All-Women Squad of Pacers will lead the 10K at Tata Steel Kolkata 25K, Defence Forces take up the role of Pacers for the 25K

HNExpress Staff Reporter : The eighth edition of the 2023 Tata Steel Kolkata 25K scheduled to take place on Sunday, December 17th, 2023, is gearing up to enthral the city of joy – #AamarKolkataAamarRun. As the amateurs prepare to put their best foot forward on race day, a 14-member all-women pacer team in the 10K race and a 15-member Defence Forcers pacer team for 25K will lead the participants to ensure they have clocked their personal best.

A pace-setter is a runner who is a veteran of many races and understands the art of pace-setting. In a selfless act, a pacer is a committed runner who can set a steady pace throughout the distance and who leads a group of runners from the start to the finish at the predetermined time.
The Pacer will guide the runner to bring in the runners aspiring to finish as per their Bus Time. The margin is a Minute less or more. eg the Pacer on the 02Hr:00Min bus will finish the race between 01:59 & 02:01.
The 14-member women’s team for 10K, include runners from New Delhi, Lucknow and Kolkata. These women are homemakers, professionals, and working athletes who have decided to sacrifice their timings for the benefit of others.
Sharing her thoughts on pacing for the second time, Rupa Das, a 43-year-old marketing and public relations professional, said “I am excited to be a part of this prestigious race. To be able to run past some of the great Kolkata landmarks will be extremely special and moment of pride for me”. Tata Steel Kolkata 25K has always garnered support from the Defense Forces. To reinforce this association, for the last few editions, the 25K amateur runners have been led by various officers from the Forces. Among the 15-member Defence Forcers team, 13 of them are from the Indian Army while two are from the Indian Air Force.

Vivek Singh, Jt MD Procam International, said, “It is humbling to see the response for the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K with citizens gearing up for the run with unmatched enthusiasm. We have always aimed to be an inclusive event and encourage women’s participation. Today, it is a matter of pride for us to have a fast category like the 10K to be paced by an all-women’s team. Our sincere gratitude to the Defence Forces for taking on the mantle of leading our 25K runners. This will surely add more light to the race. Our best wishes to all the participants for a successful race.

Women 10K Pacers (10km)
Vibha Kejriwal, Sunmbul Rahman, Jhilum Sarkar, Khusbu Agrawal, Rupa Das, Piyali Shaw, Hiya Chatterjee, Puja Jhunjhunwala, Sania Khan and Vidhi Agrawal are the pacers from Kolkata while Neelam Rawat and Anouska Singh Rawat are from New Delhi and Meenal Dwivedi Tripathi, Maj Neelu Khanna ( retd) from Lucknow.

Defence Forces Pacers (25km)
Yogesh Gera (Major, Indian Army), Vijay Bhaskar (Colonel, Indian Army), Saikat Chaudhuri (Group Captain, Indian Air Force), Sachin Singh Kuntal (Major, Indian Army), Kinshuk Kohli (Col, Indian Army), Ashok Kumar (Colonel, Indian Army), Girish Visweswaran (Colonel, Retired Indian Army), Sandy M (Col, Indian Army), Kapil Tuli (Lt Colonel, Indian Army), Inderjit Singh (Lt Col, Indian Army), Manoj Kumar (Col, Indian Army), Hareesh Chandra Kumar (Capt Retd, Indian Army), Vikram Chhibber (Wing Commander, Indian Army), Munish Bhagi (Col, Indian Air Force), Ritesh Singh (Havaldar, Indian Army) are the pacers from the Defence Forces team.
The Tata Steel Kolkata 25K will be telecast live on Sony TEN 1 HD and Sony TEN 1 SD, on December 17 from 6:00 am onwards.