Coimbatore Marathon to go virtual this time

The eighth edition of the Coimbatore Marathon will be a virtual month-long event owing to the prevailing pandemic situation and will be held in December, the organisers said on Sunday.

The theme for this year's event being organised from December 1 to 31 is 'Run Smart', they said. "We are very excited to present this virtual edition of the marathon and ensure continuity of the event for the benefit of all stakeholders," Coimbatore Marathon Race Director Ramesh Ponnuswami said. "Since the event is a virtual one, we are not constrained to conduct it on a specific date and time," he added. Participants can choose their date, start time, route, distance and run/walk from wherever they are and complete their race any time during the month of December, he said.

Another advantage of the virtual run is that there are no constraints in terms of the route, timings and so on, so four new event categories have been introduced a 3 km run/walk, a 10 Miler [16.1 km], a 20 Miler [32.2 km] and a Full Marathon [42.2 km] in addition to the usual 5 km run/walk, 10 km and Half Marathon (21.1 km) events, Ramesh said. Stating that past editions of the event have always been held in the first week of October, he said taking into consideration experience with adverse weather conditions prevailing during that time of the year and the clash with festival and public holidays, the event will henceforth be permanently moved to December from this year.

The premier event, for the cause of cancer patients, is expected to attract more than 25,000 participants from all walks of life across the world and registration for Coimbatore Marathon 2020 Virtual Event is now open. Participants can register through www.coimbatoremarathon.com. For those wishing to participate, a donation of Rs 99 to the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation will be applicable for participants based in India and USD 5 for participants based outside India, for all the categories.

Participants in India can opt for a finisher medal for a donation of Rs 399 (USD 24 for participants outside India) or a finisher medal and a finisher T-shirt for a donation of Rs 699 (only for India-based participants). Participants must submit their timing online for verification. Post verification, finisher medal & finisher T-shirt will be home delivered to participants who opted for them. All participants get to download an e-certificate and e-badge for participating and contributing to a noble cause, Ramesh said.

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