Children aged 11 to 14 from five schools in the capital were part of the worldwide campaign dubbed ´The Race for Survival´, the largest ever race organized for children across 40 countries around the globe, according to Hatemalo Sanchar, which organized the race in Nepal with the support from Save the Children.[break]
Nupur Bhattacharya, founder of Hatemalo Sanchar, said the race was organized with the objective of raising awareness about the measures to be taken for reducing the mortality rate of children under the age of five.
According to Save the Children, about 35,000 children die in Nepal before their fifth birthday due to preventable causes such as diarrhea and pneumonia. Save the Children lent its support to organize the race because it believes that political commitment could help prevent the needless deaths of thousands of children, said the organization.
The children participating in the 42-km marathon relay were joined by renowned marathoner and South Asian Games record holder Baikuntha Manandhar, who ran 400 meters along with them to kick-start the relay.
Other local heroes who ran 195 meters to boost the morale of the children were marathoner Jeet Bahadur KC, boxer Deepak Maharjan, footballer Jamuna Gurung and taekwondo ace Manita Shahi.
Of the five participating teams, Pragati Shiksha Sadan secured the first position in the relay with a timing of 2 hours 13 minutes and 13 seconds.
National Children´s Academy (2:13:43 hours) and Tika Vidyashram (2:14:27 hours) finished second and third in the relay respectively.
Although the children could not beat the world marathon record of 2:03:38 hours set by Kenyan runner Patrick Makau, they were successful in drawing the attention of the concerned authorities, which was evident from the fact that Health Minister Rajendra Mahato inaugurated the relay earlier at the Dasharath Stadium.
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