The streets of Naharlagun came alive on Saturday morning, and for once, it wasn’t the usual traffic. Around 300 runners — school kids, seasoned athletes and everyday fitness enthusiasts — laced up their shoes and hit the road for the Itanagar Marathon Promo Run, Naharlagun Edition, a taste of what promises to be one of the capital region’s biggest sporting events this year.
The 6-km run, held near Takar Complex, was organised by Foxtail Sports Foundation in collaboration with the Naharlagun Run Club. It’s a warm-up act, yes — but it didn’t feel like one. The energy was real.
Starting and finishing at Westside Naharlagun, the route wound through A Sector, past the Honda Dealer, down to Dam Site, along Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road and through G Extension. Three hundred people moving through those familiar stretches of the twin capital — it’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and look twice.
The run carried two categories: ‘open to all’ and ‘inter-school’, pulling in participants from across the Itanagar-Naharlagun-Doimukh corridor. That mix mattered. When school students are running shoulder to shoulder with adults on a Saturday morning, the message of the event goes further than any banner can.
And the message was clear. The theme — Run for Fit, Clean, Green and Drug-Free Itanagar — tied fitness and community wellness together in a way that didn’t feel like a slogan. Dr Marbom Basar, Director of Health Services and Project Director of the Arunachal Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (APSACS), addressed participants on the ground, speaking directly about HIV and AIDS awareness, prevention and responsible health practices, with a special focus on young people. It was a moment that grounded the event in something larger than personal fitness goals.
The run was helmed by Pei Ijum Gadi, Race Director of the Itanagar Marathon and CEO of Foxtail Sports Foundation, alongside Kampung Welly, Director of Foxtail Sports Foundation, and Biri Chachung, founder of Go Ease.
One of the more exciting moments for participants — the top 50 finishers walked away with free passes to the main Itanagar Marathon, scheduled for November 1. It’s a smart move. Give people a reason to show up, then give them a bigger reason to keep running. That kind of incentive tends to stick.
This promo run is part of a wider promotional series building up to the main event. The next stop is Nirjuli on October 11, where the same spirit — fitness, environmental consciousness and a drug-free community — will be carried forward into another corner of the capital region.
Between September 20, October 11 and November 1, there’s a clear line being drawn — not just on the race map, but across the community. The Itanagar Marathon isn’t just a race. It’s becoming a movement, one promo run at a time.
