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New Delhi, 14 September 2014:
SBI Pinkathon – India’s biggest all-womens run, was successfully flagged off by SBI Chairperson Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Pinkathon founder & avid runner Milind Soman and Women’s Cancer Initiative Founder - Deveika Bhojwani from the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium amongst much fan fare.
The SBI Pinkathon 2014 witnessed over 50% increase in participation with over 7000 Delhi women from across age groups coming in to support the cause of women’s health and breast cancer. The event was preceded by a zumba warm up session performed on foot tapping numbers which got all the participants warmed up and ready for the run. Having got inspired by this year’s mantra - “Each one Kheench One” – it was overwhelming to see women participants come with their children, husbands, fathers and brothers and friends.
On the very popular foot tapping dhol beats, the first 10 km run was flagged off, followed by the 5km and the 3 km run categories. The event running in its 2nd year was a huge success and managed to garner great support from sponsors and participants alike. SBI the main sponsor had over 1700 women running as the “SBI Team.” Some of the other key sponsors and event partners were Reebok, Park Hotels, Ramada, Max Healthcare, Select City Walk, Ola Cabs among many others.
The run was finished by Ms. Shailja, a Gurgaon resident who came first in the 21 km category, Ms. Prit Lamba came first in the 10 km category, Meenu Kumari who came first in the 5 km category and Ms. Neeraj Kumari came first in 3Km category.
Speaking at the event, Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson SBI, said “SBI does alot of CSR activities as we believe in contributing to the society. In India, we realized that women’s health receives the least priority, thus the decision to partner with Pinkathon, which is working towards creating awareness on Breast Cancer and getting women to adopt fitter lifestyles. I firmly believe that a healthy woman makes a healthy home and that makes for a healthy nation.”
A cancer survivor herself, Deveika Bhojwani, Founder, Women’s Cancer Initiative at the Tata Memorial Hospital said, “I am overwhelmed with the response in Delhi to the SBI Pinkathon. It is wonderful to see the sea of women so early in the morning, who have come to show their belief in the cause of women’s health and breast cancer.
This will help to create awareness towards the much neglected disease. This year we are also supporting the international initiative of Globathon which is happening in 165 countries around the world. It feels wonderful to be connected to a much larger global family all working towards the same cause.”
Avid runner, fitness enthusiast, supermodel, actor & founder, Pinkathon, Milind Soman said “This city never ceases to amaze me!! I’m very happy to see the tremendous response we have received this year. There is an increase of 50% as compared to last year, which is a very good sign as women are now coming out of their shell and are talking about women’s health and breast cancer. The numbers clearly indicates that we are moving in the right direction, but I personally feel, that there is still a long way ahead.”
This year following the mantra of “Each One Kheench One”, SBI Pinkathon received great support from men as they came ahead by encouraging and enrolling one special woman in their life to participate in the run.
The entire initiative began with the enthusiastic promo run, followed by lot of engaging fitness activities across Delhi – NCR to keep the momentum going. As a result, participants from across Delhiand NCR showed great response and came in huge numbers to support the cause. Introduction of fun activities like Duathlon and Treadathon helped to keep the buzz alive and received support from corporates.
Delhi marks the first stop for the 2014 edition of this unique initiative. Pinkathon will now make its debut in Ahmedabad before moving on to Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai in its mission to create awareness and bring the community together to support women’s health and breast cancer.
