XIMB organises marathon in Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: With an aim to create awareness among people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, a 10K marathon titled “X-Athon ’17” was organised by the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), a premier B-school in the country, in Odisha capital on Sunday.

The marathon was held ahead of XIMB’s annual cultural and business festival “Xpressions 2017″ slated for November 10 to 12.

The annual marathon covered a stretch of 10km from the XIMB Campus to the Patia Chowk and back.

“People ran for a cause aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles. While spreading awareness, they also raise funds for a social cause,” the B-school stated.

The Chief Guest was Deepak Sahoo, founder and CEO of Arrelic – an IoT-based deep-tech firm. This year, X-Athon had collaborated with Sahoo and his team from Arrelic, as  part of its Campus Engagement initiative.

More than 500 people, including college students and corporate employees participated in it. Rohit Kara secured the first position and received a cash prize of Rs 20,000 while Sukhulal Munda was runner-up, winning a cash prize of Rs 10,000. In the female category, Ananya Goyal secured the first position and received the cash prize.

The first ten participants to complete in the marathon received medals and certificates of appreciation. On the occasion, an eight-year-old boy Ritvik Bharadwaj completed the marathon first, and received a special mention.

In another event, the Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) of XIMB organised X-Enable-17, at the XUB grounds for the specially-abled ones, wherein they played variety sports. X-Enable- 17 saw participation of around 70 people of both senior and junior age-groups from the Shri Harsha Memorial School for the Deaf and the Dumb, Pallashpalli, the Nursery School of the Deaf, and Swabhiman, Bhubaneswar.

It succeeded in bringing out the innate talents of these children through sporting events like Tug-of-War, Badminton, Lemon and Spoon Race, Cricket. Trophies and certificates of the various events were given away at the hands of Father Arockia, assistant registrar (Admin) and others.