India Barefoot Half Marathondraws approximately 300 barefoot runnersThis past Sunday, approximately 300 runners near Bombay, India, took to the streets to run barefoot in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the Largest Barefoot Half Marathon.The event was organized by Anand Anantraman, founder of the Barefoot Runners of India Foundation (BRIF) who believes “barefoot running comes naturally to Indian runners.” Anantraman commented, “In USA if one or two persons run barefoot, he becomes a hero. But here, there are so many heroes, so we thought that we would organize this (barefoot) marathon and three hundred boys (participants) would show to the world that in our country many people can run barefoot.”Most of the participants in the marathon were the residents of Thane and students of Mumbai University; 25 of them were female.The winner in the female category, Shobha Patil, said, "In most of the marathons, we usually run with the shoes on, but for the first time here, we have done this half marathon barefoot. So, this race was equally good, though it was a little difficult to run barefoot, but we enjoyed it."This past September, 7,000 people in China took part in setting the Guinness World Record for the Largest Barefoot Walk/Walking-Barefoot-Together by walking barefoot for 1,000 meters. Only 1,141 were required to break the previous record, however.Infinitus (China) Company, Ltd., sponsored the event. The spokesperson, Harry Yeung, stated, “As far as traditional Chinese medical science is concerned, there are hundreds of acupuncture points on the sole of foot. Walking barefoot can stimulate the nerve system and endocrine system which helps with blood circulation. Guinness World Records is an international authoritative organization of great popularity, whose encouragement on surpassing and challenging oneself agrees with the brand attributes of Infinitus. Therefore, we hope that an event combining both parties would enable more people to pay attention to walking and health and better understand the good of walking for health while enjoying the fun of walking.”For more info on the walking event, please visit the Guinness site at:http://tinyurl.com/2dmqtt2.
