'One city, one spirit': Mangaluru Dasara half marathon to be held on October 6

Along with a 21 km half marathon, a 10 km and a 5 km race will also be organised, said Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Temple management committee trustee Padmaraj R to media persons.

Mangaluru: As part of the Mangaluru Dasara, a half marathon with the theme — 'One city, one spirit' will be organised by the Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Temple in association with Zeus Fitness Club and Decathlon on October 6.

Along with a 21 km half marathon, a 10 km and a 5 km race will also be organised, said temple management committee trustee Padmaraj R to media persons.

Stating that this is for the first time that a half marathon is being held as a part of Dasara, he said that a walkathon was organised last year which had received an overwhelming response.

Padmaraj said that the first prize winners of the half marathon and the 10 km run will be given Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively. While entry fees will be charged for the half marathon and the 10 km run, only Re 1 will be charged for the registration of the 5 km run category, he said, adding that the temple has decided to hold the event under the themes – 'One City One Spirit' and 'DK: Where unity means strength'.

The half marathon, 10 km and 5 km running events will commence from the temple gate at 5 am and all the three will be completed before 10 am,” he said.

Mangaluru city police commissioner Anupam Agrawal and Santhosh Poojary, son of Kudroli Temple’s chief patron B Janardhan Poojary will also be participating in the event. All measures will be taken for the safety and security of the participants. Already, 1200 participants have registered to take part in the half marathon. The number of participants is likely to increase upto 2000, he said. All participants will be given a medal and a certificate of appreciation, he added.

“The registration fee for the half marathon is Rs 589, while the registration fee for the 10 km run is Rs 353. All participants in the half marathon and the 10 km run will be given a microchip, which costs nearly Rs 300 each, to track their movement to ensure that none deviate from the prescribed routes,” he added.

The route of the half marathon will be as follows: Kudroli temple- Narayana Guru Circle- Chilimbi- U turn at Pai Sales Suzuki- Decathlon- Kuntikana- Derebail- U Turn at Karnataka Bank- Decathlon- Left to Bejai- right at Godrej Interio- Kadri Kambala Road- left at Bharath Beedi building- Zeus fitness club, Mallikatte- Fern Hill- U turn at Sun View Apartment- Zeus- Kankanady- Valencia-Mangaladevi Temple- Forum Mall- Clock Tower- K S Rao Road- Yenepoya Hospital- Venkatramana Temple Car Street- Kudroli Temple.

Second day of Dasara

On the second day of Mangaluru Dasara, Durga homa was held at the Kudroli Gokarnanatha Temple on Friday. Later, Pushpalankara mahapuja, bhajan programme, and Shree Devi Pushpalankara mahapuja utsav was held.

‘Nrityarpanam’ was staged by Shravani Bhat under the guidance of Gana Nritya Academy’s Vidyasri Radhakrishna and ‘Nritya Vaibhava’ was performed by Sunitha Jayanthi of Natyanilaya, Ullal.