New Delhi — The Great India Run 2022 concluded with a magnificent celebration at Nehru Park here on Monday.

The relay run, which covered a distance of 829 kilometres and travelled from Lal Chowk in Srinagar to New Delhi, was attended by over 500 fans and bystanders who cheered at the location draped with Indian flags. The atmosphere was patriotic, and no one in attendance without a Tricolor in their hands.

The culmination ceremony was attended by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, Members of Parliament Kartikeya Sharma (Rajya Sabha), Manoj Tiwari (Lok Sabha ) and a host of sporting luminaries including BCCI selection committee chairman Chetan Sharma, Paralympic games silver medalist and Padmashree awardee Dr. Deepa Malik, Asian marathon champion Dr. Sunita Godara, 2022 CWG bronze medalist Rohit Tokas, former Indian cricketer Saba Karim, veteran Indian shooter Samresh Jung, Dronacharya awardee Rajkumar Sharma amongst others.

“The Great India Run 2022 has been an historic event and created a record of sorts as never before any run of this magnitude was flagged-off from Lal Chowk, Kashmir. With all my heart, I congratulate the 11 bravehearts and ultra-runners led by Arun Bhardwaj to have undertaken this challenge and completed the gruelling 829km run from Kashmir to Delhi with the Tricolour in hand spreading the message of Unity and Integrity to their fellow country mates.  It is by no means a mean task to have run from Kashmir to Delhi and I appreciate their efforts and believe their efforts will leave a long lasting memory in the minds of the entire country and the vision of Ek Desh,Ek Samvidhan, Ek Jhanda, Har Ghar Tiranga will be very soon realised,” said Kartikeya Sharma.

“It is indeed a wonderful initiative and I would like to thank Kartikeya Ji and ITV Group for this wonderful initiative and I quite sure this will help a lot in not only promoting running as sport in the country but also spread a positive message of Unity and Integrity,” said Dr Jitendra Singh.

 “It is an honour to be part of this event. It is really great and to unfurl the national flag at the Lal Chowk is simply fabulous. I would request Kartikeya Ji to come up with more initiatives like this which keeps the country united,” said Manoj Tiwari.

The Great India Run, an iTV & iTV Foundation initiative, was organised to commemorate the 75th Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, and the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign. It saw 11 bravehearts run with the tricolour in their hands for 10 consecutive days promoting the message of unity and fraternity.