ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad Run With Us, the pioneer group of running, successfully held its first-ever Margalla Hills Half Marathon at the nature-rich Trail-5 surrounded by blooming green cover participated by overwhelming number of runners here on Sunday.
Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change, Romina Khurshid Alam was the chief guest on the occasion.
More than 150 participants from all across Pakistan including members of respective diplomatic community, and experienced runners joined running on all the main trails of Margalla Hills covering distance of 21.1 kilometers, including the portion of Margalla Road from Trail 5 to Japanese Zoo parking and Pirsohawa Road from Talhar Mor to Monal Restaurant.
Addressing the Margalla Hills Half Marathon as chief guest, the Prime Minister’s Coordinator extended her felicitations to the winning athletes and participants for actively participating in the adventurous endeavour.
Romina said the participants of the Half Marathon were the real celebrities of the event that deserve praise alongwith the organisers of the activity. She added that climate and sustainable development goals (SDGs) are her passion for spearheading the climate agenda at the policy level which is also the need of the hour.
The Minister on the occasion refused to take water in single-use plastic bottle as part of her flagship campaign and awareness drive to apprise masses to end one-time use plastics under the ban being imposed across the federal capital.
“The nature and the planet is our mother and we turn to it for solace to get rid of our vagaries of life and have to ensure its conservation. Say no to plastics and I am championing it, whereas media is our messenger and should carry forward this message as well,” she said.
She congratulated the marathon winners and participants and lauded their determination to walk for nature. “Everyone got their reward in the form of the best clean air and natural environment during the marathon,” she added.
Chairperson, Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), Rina Saeed Khan thanked the media for supporting the cause of environmental conservation and mass awareness on responsible role towards nature.
Khan also lauded the Prime Minister’s Coordinator for her warm support to the IWMB as a great supporter and advocate of the environment. “She (Romina) has a positive attitude and tremendous support towards IWMB and the Board will invite her on all its events,” she added.
The IWMB chair said that the marathon was a great experience and would be encouraged in the future as well.
“IWMB has over 100 volunteers who are working without any reward and freely work on picking garbage from trails. We request visitors to enjoy nature but don’t litter and create noise and avoid staying in national park after sunset as most of the wildlife is nocturnal,” Rina Saeed said.
Founder of Islamabad Run With Us, Qasim Naz said that the main objective of the event was to promote a healthy lifestyle and create awareness to preserve the mesmerizing beauty of Margalla Hills National Park.
He informed the participants that Islamabad Run With Us is the first community running club that started in 2016 and had held 600 events so far and also organise four races throughout the year including the Islamabad Half Marathon in April.
“This time, due to Ramazan, there has been very little media campaign for the event within 8-9 days of social media campaign, Margalla Hills half marathon has bagged 150 participants that started running at 6:30 am and ended at 10:30am,’ he said.
PM’s Coordinator, Romina Khurshid Alam conferred the awards to the winners whereas in the female category, Sadia Maqbool stood third, Emily (a US National) got second position whereas Inab Khan was the winner who is also the member of running squad of IRWS and an international marathon runner.
In the male category, the third position was secured by Athar Akhtar, second by Waqar Ahmed and the winner was Muhammad Akhtar.
At the end Qasim Naz presented mementos to PM’s Coordinator Romina Khurshid Alam and the Coordinator gave away the memento to Chairperson Rina Saeed Khan.
CEO, North Naturals (co-partner of the event), Israr Uddin thanked the PM’s Coordinator and orgnanisers of the event for making the event a success and the leadership by the government. He said Pakistan existed in the geographical region prone to disasters and volatile ecosystems that needed special attention of all quarters of the society and his organisation through its products was playing that role.
