The objective of the marathon, the organisers say, is to show Kargil as a potential tourist destination with focus on sports and to commemorate India's war heroes
Kargil, the word itself brings back memories of the 1999 war between India and Pakistan. Even as the beautiful location is an integral part of the Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir and can be a tourist spot just like Leh, it often gets a miss from most itineraries.
However, Kargil might just not be far behind from becoming one of the many tourist destinations of India. Sarhad, a Pune-based NGO working for the people living in the border regions, is organising Kargil's first-ever international marathon. The objective of the marathon, the organisers say, is to show Kargil as a potential tourist destination with focus on sports and to commemorate India's war heroes.
The Kargil Marathon 2017 is expected to receive at least 2,000 participants, organisers claim.
"We have been thinking of organising something in Kargil from past ten years. Normally, people go to Srinagar or Leh even as Kargil has lots of beautiful sites and has a vast scope for sports tourism. Finally, we have been able to organise a marathon here," says Director of Sarhad, Sanjeev Shah, who has cycled across the country as well as in Kargil.
The marathon will be conducted in six categories, four of which will begin and end on July 16 namely 5 kilometers, 10 kilometers, 21 kilometers, and 41 kilometers. The other two, 60 kilometers and 120 kilometers, will be flagged off on July 15. The 120 kilometer stretch will cross Tiger Hill, the highest peak of Kargil — subjected to the infamous battle — Shah said adding that the marathon will be organised every year.
"On one side, we want them to see sports tourism and on another, we want them to understand the climate and place where our soldiers stand guard and take pride in it. There will be people who will participate in the Tiger Hill marathon and experience what our soldiers go through everyday, especially during the night in such climatic conditions," Arvind Bijwe, co-founder of RunBuddies, a co-organiser of the marathon, said at press conference held in the national capital.
Also present at the conference was Mohd Hamza, a resident of Kargil, who has been in the tourism industry for around two decades. He shared his experiences from the land that has seen soldiers fighting, surviving, and being martyred. He said that the localites live cordially amongst each other and also share a common wall between a mosque and a gurudwara.
"Since Kargil war, I have been thinking about the war heroes. While people living in the cities discuss them for a while and forget, we try to keep them in our memories. It is because of this effort that we organised a cricket tournament as a tribute to our war heroes in 2003. Three years later, the Indian Army showed interest in this event and from 10 teams, the tournament saw participation from 40-50 teams. This marathon is also a part of our focus to keep the memories of Kargil war heroes fresh in people's mind," Hamza said.
"Due to the fear in the mind of the people about the region, many people do not visit Kargil. This is also an effort to bring tourism and thus employment to the region," he added.
The marathon will be flagged off in the presence of Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and former army chief VP Malik on July 16. There will also be an event on July 15 to honour the veterans from various fields with Kargil Gaurav Award.
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