Red Ribbon Club of GDC Kathua organises Marathon as part of Youth Fest, Red Run activities 

KATHUA, AUGUST 05: Government Degree College Kathua in collaboration with J&K AIDS Control Society, Department of Health and Medical Education, today organized a District level Marathon as part of the Youth Fest, Red Run Activity-2023.

The event was organized under the patronage of Principal of college Prof Seema Mir.

The Marathon was flagged off by incharge Principal of college Prof Jasvinder Singh in the presence of other faculty members.  Prof Jasvinder Singh congratulated the Convener Red Ribbon Club and students for their enthusiastic participation and emphasized that the short run aimed to encourage a healthy lifestyle and physical activity among the youth. He also expressed that the Red Run Marathon marked the AIDS and drug abuse awareness under the AKAM initiative.

 He acknowledged the unwavering support of the Traffic Police and Health and Medical Education Department in ensuring the safety and security of the students during the event, He congratulated the organizers for organizing the Marathon, promoting positive lifestyle changes in the community.

The event witnessed enthusiastic participation from all Govt Degree Colleges of District Kathua, More than 100 participants ran a 2 Km marathon, starting from GDC Kathua and concluded at GCW Kathua via sports stadium Kathua.

Jury members from Department of Physical Education and Sports selected the top 25 runners to represent District Kathua at the final UT level, Youth-Fest Red Run Marathon in Jammu, aimed at generating HIV/AIDS awareness among youth.

Convener Red Ribbon Club Prof Manmohan Singh aware runners that as per national family health survey 5, there is only 21.6% and 30.7% comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS among adults in India in women and men respectively, so there is an urgent need to improve and increase comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS through various activities across the country. He said the aim of the event was to actively engage the students in healthy lifestyle and physical activities so that they can maintain healthy living and keeping themselves free from life style diseases but also to keep themselves free from behaviors which put them at risk of getting infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. 

The event was coordinated by NSS Program Officers Dr Neha Bandral and Dr Suresh Sharma, NCC ANOs Dr Varinder Singh, Dr. Amrik Singh and Dr Rachna Devi and Dr Sanjeev Kumar.

 Technical support for the event was provided by Physical Director Dr Jogbinder Singh Soodan and his team members of Department of Physical Education and Sports.

Prof Rakesh Singh, Dr Amita Dua, Dr Shubh Kumar, Dr Rachna, Prof Ritu Bhagat, Dr Kailash Sharma, Dr Pankaj Gupta also witnessed the event.