Pinkathon Bangalore: Almost 5000 women run for a cause - The fight against breast cancer

February 23rd, 2013, Bangalore – Pinkathon Bangalore 2014, International Women’s 10K-Run, was held in Bangalore today to promote awareness of breast cancer and promote health and fitness among women. Almost 5,000 women from corporate organizations, colleges, social clubs and medical clinics participated in the run under various categories.

The event was organised by Maximus MICE & Media Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and was flagged off by actor Milind Soman, Ashwini Mehra – Chief General Manager, State Bank of India and Deveika Bhojwani, Founder, WCI. The money raised from the event will be used to treat economically-challenged cancer patients.

In the 10K category, the winner was K.C. Shruthi with a run time of 37 minutes and 14 seconds, with the runner-up being M Mahalakshmi. Laura May finished as the second runner up.

In the 5K category, the winner was Sowmya Nair with a run time of 20 minutes and 56 seconds, and in the 3K category the winner was Tejaswini Girish with a run time of 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

According to the population-based cancer registry/ICMR study, the incidence of breast cancer in Bangalore was 42 per 1,00,000 of new cases diagnosed per year and by 2015 we will have 2,05,134 new cases diagnosed every year in India.

Milind Soman, Marathon Runner and Founder, Pinkathon, said, “I’m happy to see so many women coming to lend their support. Awareness is the key and events such as these go a long way in creating awareness, early diagnosis and help in the fight against breast cancer.”

Somdeb Basu, Brand Director, Reebok, said, “Reebok is very happy to associate with Pinkathon as a part of its ongoing efforts to inspire more and more women to pursue a healthy lifestyle by taking some time out for themselves to run, work out, dance , do yoga or anything else that enables them to be fit for life.”

Vinod Pande, General Manager, Corporate Communication & Change department, Corporate Centre, Mumbai said, “On behalf of State Bank of India, it’s my honour to be associated with Pinkathon, a one-of-a-kind event to spread awareness about breast cancer and also a brilliant initiative to encourage health and fitness among women, which I believe should be a way of life. The health of a nation depends on the health of its daughters, its mothers and future mothers. It’s never too late to start healthy living. One must conquer all sloth. You must will yourself to undertake any form of exercise as a daily habit; it’s a routine you will never want to get out of, once you are used to it. It’s an addiction, of the best kind. I wish all the ladies here all the very best. Live long, live healthy. Together let us build a healthy nation.”

Reema Sanghavi, Managing Director, Maximus MICE & Media Solutions Pvt. Ltd., said, “It is overwhelming to see so many women participate once again for the 2nd edition in Bangalore. Bangaloreans supported last year’s run whole-heartedly and this year more women have come and joined the Pink Bandwagon! Our objective is to encourage women to take up fitness as a lifestyle and we continue to spread awareness of breast cancer and educate women about its causes and prevention by adopting a healthy and active lifestyle.”

About Pinkathon:

Pinkathon is a 10 km international run only for women. The objective of the event is to encourage women’s health and fitness. Pinkathon also aims to raise awareness about breast cancer, its causes and prevention. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths amongst women worldwide, in spite of it being one of the curable cancers if detected early. The key to controlling this disease, therefore, is to create awareness about preventive measures for breast cancer. Pinkathon offers the running distances of 3 km, 5 km and 10 km giving each runner an opportunity to run in their comfort zone.