A marathon to remember

For the first time, Infantry school in Mhow opened its doors for civilians to participate in a

marathon

along with army officers and jawans. The run was organised on

Infantry day

to honour the martyrs of the war in 1947 at Jammu and Kashmir. Close to 5000 participants, of which 2000 were army personnel and 3000 civilians from

Indore

, Mhow and neighbouring cities ran together for 5, 10 and 21 kilometres.

Flagged off by Infantry school commandant Lt. Gen. PN Ananthnarayanan and deputy commandant Maj. Gen. OP Gulia at the crack of dawn on Sunday, the event was high on energy and josh. “We have only seen defence personnel’s fitness regimes on TV or in films, this was the first time we got an opportunity to run a marathon along with them. SO the josh is very high!” says participant Vishal Shrivastava.

Besides running, warm up

Zumba

was organised by instructor Aarti Maheshwari and a bagpipers band show followed by a musical concert also kept the participants hooked to the event. An exhibition area with battle tanks, artillery guns and bunkers drew everyone’s attention too. “It is not every day that you get to see and touch these weapons. Only a few get to see such exhibitions which is mostly during Republic Day in Delhi. Witnessing them so close to home was a privilege” shares another participant.

Pics: Arpit Joshi