Pinkathon Empowering Indian Women Powered By Bajaj Electricals Comes To Delhi For The Fourth Edition!

Pinkathon – Empowering Indian Women, Inspiring Partner Bajaj Electricals India’s biggest women’s run is coming to Delhi for the Fourth edition on Sunday, September 4th, 2016 at Jawaharlal Lal Nehru Stadium, Delhi. Online registrations are open at www.pinkathon.in for the V Wash plus 3km, Mia By Tanishq 5km & 10km multi-category run, for United Nation’s He for She 21km drop a mail on info@pinkathon.in .

United Sisters Foundation & Maximus Events along with super model, actor, fitness enthusiast, avid barefoot runner and Pinkathon founder Milind Soman formally announced the launch of the Fourth edition run in Delhi at a press conference at Viceroy Hall – The Claridges, New Delhi. Present at the conference were eminent dignitaries like Dr. Ranjana Kumari – ‎Director, Centre for Social Research and President WomenPowerConnect, Deveika Bhojwani Vice President WCI, Rhea Sharma – Social Activist , Ms Nishtha Satyam Head – Partnerships, M & E and Public Relations UN WOMEN who expressed their wholehearted support for the noble cause.

Expressing delight on the launch of the Fourth edition of Pinkathon Powered by Bajaj Electricals in Delhi, founder Milind Soman said, “We are very excited to bring Pinkathon to Delhi once again. We are confident the city and its people will support us and help make this run a success. Pinkathon is more than a Marathon. It is the seed of change and the beginning of a movement that is carried forward by a growing community of empowered women across India, who share a belief that a healthy family, a healthy nation and a healthy world begins with empowered women. The first step in empowerment is taking control of your own health, respecting yourself and understanding and celebrating the value you bring to your family and society. Empowerment is not a gift of society; it is a gift you give yourself.”

Milind Soman Super Model, Actor, and the Creator of Pinkathon, The fitness icon further added, “Fitness is liberating. If a culture of regular exercise and fitness must take root in India, our women need to become aware about the benefits of fitness. They need to be able to get out and run, which doesn’t happen enough due to various cultural reasons. We now organize Pinkathon in eight cities. More than 10,000 women run at each of these events over the V wash Plus 3km, Mia By Tanishq 5km, 10km and United Nations HeforShe 21km distances. They run in running gear but also in sarees, salwar kameez, hijabs or whatever attire they deem fit and keeps them comfortable.”

Reema Sanghavi, Managing Director, Maximus Events further added “Besides Delhi, Pinkathon has already been held in various cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Guwahati, Pune, and Ahmedabad & Mumbai in the year 2015. The multi-city national event has received an overwhelming expression of support with over 50,000 women of all ages, across different walks of life from 6 cities in 2014. This number crossed 1 lac in 2015 with 8 cities. The campaign will be supported with an integrated communication plan which includes several pre- event activities like training runs for baby wearing mothers, first time women runners and cancer survivors. There will also be an extensive online campaign to reach out to the masses and help the movement grow.”

Beena Koshy, Vice President & Head – Advertising & Brand Development, Bajaj Electricals said, “We, at Bajaj Electricals, are proud to partner with Pinkathon in this great initiative specifically for women. The year 2016 is being celebrated at Bajaj as the year of the Girl Child.  And therefore our association with Pinkathon and its cause to spread awareness of Breast cancer will be seen as a step towards this initiative. In fact we are encouraging our male employees to get their spouses, mothers, sisters or any female relative to participate in this run and support the cause whole heartedly. We would also be rewarding special categories of runners like the senior citizens, the visually challenged or even the new MOMs who were running with babies. So we hope to see you there!”

Ranjana Kumari – ‎Director, Centre for Social Research and President, Women Power Connect said “ Women’s health is directly linked with the development of any nation. Provision of better health care facilities and nutrition are the basic rights of all the citizens. India as a nation has faced many challenges like maternal mortality, health care facilities for elderly women, and issues related to reproductive health of women. There has also been a steep rise in the number of women cancer patients.

The WHO World Health Statistics 2015 stated that only 1.16% of its GDP was spent on health in India. This definitely is not near to the percentage required to meet the basic health needs of the citizens. Its high time that we all together take up women’s health issues seriously and demand better health care facilities.

