadis" and "nana-nanis", if you please - will be running alongside participants half their age and probably even less at this year's Hutch Marathon to be held in Delhi on October 15.

While 2,250 of them have already registered for Harmony's 4.3 km Senior Citizens' Run, which would be an integral part of the marathon, by the time the run actually takes place the participation of more "young at heart" ones in the event is likely.

Star appeal

The run will also feature a number of prominent celebrities.

The list includes actors Juhi Chawla and Gulshan Grover from Bollywood and Milkha Singh and Dhanraj Pillay from the field of sports, lending a touch of star appeal to the event.

This is the second consecutive year that Harmony will be organising the Senior Citizens' Run -- which would witness the participation of thousands of Silvers, people 60 years and above.

On the motivation behind the event, Tina Ambani of Harmony for Silvers Foundation, a social initiative involved with the concerns and community interests of the senior citizens, said: "We desire our elders to remain centre-stage, to come out and celebrate and to live the spirit of freedom. They gave us our today. Without their involvement, every initiative loses its meaning."

Saying that the response to the Senior Citizens' Run has been overwhelming, a Harmony spokesperson said that the number of Silvers who had registered for the run was 2,250 as compared to 1,789 in 2005.

"The last day of registration has closed but we continue to get requests from hundreds of dadas, dadis, nanas and nanis,'' he said, adding "the number of unregistered participants is expected to be as many as the registered ones''.

Running alongside the 2,000-odd Silvers in 2005 were the czars from the sports arena and icons from the silver screen.

They included track queens P. T. Usha and Shiny Wilson, Flying Sikh Milkha Singh and hockey legend Dhanraj Pillay.

The Bollywood stars who ran alongside the Silvers were Jaya Bachchan, Neetu Singh, Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia.

And the Harmony spokesperson asserted, "This year will be no different."

A large number of celebrities and leaders from different walks of life will be at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on the morning of October 15 to cheer the Silvers who will participate in a run that will begin and conclude at the same point.

Precautions for emergency

Harmony has, as a matter of abundant precaution, also arranged for paramedical teams to be present at the marquee -- specially erected for the convenience of all the participants -- as well as positioned all along the route.

Required teams of doctors and stand-by ambulances have also been arranged to attend to the elders in case of any emergency.

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