‘Spirit of India’ run culminates in Valley

The Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir run, being undertaken by Australian ultra-marathon legend Pat Farmer to raise funds for education of Indian girls, on Tuesday reached here culminating his 64-day venture. Farmer, a former member of Australian Parliament, was received by Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Farooq Ahmad Lone and Director Tourism, Kashmir Mehmood Shah. Farmer heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying “Your Prime Minister has many dreams, many goals for the country.”  

“He has also talked about creating clean sanitary conditions, clean water, air and environment for the people here in India. Those are tough things to do for one man but if all of us work together, those are achievable goals and that is what would make India a great nation that it can be,” he said.

The marathon, which was flagged off from Kanyakumari on January 26, culminated at the famous Nishat Garden on the banks of Dal Lake here.

“The Spirit of India Run is my way of making a difference.I feel elated to have finished this marathon at this Garden. This is a historic day for me to have finished it in Kashmir. I had never imaged Kashmir would be this much beautiful,” the 53-year-old said.  “I have already given interviews to international media especially from Australia where I talked about Kashmir’s beauty. Kashmir is very beautiful. I would promote it among other countries,” he said.