Initiatives like Pinkathon have incredibly spread awareness on the women’s health issues. And we definitely need more such health care models which can meet rising need of medical facilities specially for women. The government must think about more investment in the health sector and also, towards providing advanced and affordable health care.

Nishtha Satyam  Head – Partnerships, M & E and Public Relations UN WOMEN “UN Women supports the HeForShe 21 Km Half Marathon symbolizing the urgent need to bring together one half of the humanity for another. UN Women aims to engage men and boys as agents of change for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights, by encouraging them to take action to end inequalities faced by women and girls.”

Rhea Sharma , Social activist and running a project named Make Love Not Scars  said “We need more initiatives such as Pinkathon to not only start a dialogue about the problems that women face on a day to day basis in our society but to also ensure that this dialogue garners enough support to bring about concrete change. It is crucial that we start talking about women’s rights and empowerment through which we can then proceed by actually helping women that are in actual need. Providing appropriate necessary and immediate medical attention should not be a need because it is a necessity and a basic human right. It is time that we come together to stand up for those that cannot stand up for their own rights.”

As a precursor to the main day, the team is organising unique events such as the Cancer Shero Trek. A Shero is a cancer survivor & this event is dedicated towards felicitating these inspiring people. Starting with a trek, this event felicitates the inspiring Cancer Survivors honouring them with an “I Inspire” medal. In Pinkathon 50 visually impaired girls from NAB and Adventures beyond Barrier, 40 Hearing impaired Girls and 200 Burkha Girls from shikhar foundation would be participating in the different category run. To prepare them for the main day, unique training sessions are designed with the help & coordination of sighted runners. Pinkathon powered by Bajaj Electricals is organising special training runs in various parts of Delhi for the registered participants who have requested training for the main day.

Visually Impaired Girl was announced as the mascot for the visually impaired squad who will be the running the V Wash Plus 3km.

Rj Heena was announced as the mascot from Red FM who will be the running the 10km.

With the Pinkathon’s one of a kind initiative, every single participant of Pinkathon Delhi 2016 powered by Bajaj can choose to avail a free medical check-up from our medical partner Apollo hospitals or a free Mammogram if the participant is above 45yrs of age. Priyanka Bhuraria a cancer survivor, was announced as the mascots for the Mia By Tanishq 5km and category run.  She was presented with the first bib.

Pinkathon, in its endeavour to make every aspect and action of the run meaningful, is bringing back the story of Tsunamika. As a symbol of solidarity with women everywhere, every Participant of the Pinkathon this year, across all 8 cities, will be given a Tsunamika doll as their Finisher Medal, which they will treasure on completing their run. The Tsunamika project has been conceived by Upasana Design Studio, as a response to the devastation brought about by the Tsunami of December 26th, 2004. The project has focused on the fisherwomen who were traumatized by the Tsunami disaster.

Milind Soman also highlighted the concept of Pinkathon Ambassadors in every city who are passionate, extraordinary, committed men & women connecting for one cause, health for every woman. Each Pinkathon Ambassador is a part of the Pinkathon core team and registers all the women in their circle of influence. Pinkathon inspires everyone that together, we will do more. Various initiatives are undertaken by the Pinkathon Ambassadors to connect with women across various strata of the society. Pinkathon goes to School is another interesting concept to encourage Mother-daughter teams to run together. The idea is to encourage health & fitness at every age.

Pinkathon in Delhi has received huge response from corporate sponsors like, Bajaj Electricals, V Wash plus, Mia by Tanishq, Reebok, U.S.POLO, Ramada Gurgaon Central, Photography Partner, Timing Partner, WCI, Maximus, USF. Also, Bajaj Electricals will be planting 1000 trees to commemorate the Pinkathon going green in Delhi.

The focus of the India’s biggest women’s only running event, is to encourage an active lifestyle and overall fitness amongst women, while creating a much needed awareness about breast cancer and bone health and encourage thousands of new or first-timer women to take up running.

All proceeds raised from the event will be used for the expenses incurred in organizing and marketing the event, and by the Women’s Cancer Initiative in its fight against breast cancer. The official website for Pinkathon is  www.pinkathon.in through which participants can register online. Twitter Handle: @pinkathon10k