{"id":104466,"date":"2025-07-27T19:16:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T13:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/?p=104466"},"modified":"2025-07-27T19:16:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T13:46:49","slug":"goan-runners-triumph-suraj-velip-and-swezial-dsouza-triumph-in-21-km-marathon-at-rotary-rain-run-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/?p=104466","title":{"rendered":"Goan Runners Triumph : Suraj Velip and Swezial D\u2019souza triumph in 21 km Marathon at Rotary Rain Run 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>20-plus para-athletes from Goa participated at the Rotary Rain Run\u2019s 11th edition.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>All proceeds generated by the Rotary Rain Run 2025 will fund education, women\u2019s health<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Goa Khabar :\u00a0 Suraj Velip (30) and Swezial D\u2019souza (22) emerged winners in the male and female categories, respectively, in the prestigious 21-km open event at the Rotary Rain Run 2025, whose 11th edition was held in Tiswadi on Sunday, in the midst of the ongoing monsoon season that saw the participation of over 2,400 runners from Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and various other states.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Vinayak Gaonkar was the first runner-up in the men\u2019s 21 km timed run category, while Hansine Benoit was the first runner-up in the women\u2019s event in the same category. Hari Velip and Line Shetty topped the male and female categories, respectively, in the Run\u2019s 10-km edition.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">2478 athletes, both professional and amateur, participated in the Rotary Rain Run 2025, annually organised in Goa by the Rotary Club of Porvorim and the Rotary Parivar, a collective of Rotary Club associations in the state, which was flagged off from the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) Athletics Stadium in Bambolim by\u00a0Colonel Arpit Yadav, Deputy Commandant 2 STC, Alok Kumar, Director General of Police (DGP), Goa, and Arun D Bhandare, District Governor, Rotary International District 3170, along with the Rotary Rain Run Chairman Avinash Singh Parmar, Coordinator Shephan Shaikh and Rotary Club President Harsh Thakkar for the 21 km and 10 km runs, respectively.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-104467\" src=\"https:\/\/goakhabar-com.preview.jikut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-1jpeg-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-1jpeg-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-1jpeg-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-1jpeg-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-1jpeg-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-1jpeg.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the 21 km timed run, winner Suraj Velip clocked a timing of 1 hr 25 minutes 08 seconds in the men\u2019s category, and Swezial D\u2019souza emerged victorious in the women\u2019s category, clocking 1 hr 49 minutes 27 seconds.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the 10 km timed run category, Hari Velip won the run in the men\u2019s category by clocking a timing of 36 minutes, 46 seconds and Line Shetty won in the women\u2019s category, with a timing of 1 hr 24 seconds.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Hundreds of amateur runners, which included scores of children, participated in the event\u2019s other non-timed runs, which included a five km dream run and a two km fun walk, which witnessed participation from senior citizens too. Around 20 para-athletes also participated in the two km fun walk, while one para-athlete Niranjan Jadhav also completed the 10 m run.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-104468\" src=\"https:\/\/goakhabar-com.preview.jikut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-2-6-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"471\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-2-6-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-2-6-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-2-6-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-2-6-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Image-2-6.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Swezial, a student of St. Xavier\u2019s College, Mapusa, who bagged the win in the women\u2019s 21 km timed run category, said: \u201cCrossing that finish line first was an incredible feeling. I\u2019ve trained hard for this and to see it all come together today means the world to me. This win is not just mine; it\u2019s for everyone who supported me along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Quepem\u2019s Suraj Velip, who won the men\u2019s 21 km timed run category, stated that he revels in the exhilaration of sheer running. \u201cI have been running since the time I was a kid. It felt easy when I started the run, but the return leg was challenging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In order to recreate a monsoon-like vibe, the runners passed through two strategically placed rain showers, one at All India Radio, Panaji and another at Dempo Nilaya, Taleigao, along the scenic, sea-fronted route from SAG Athletics Stadium to Miramar Circle and back.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For over a decade, the run has been supported by volunteers from the Indian Armed Forces, instrumental in providing logistical support, including offering volunteers assistance and managing the setup of crucial facilities, including hydration points, a breakfast counter and a medical room.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The warm-up routine for the 10 km and 21 km runs consisted of a yoga session, while participants in the two km and five km runs engaged in a lively Zumba session to get them ready ahead of the run.\u00a0Lavina Soares, a renowned Goan\u00a0singer,\u00a0performed live ahead of the event to entertain the runners and spectators, while\u00a0dances and other games were organised in the Kids Fun Zone, which was located at the SAG facility.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe dedication of every participant has been very inspiring. The support from the Indian Army, whose personnel served as volunteers during the race, has been invaluable. The revenue generated by the run is being donated towards the Prakash Cancer Aid Project, which supports free cancer detection services for women as well as promotes women\u2019s health and education,\u201d said Avinash Singh Parmar, chairman, Rotary Rain Run, Goa.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Rotary Rain Run is certified by the Association of International Marathon and Distance Races (AIMS), which collaborates with World Athletics to ensure that the road races are measured accurately and meet global standards.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Additionally, each participant in the Rotary Rain Run 2025 was given a medal, while the podium finishers of 10 and 21 km got trophies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>20-plus para-athletes from Goa participated at the Rotary Rain Run\u2019s 11th edition. All proceeds generated by the Rotary Rain Run 2025 will fund education, women\u2019s health Goa Khabar :\u00a0 Suraj Velip (30) and Swezial D\u2019souza (22) emerged winners in the male and female categories, respectively, in the prestigious 21-km open event at the Rotary Rain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25169,"featured_media":104469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155,6],"tags":[3794],"class_list":["post-104466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-155","category-6","tag-featured"],"read":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104470,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104466\/revisions\/104470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/104469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}