5500 runners participated in the 13th edition of the Hexaware Dream Runners Half Marathon.
One of India’s top-rated running events, the Hexaware Dream Runners Half Marathon 2024, the 13th edition, was held today in Chennai, and over 5500 runners from various parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Telengana participated.
Bandi Gangadhar, IPS, DCP-Traffic, Greater Chennai Police felicitated Thiru Ma Subramanian Minister for Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, Tamil Nadu. Both together flagged off the 21.1 Km marathon event. 10 Km was flagged off by Ms C Latha, Secretary Tamil Nadu Athletic Association, she was joined by a few other corporate leaders and eminent personalities from the city. The marathon saw 1500 runners in the 21.1 Km and 4000 in the 10 Km categories. The marathon included women runners who are about 1100 of them, 11 super senior runners aged above 70, several runners over the age of 60, both men and women, visually challenged runners, amputees who were recipients of prosthetic limbs who will walk, the Indian Army, Navy, Coastal Guards, Tamil Nadu Police, Chennai Metro Rail Limited and the National Intelligence Agency. A special mention to 80 teachers of Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School of both Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur branch who ran their debut 10 Km run and were trained by the DRHM group for the marathon.
The Hexaware Dream Runners Half Marathon 2024 has received AIMS certification for its 10km run. 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.
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 2024 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.