On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, a Class 5 student kicked off his 10-day marathon from Kanniyakumari to Chennai to spread awareness about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Tamil Nadu's Information Technology Minister T Mano Thangaraj flagged off the SDG Awareness Run 2021 for the Class 5 student, Sharvesh, near Gandhi Mandapam in Kanniyakumari on Saturday. The boy is a student of Sairam Matriculation Higher Secondary School at West Tambaram in Chennai.

Covering a distance of about 750 km, Sharvesh will reach Chennai in around 10 days. During his entire journey, he will be spreading awareness about the SDG of the United Nations at various points across the entire stretch.

The Minister said that the nine-year-old Sharvesh's achievements include 146 medals, 256 certificates, 62 prizes, including 16 cash prizes in running. The Minister also said that boy was the Indian record holder for 1 km Reverse Running, which he achieved at the age of five.

At the young age of six, Sharvesh had already run 486 km and has even participated in 56 marathon events in the past six years. Sharvesh will also carry about 2 lakh seed balls which he will throw around during the run, the Minister said.

Edited by Bidushi Das