SBI Pinkathon in Hyderabad on March 15

HYDERABAD: SBI Pinkathon, a women's only running event with an objective to encourage ladies' health and fitness and also aimed to raise breast cancer awareness, will be held here on March 15.

Noted model and Pinkathon founder Milind Soman, in association with United Sisters Foundation and Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation, today formally announced the launch of the run in Hyderabad.

"This event we need a lot of people to talk about it. We started Pinkathon in Mumbai in 2012 and then saw the response of women. Everybody was excited, it's a great platform to talk about women's health," Milind told reporters.

"When we talk about women's health we are talking about changing the mindset of the country. Women should take up time for themselves, they should exercise, should not neglect their health. This is the whole focus behind Pinkathon," he said.

"Within that we talk about awareness regarding breast cancer which is one of the biggest killers today in the world. But, it's not necessary that women should die of breast cancer because it is one of the curable cancers, if detected in early stages," he said.

"We appeal everybody to be aware of how their body functions, that even if one does get the disease, it can be diagnosed and one can go for treatment and get cured. After cancer (treatment) one can regain one's life. Men should encourage women to participate in this event," Milind said.

"It is more than a marathon. The focus of Pinkathon event is to encourage an active lifestyle and overall fitness among women, create awareness about breast cancer and encourage women into distance running," he said.

So far, over 50,000 women have participated in SBI Pinkathons held across the country in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad in 2014.

The event offers the running distances of 3 km, 5 km and 10 km, giving each runner an opportunity to run in their comfort zone.