Over 14,000 to take part in run to raise money for coaches, support staff hit by COVID

As many as 14,000 runners from across 15 countries will be lining up to take part in a nearly month-long initiative to raise funds for coaches and support staff in various sports amid COVID-19 pandemic, organisers of event said on Thursday. Championed by celebrated national bminton coach Pullela Gopichand, and Arjuna Awardees Ashwini Nachappa and Malathi Holla, 'Run to Moon' will conclude on July 21 to coincide with 51st anniversary of man's first landing on moon. Running almost simultaneously in different parts of world, participants will jointly aim to cover 3,84,400 kilometres, distance between earth and moon, by big day. 

Over 14,000 to take part in run

" ongoing crisis has really hit coaches and sports support teams hard. I would like to thank all participants of 'Run to Moon' who have contributed towards this cause," Gopichand, a Dronacharya Awardee, said. 

"Run to Moon is a great positive initiative during se times and I would like to encour all participants to keep running during se 30 days and stay fit and active."

registered participants can run anywhere y choose. y don't need to run every day but over one month period, y need to clock a minimum of 65 kilometres for ir entries to be valid. For ir distance to be eligible on a particular day, a runner has to log a minimum of 2.5 kilometres and a maximum of 10 kilometres on that day. Registrations have been received from over 945 cities in India with Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi contributing maximum number of participants, organisers, IDBI Federal Life Insurance and NEB Sports, said. 

daily distance run will be tracked through live dashboard on NEB Sports website. youngest participant is Rishon Fernandes, a 10-year-old from Mumbai and oldest is G Lakshman, an 87-year-old from Bangalore, release claimed. Multiple entries have come from countries across globe including Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Bahrain, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Nerlands, United Arab Emirates, Banglesh and Iran. 

A number of corporates too have fielded ir runners, including BFIL, IndusInd Bank Ltd., CISCO Systems India Pvt Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Limited,  Infosys, TESCO, Indian Navy, Armed Forces Medical College, to name a few. Over Rs. 14 lakh has been donated by participants and money that has been collected will be handed over to Gopichand's Bminton Acemy, Ashwini's Sports Foundation and Malathi Holla's Mathru Foundation. y will identify coaches and sports support staff that require urgent financial help. 

Im credits: PTI / Twitter