Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon Raises 5 Million Meals For Children

The second edition of the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon witnessed the participation of over 35,000 runners in support of the cause of #RunForZeroHunger. The participation is 50 per cent higher than last year, extending across five events including the Half Marathon, Open 10K Run, Great Delhi Run, Senior Citizens’ Run, and Champions with Disability Run. Vedanta’s commitment to providing 1 meal to children for every 1 km run added up to five million meals in total. These meals will be served across Vedanta’s network of nearly 6,000 Nand Ghars, the social impact programme of Vedanta’s Anil Agarwal Foundation which operates in 14 states across India.

The races were flagged off by Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Non-Executive Director, Vedanta and Chairperson, Hindustan Zinc Ltd. in the presence of Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports and I&B, GoI, Vinai Kumar Saxena, Lieutenant Governor of NCT of Delhi and Atishi, Minister of Education, Govt of NCT of Delhi along with other dignitaries.

Speaking on the occasion Hebbar said, “What we witnessed today was the immense power of participative sport to mobilise people from all walks of life and come together for fun, fitness and, most importantly, a cause. It is the dream of our Chairman, Anil Agarwal, that every child in India sleeps with a stomach full of nutritious food. We want to make #RunForZeroHunger a mass movement involving every Indian, just like we want every Anganwadi in this country to become a modern Nand Ghar.”

Every participant at the VDHM 2023 was given multi-millet bars.

Many celebrities and influencers including Actors Bhumi Pednekar and Ashish Vidyarthi, Fitness Coach Yasmin Karachiwala, Wrestlers Sangram Singh & Sakshi Malik, Actors Payal Rohatgi, Sara Khan, Kangan Nangia and Pankhuri Awasthy, Fashion Designer Nikhil Mehra, RJ Vidit, Masterchef Finalist Gurkirat Singh lent their support to the cause in the run-up to the event.

Ashton Eaton, two-time Olympic medalist and World Champion athlete, the brand Ambassador for VDHM 2023 and Indian women’s national cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur & Actor and Sports Enthusiast Gul Panag, motivated the runners at the marathon.

The Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon saw active participation from nearly 30,000 employees of the title sponsor. While some ran in Delhi, others participated via mini-marathons in their business locations and through the StepSetGo app, leading to the race day.

A Finisher’s medal was awarded to the runners.