‘Run For Good’ showcased the transformative power of coming together for a common cause.
New Delhi, 20 March 2023: The maiden edition of the Savera ‘Run For Good’ took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi and it turned out to be a big hit as thousands of Delhiites ditched their regular schedule to run in support of underprivileged children.
The ‘Run For Good’ was organized by Artkonnect and #RunwithReeti with Savera Association. The family running event was presented by Dabur Glucoplus-C and supported by the Indian Premier League franchise (IPL) Delhi Capitals to promote health and wellness, unity, inclusivity, social responsibility, and community development.
The ‘Run For Good’ was organised to mark the silver jubilee of the Savera Association, which is working towards bringing a permanent and positive change in the lives of underprivileged children by providing them with basic necessities including education and health care. The event also saw the participation of around 50 children from the Savera Association running together as one community.
Moreover, the ‘Run For Good’ showcased the transformative power of coming together for a common cause, which was in line with the beliefs of Artkonnect – a renowned Entertainment Agency with expertise in Talent Representation, Event Execution, and Live IPR Creation & Consultation.
The maiden edition of the Savera ‘Run For Good’ featured a 3K run, a 5K family run, and a 10K timed run. The event, which was the brainchild of Artkonnect and #RunwithReeti, witnessed participation by thousands of people from all walks of life, who chose to either run, jog or walk for a cause and with the beneficiaries of the cause as well.
Age was no barrier and the biggest example of that was 92-year-old lady Maureen Ahluwalia, who participated in the 3K run and showed that if you set your mind on something then nothing is impossible.
“I just love to walk and I do it every day. To remain healthy, we should carry on walking and keep smiling,” said young-at-heart Maureen Ahluwalia.
Praising the people of Delhi to come out for the social cause, Ahluwalia said, “Fantastic work by Delhiites, this will definitely encourage a lot of people to contribute to social causes.”
The ‘Run for Good’ event not only helped Artkonnect promote health, wellness, and social responsibility, but it also turned out to be a breath of fresh air for people who were eager to come out of their monotonous life and experience something beautiful like the mystic fragrance of a spring morning in the capital city and enjoy cloudy weather with a cool breeze, which made running all the more fun.
The ‘Run for Good’ event was like a carnival of health as the people at the event also indulged in fun activities such as live music, dancing to the beats of drums, waving flags, blowing vuvuzelas, and much more in order to attain an inclusive and engaging experience. There were also many leisure activities to choose from at the friends and family area, which had a food court, and stage for prizes and felicitations.
Even the warm-up sessions before the runs were made enjoyable and engaging by a Zumba troupe and Bhangra dancers, while DJ played upbeat and motivational songs to keep the participants’ ‘josh’ high.
Coming to the runs, the 10K timed run started at 6:40 am, while the 5K Family run and 3K Savera Inclusivity Run commenced at 7:15 am and 7:45 am respectively. All the runs ended by around 8:00 am.
While medals were distributed in all race categories, the top 3 finishers in the 10k run, both male and female, were awarded handsome cash prizes followed by a host of other gifts from Dabur, Revlon, Shangri La Hotel, Le meridian Gurgaon and others.
Other than runs, there were small contests like squats competition and the plank challenge, which made the participants push their limit and sweat it out hard as they were eager to win beautiful gift hampers.
But, that was not all as the Delhi Capitals launched their jersey for the upcoming IPL season at the ‘Run For Good’ event. DC players like Chetan Sakariya, Ripal Patel, Aman Khan, and Praveen Dubey were present at the jersey launch to make the event more interesting.
With so many cool things happening all around at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and no shortage of fun activities to choose from at the ‘Run For Good’ event, it was definitely a day to remember for the Delhiites.
Speaking about the success of the event, Anand Kanwar, Founder, and Director, ArtKonnect said, “The Runners’ community is a giving community and it is full of socially conscious people. So, we and Savera Association decided that let’s not make the event about winning and losing and stick to the objective of doing something good by running, hence the ‘Run For Good’ came into existence.
“Our aim was to make this race inclusive so that people of any age can take part in the event. This was also the reason behind conducting the 5K Family Run and it got a great response. There was an 18-member family which registered for the 5K Family Run and out of them only four were runners, but still, every member of the family took part in the run.”
“I am grateful to everyone who participated in the event. The response that ‘Run For Good’ got was overwhelming considering that it’s the maiden edition of the event.”
Reeti Sahai, Founder of #RunWithReeti praised the ‘Run For Good’ and said, “Savera Association is doing some fabulous work by providing support to underprivileged kids. So, we decided to collaborate with them and start the ‘Run For Good’ initiative for health and wellbeing.
“Also, what’s better than contributing to important social issues while also giving people the chance to shift their focus back on their health and lifestyle.”
“For the same reason, I was super excited to join hands with Savera Association to present an opportunity for the people of Delhi to come together for a fitness-cum-social cause.”
“We are stoked with the response that the people of Delhi have shown. However, this is only edition one of ‘Run For Good’, so in times to come, we see this event happening on a larger scale with much more participation. But, I can’t thank Delhi enough for the support they have shown for a social cause.”
Minu Bakshi, Honourable Chairperson at Savera Association said, “Savera is celebrating 25 years of its existence, so, we wanted to make this year special and then we realise that fitness is the trend as everyone wants to be fit. So, that’s how the idea of a running event struck. The idea actually was to make it an inclusive run.”
“So, ‘Run For Good’ means that people who joined contributed to the cause in their own ways. Even though they are going to get fitter by running and they are doing what they love to do, their participation was beneficial for the Savera Association, which runs almost free schools and the medical centres for Basti Srinivaspuri.”
“The response that ‘Run For Good’ got was overwhelming. Us connecting with Reeti Sahai has really been a bonus because she got all the professional runners. So, we have done our bit and the corporates who came forward. And, Delhi as a whole amazed me. Nobody has organised a family run before, so we saw the participation of grandparents, school children, mothers, fathers, and little children. So, it’s been an overwhelming response and I we really didn’t think we are going to pull it off, but we did.”
“Given the response that we have received in Delhi, we are going to take the ‘Run For Good’ to Gurgaon next as there’s a huge community of runners there.”
