'Raipura Marathon' was held with the largest number of runners in the history of Narsingdi. 700 runners from home and abroad participated in the marathon in three categories. On Friday, it starts at 4:30 in the morning from Upazila Parishad and continues till 11:00 in the afternoon.
This is the first full marathon in three categories under the initiative of Raipura Runners Community and with the support of Upazila Administration. 700 runners including 15 citizens from USA, Netherlands, Russia, China, Japan and Czech Republic participated in it.
This time 100 contestants participated in 42 km full marathon, 300 contestants in 21 km half marathon and 300 contestants in 10 km marathon. However, the organizing committee said that a total of 1000 runners had registered for this marathon.
Runners gathered at the Raipura Upazila Parishad ground on Friday morning. They had already registered. The presence of runners of different ages and professions created a festive atmosphere in the area.
The marathon competition of runners started from Raipura Upazila Parishad at 4:30 in the morning, passing through Hasnabad No. 10 bridge area of Narsingdi-Raipura Regional Road and ending at Upazila Parishad. 200 volunteers including Police, Ansar, Village Police and Fire Service members were engaged in the security of the contestants. Medical teams including ambulances have been deployed for treatment.
Around this marathon, all traffic was stopped from midnight to 11 am on Srirampur Railgate-to-Raipura Bazar road along with Narsingdi-Raipura regional road.
Before this, two half marathons were held informally by Raipura Runners Community.
Full marathon champion Imran Hasan of Pabna said, I won the Raipura half marathon in 2023 and also won the full marathon in 2024.
Thanking the Raipura Runners Community Initiative for organizing such a competition in a beautiful environment with volunteers, he said that the youth will be happy and encouraged in such a competition. He also thinks that the young society can stay away from various crimes including drugs.
Akhtaruzzaman, president of the 'Raipura Marathon' organizing committee, said, "This is our initiative to turn the youth away from various crimes and phone addiction, including drugs. If the social system and the overall situation of the country is good, the marathon will be organized on a larger scale at the international level. Everyone expressed satisfaction with the overall conditions of organization and participation of the runners in the marathon. Later the winners were given medals, certificates and saplings. In addition, a total of 9 people were awarded in three categories.
Raipura Upazila Nirbahi Officer Iqbal Hasan presided over the program and Narsingdi Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Rashed Hossain Chowdhury was present as the chief guest.
Besides, District BNP Member Secretary Manjur Elahi, BNP Central Committee Science and Technology Co-Editor Engineer Ashraf Uddin Bakul, Narsingdi Additional Superintendent of Police (DSB) Shamsul Arefin, Narsingdi Central Voluntary Forum Convener Mahbubur Rahman Monir, Raipura Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Shafikul Administration officials including Islam, Sudhi Samaj and organizers were present.
Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Rashed Hossain Chowdhury said in the speech of the chief guest on the occasion that the young generation is derailed, this arrangement will be useful to bring them back on the right track. Children are now straying from play. They are spending more time on electronic devices including mobiles. If they come to the field and play sports, health, mind and attention will all increase. We want to raise healthy young generation. The number of events will increase in the future. It will be organized in other upazilas as well.
