IANS/Thiruvananthapuram

‘Run Kerala Run’, the curtain raiser to the 35th National Games, ‘ran’ into history when every third Keralite took part in the race held all across the state yesterday morning.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was the chief guest of the event which started from the state secretariat.
Even Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Governor P Sathasivam found it difficult to rub shoulders with the cricket legend as thousands were in waiting to have a glimpse of the icon and to run alongside him.
At 10.30am, Sathasivam read out a pledge in English and then raised the flag signalling the start of the run.
Chandy and his cabinet colleagues turned up in track suits while Tendulkar stood out in a red T-shirt with sunglasses.
Due to security reasons and the huge crowd, eminent personalities, including Chandy and Tendulkar, found it impossible to run and instead walked 200m and then hopped into a car to reach the Central Stadium nearby.
Addressing the public meeting, Sports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said this was a world record - more than 10mn people took part in the run that took place in more than 10,000 locations across the state.
Chandy said with this, Kerala has written itself into the record books and this showed that nothing is impossible for the state to achieve.
“If Kerala stands united as we did in this event, there is nothing that Kerala cannot achieve. We should stand united in all our efforts,” Chandy said.
However, the biggest cheer was reserved for Tendulkar who is also the goodwill ambassador for the upcoming 35th National Games that begins here on January 31.