It is common to spot joggers and cyclists at the Besant Nagar beach, but on Sunday, visitors to the beach witnesses something unusual — a bunch of blindfolded people, holding the hands of their walkathon partners who were guiding them along on their walk.

“See From The Heart, a blindfold run, had been organised in eight cities across India to encourage and motivate 20-year-old V Divya from Chennai, who will be India’s first visually impaired girl to run ‘The Spirit of Pinkathon Run’ from Puducherry to Chennai along with Pinkathon mentor Milind Soman to spread the message of health and fitness for all women,” said Radhika Gupta, Pinkathon ambassador.
More than 400 participants across Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kolkata and Chennai took part in their respective cities to support this initiative. The participants ran/walked 3km in pairs, out of which one of the partners was blindfolded for one loop and the other for the next loop.

Sprinter Divya, who recently cleared her plus-two exams, never knew that some day she will get support from thousands of people from across cities. “Running has always been a part of my life, and I love the feeling that comes along with it,” says the 100-metre sprinter Divya, who is all excited to join Queen Mary’s College to pursue BA Literature.
Divya, who hails from Chengalpet, was born with vision in only one eye. Her father is a farmer, and her mother is a domestic help. She says her goal is to get a degree in BA Literature and then pursue B.Ed as she wants to become a teacher. The event aims to raise funds for Divya’s B.Ed Degree and eye correction surgery.

Anitha R, Divya’s personal trainer, who has been training her for the last two months, says, “Though her body muscles are not fit for the marathon, she never says she is tired. We are giving her endurance training throughout the week. We are practising running for five days and doing strength training for two days. Our major concentration is on her diet because she is very weak. It is challenging to train the differently abled because we always need a person to accompany them who can be their proper guide. They need to be familiar with the route. Also, our roads are not so even and safe to just walk blindfolded.”

Anitha Srinath, who has been working with visually impaired college students for the past 28-years in the city, identified Divya for this marathon. She heads a reading centre for the visually impaired in T Nagar. “We identify the interest of the students and try to support them. I found that Divya is very excited about sports, specially running. It will be incredible to see her completing this run,” she says.

The Spirit of Pinkathon Run from Puducherry to Chennai is being held as a part of Pinkathon hosted by the United Sisters Foundation in association with The Times of India in Chennai, from August 2-4. The main run will happen on August 5 from Island Grounds. To register log on to www.pinkathon.in