The fun atmosphere at the 14th Happy 98.9 FM/Lakeside Marina Park was a charged one, as runners from across the country celebrated Ghana’s 67th Independence Day with a communal spirit.
The Happy FM/Lakeside Marina Park Run/Walk, is an annual 6KM and 10KM run organised by two brands to celebrate Ghana’s Independence Day, promote family unity and bonding, and most importantly raise funds to support the Mercy Social Centre.
The run, dubbed run for charity sees a quarter of all proceeds being donated to the Mercy Social Centre to support the welfare of children under their care.
The run covered distances of 6km and 10km along mapped out routes within the Lakeside Estates-Ashaley Botwe in the Adentan Municipality.
The event which counted as more than just a race, served as a joyful gathering for families to bond and for new relationships to be formed as well.
Prior to the participants taking off, a warm-up session with upbeat music and instructions from Emmagee Fitness improved blood circulation in runners, to prepare them for the task ahead.
With impressive security and guides along pre-mapped out routes, runners covered the distances smoothly, enjoying regular hydration from water stations along the route.
Within a space of 22 minutes 41 seconds, Nana Kwaku Akwankye with running number AC397 finished the race, emerging the Fastest Man of the day. Rosemary Boakyewaa with a time of 27 minutes 24 seconds was named Fastest Woman of the day.
In the juvenile category, Shik Abubakar won the Fastest Male child category, finishing the race in 25 minutes 30 seconds, while Humul Kassumi Abdallah with a time of 50 minutes 35 seconds won the Fastest Female child category.
The Mercy Social Center school teams, beat all the other participating schools to retain their title as the Fastest School Team in both the junior and senior categories.
The ultimate prize of the day, Fastest Family category, was won by Sobo family, who averaged a time of 33 minutes and a second, an impressive time for a family team.
What caught the attention of most runners were William Steel (81 years) and Adjoa Steel (80 years), the oldest couple in the run.
Presenting the ultimate prize to the family, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Media Alliance Group, Ernest Boateng highlighted the significance of the run.
“Our society in recent times has become so fast paced and demanding that families do not get to spend adequate time together weakening existing bonds in the process. It is however critical for families to keep these bonds strong and one way of ensuring that is through the engagement in events such as these. For me, relationships are very significant and I applaud all families here today,” he said.
He expressed appreciation to individual runners, teams and all who supported in ensuring the event’s success, urging increased participation in subsequent runs.
Director of Lakeside Estates, Salah Kwaku Kalmoni, speaking at the side-lines of the event reiterated the charitable element of the run.
“A quarter of all proceeds generated from the run today will be used to support children at the Mercy Social Centre. This is our way of giving back to the society in which we operate in and we thank all participants for contributing to making this happen,” he said.
He called on philanthropists and individuals to adopt the Mercy Social Centre, and regularly support the Center in any way they can.
Award winners from the run picked up amazing prizes from sponsors: Blueskies, Japan Motors, Lakeside Estate, Silver Star Auto, Silver Bird Cinemas and Everpak Ghana Ltd.
The rest are Zen fusion, Silver Star Tower Ltd, Oman Fofor, Verna / Twellium, McVities, Melcom Ghana Ltd. And Cocoa Processing Company and
Dosh Insurance who gave the top five winners the DOSH Combo, an insurance package at a sum assured of GHc 19,500.
