Bhubaneswar: Virtual race to collect 4 million pound for Jagannath temple in United kingdom

BHUBANESWAR: London dreams took many Odias to the UK to explore careers but could not uproot them from their roots. As a result, they took an unique initiative of bringing spirituality and fitness together to gather funds to establish a grand Jagannath temple in the UK capital at an estimated cost of 4 million pounds.
With the help of their “London to Puri”, a virtual relay challenge, launched on Pana Sankranti in April 2021, members of the Shree Jagannath Society, UK, (SJSUK), have collected 3,885 pounds.
Altogether eight teams comprising 82 members from UK, USA, Ireland, Netherlands, Egypt and India participated in the six-month challenge, covering 6,615 miles each by running, walking or cycling as per their convenience. The mileage was tracked by Strava app and the total distance covered by the participants calculated.
Two teams completed their challenge on November 20, 2021. Santosh Pattanayak, head of SJSUK’s health & wellness wing, ran his last 10km from Maa Bata Mangala Temple to Singha Dwara, Jagannath Temple in Puri accompanied by Krishnapal Singh from Bhubaneswar.
While three teams completed the challenge by walking in March this year, one achieved the goal next month by running. Jointly they covered nearly 40,000 miles. “We collated the mileage per person per team every week and published the data in our Whatsapp group. It was a unique initiative to collect funds. All fitness enthusiasts of the Society participated in the challenge,” said Rasmi Nanda, an engineer and the brain behind the challenge.
For many participants, the marathons boosted their fitness. “Joining the virtual relay improved my fitness level. Recently, I joined the virtual London Marathon 2022,” said Kaushalya Padhi, who sprinted and walked for 10 hours per week to complete the challenge.
Ahmedabad resident Sushil Nahak said: “The challenge improved my health condition. My triglyceride level and blood sugar reduced and became almost normal with medication.”