India‘s youngest marathon runner Budhia Singh, from odisha, will join the event tomorrow which covers the entire ancient Kapilvastu kingdom and then head towards the world’s highest peak from Lumbini.
The race will start from Maya Devi Garden in Lumbini with the title ‘Buddha Peace Flame Torch March Run’ amid the presence of dignitaries and Buddhist monks from monasteries.
Budhia, 14, will carry the ‘Buddha Peace Flame Torch’ in tandem with Nepal’s national runner and Olympian Baikuntha Manandhar.
He will also run around the heritage sites of Swayambhunath and Boudhanath stupas. Then the team will split and head towards Mount Everest, leaving Budhia at Kathmandu.
The marathon runners team will illuminate the peace torch at the eternal ‘Buddha Peace Flame Site’ at Maya Devi Garden at Lumbini.
Nepal’s veteran marathon runner Baikuntha Manandhar will also join the run, which will be participated by some 200 people, including over 100 foreigners.
The main aim of the run is to promote pilgrimage and sports tourism in Nepal, Bikram Pandey, the concept designer of the run, said.
“The race also aims to spread the Buddha’s message of peace across the world and emotionally connect Kalinga and India, once ruled by emperor ashoka, and Kapilvastu, Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha,” Pandey said.
