15,000 people to participate in Kolkata Marathon on Dec 20

Around 15,000 people including film stars, sportsmen and athletes from across the country and abroad are expected to participate in Kolkata Marathon on December 20 organised by Procam International (PI). 

PI, who promotes the Tata Steel Kolkata 25-km marathon, on Thursday announced its preparedness to host the second edition of the event. 

The 25-km marathon for Indian elite athletes will be flagged off from Indira Sarani on Red Road at 6.30 am, followed by amateur runners at 6.35 am, open 10-km run for the amateur runners at 7 am, Champions with Disability and Senior Citizen Run at 8.15 am and Ananda run at around 9 am. All the races will start and finish on Red Road after covering important areas of the city. 

To ensure the safety of runners, the Kolkata police have made adequate arrangements. Around 2,000 security personnel will be deployed with additional arrangements of 1,000 private security men and 500 volunteers. There will be six medical stations, three ambulances and 120 medical personnel on duty. 

In order to ensure clean route, there will be 120 dustbins at various locations along the route and 150 rag pickers have been hired. Around 28 toilets will be set up along the route, 45 thousand litre of water would be distributed through 15 water stations and there will be energey drinking stations. 

Rathin Banerjee, Executive Committee Member, West Bengal Athletic Association said around 100 officials from the West Bengal Amateur Athletic Association will be posted at the start and finish of the 25-km and 10-km route to take care of technical conduct of the event.