KOCHI:
The second edition of the GTECH Marathon will be held in Kochi on February 11 next year, with college students, government employees (including defence personnel) and corporate executives running together to generate public awareness about drug abuse in Kerala.
Group of Technology Companies (GTECH), which is the industry body of IT companies in the state, expects 4,000 participants at the 2024 race, making it the most high-profile marathons in Kerala. By complementing the state government’s ‘Drugs Free Kerala’ campaign, the organisers seek to send a strong message against the increasing use of narcotics among the youngsters, especially boys and girls.
GTECH Chairman V.K. Mathews said the marathon mark’s the 2001-founded organisation’s commitment to take up emerging social issues that confront the state. “This is a coming together of more than one lakh IT professionals of Kerala for a common cause. ‘Say no to Drugs’ is the theme of the Kochi edition of GTECH Marathon, as it was in the first edition at Thiruvananthapuram last year,” added Mathews, who is Founder Chairman of IBS Software Services.
Ahead of the event, GTECH will roll out a series of people-centric awareness campaigns in select educational institutions and all the IT parks of the state. “The aim is to sensitize the youth the need to make Kerala narcotic-free,” he added.
The 2023 (debut) edition of GTECH Marathon at Thiruvananthapuram on March 19 saw the participation of over 3,000 people, cutting across age, gender and professional barriers. Held in three categories of (21 km, 10 km and 3 km), the run saw nearly 1,000 women and 100 children besides people as aged as in their eighties.
GTECH has over 300 IT companies as members, 80 per cent of whom are employees in Kerala. It comprises all major companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, IBS Software, Tata Elxsi, Quest, Allianz, UST and EY, alongside medium and small companies across Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, Infopark in Kochi and Cyberpark in Kozhikode.
