That is what children around the world are aiming to do on Monday, the eve of the World Food Day, by running a marathon relay in order to draw the attention of the world leaders to take immediate steps to tackle child mortality, hunger and malnutrition. [break]
Around 200 Nepali children, aged 11 to 14, will also be a part of The Race for Survival -- the largest ever race organized for children worldwide -- which will be held in 40 countries, according to a press statement released by Save the Children on Friday.
The children, divided into five groups with each group having 35 of them, will run a relay at the Dasharath Stadium aiming to upstage the world record of 2:03:38 hours set by Makau.
The children will be accompanied by well known local athletes -- Baikuntha Manandhar, Jeet Bahadur KC, Deepak Maharjan, Jamuna Gurung and Manita Shahi -- in their endeavor to raise the awareness about the plight of the children, the organizers said during a press conference in the capital on Friday.
According to the organizers, each child will run 200 meters at a time and six laps in total to cover the 42 km distance while the celebrity athlete will run 195 meters to complete the 42.195 km marathon relay.
Running in a similar fashion last year, the children of Kenya had proved it was possible to beat the world record by setting their own record of 1 hour 51 minutes.
According to Save the Children, about 35,000 children die in Nepal before their fifth birthday due to preventable causes such as diarrhea and pneumonia. Save the Children is organizing this race because it believes that political commitment could help prevent the needless deaths of thousands of children.
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