Expressnews
One of India’s top-rated running events, the Hexaware Dream Runners Half Marathon 2023, the 12th edition, was held today in Chennai, and over 6500 runners from various parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Telenganaparticipated.
Arun Ramachandran, President and Global Head of Hi-Tech and Professional Services, General AI Practice, and Consulting, flagged off the 21.1 Km marathon event. He was joined by a few other corporate leaders and eminent personalities from the city. The marathon saw 2400 runners in the 21.1 Km and 4000 in the 10 Km categories. The marathon included many women runners, several runners over the age of 60, both men and women, visually challenged runners, amputees who were recipients of prosthetic limbs who will walk, two pregnant women, the Indian Army, Navy, Coastal Guards, Tamil Nadu Police, and the National Intelligence Agency.
The Hexaware Dream Runners Half Marathon 2023 has received AIMS certification for its Half Marathon and 10km course. AIMS, or the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, works in partnership with World Athletics (formerly the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)) for measuring road races. This makes the Hexaware Dream Runners Half Marathon 2023, the only marathon event in Tamil Nadu to be AIMS certified as of now.
With a modest beginning in 2008, the Dream Runners Half Marathon has now grown to become a signature event on the marathon calendar of Chennai. Proceeds from the event will be used to provide prosthetic limbs to deserving amputees and high compression body suits to women who are victims of burns and domestic violence. Apart from this, they also support a lot of other causes that may be the need of the hour.
DRHM 2023 initiatives include:
#runclean: ploggers who are also runners ensure the marathon is litter-free,
#sheshouldrun: encouraging more women runners to participate by offering free training and sharing inspirational videos in the run-up to the event,
#runsafe: by educating our team on first aid and emergency medical responses.
Dream Runners is one of the oldest running groups in Chennai. What started off as a bunch of recreational runners became a community of runners motivated to promote an active lifestyle among citizens in Chennai. Today, the group has 12 chapters spread across the city: Besant Nagar, Boat Club, MRC, Marina, Anna Nagar, Avadi, Airport, T-Nagar, Medavakkam, Velachery, and OMR. This edition, Dream Runners launched their 13th chapter outside Chennai, Coimbatore Dreamers. Over the years, the group wanted to use the platform of running to do some social good, and this led to the launch of the Dream Runners Half Marathon, a race with the dual purpose of keeping Chennai fit and a fundraiser.
