Chennai: Participants of the third edition of Chennai Pink Run, a women’s running event, who ranged in age from 10 years to 76, dotted Elliot’s Beach in Besant Nagar even before dawn broke on Thursday. Close to 300 women participated in the event, organised in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, internationally called ‘Pink October’.
There were 3-km and 4-km runs, but most chose to stroll. The organisers had to advance the run by an half as the police anticipated a law and order problem due to J. Jayalalithaa’s conviction. M. Rajalingam, founder of ‘Running for a Change’, said, “This is mainly about creating awareness about breast cancer. There is also the fitness element,” he added.
The organisers would have found a willing unofficial mascot in Sundari Siddharth, 76. The retired Sanskrit teacher had been participating in running events since 2006. A regular at the Chennai Pink Run since its inception, the run is a kind of prayer for the Besant Nagar resident, who moved to the city in 2003 from New Delhi. She prays during her run for a near and dear one, hoping that the person kicks the smoking habit. “Three in our family are detected with cancer,” she said, her sister, Mahalakshmi (79), joining her.
Ten-year-old B. Jhanvi, a Class 5 student, had roped in two of her friends from school for the run. It was hard to miss the sense of achievement on their faces as they run into their mothers’ arms at the end of the run.
