Chandigarh: 5,000+ runs for fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

Akshay Kumar clinched the top spot in the 5th Daily World Marathon on Sunday. The circuit started at the Parliament building. The marathon and half marathon routes ended at IT Park.

Akshay won the men’s 42.19 km race with a time of 2.22.33 seconds. Kenyan marathon runner Daniel Cheruiyot (2.28.38 seconds) came second, while Ajay Kumar (2.29.44 seconds) won the bronze medal.

Bhagirathi took the top spot in the women’s category with a time of 3.06.23 seconds. Kenya’s Brigid Herono Kimitowai (3.09.26 seconds) took second place, while Svati Pal took third place with a time of 03.24.27 seconds.

More than 5,000 running enthusiasts from across India and around the world celebrated the marathon.

Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit was the chief guest and inaugurated the 5km run.

A 21.09km half marathon, 10km timed run and 5km fun run were held to promote fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

Daily World Newspapers organized the marathon in collaboration with the UT administration and local government.The total prize money for this run is INROne million.

K Siva Prasad, Additional Secretary to the Governor, started the full marathon, while Chandigarh Inspector General (IG) Raj Kumar Singh and Senior Superintendent Kanwaldeep Kaur started the 21km run. Ta. Punjab Director General of Police (Training and Welfare) Ishwar Singh and Punjab IG Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill inaugurated the 10km drive.

The 5th Daily World Marathon saw Asian marathon champion and India’s elite marathon runner coordinator Sunita Godara as the race director and marathon runner Gaurav Kherjee as the race coordinator.

Haryana Information Commission Chairman Shri Vijay Vardhan, Magshipa Secretary General Anirudh Tewari, Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (Industry and Commerce) Tejvir Singh, Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Shri Ajoy Kumar Sinha, Vishwajit Khanna, Chairman, Punjab Electricity Regulatory Commission, A Venu Prasad, Member, NRI Board, DGP Prabodh Kumar and Satish K. Asthana, Editor-in-Chief, Hindustan Times Shri Ramesh Vinayak, ADGP Amit Prasad, Education Secretary KK Yadav and several other current and retired IAS and IPS officers from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh attended the event.