Go Heritage Runs are untimed, family-friendly, fun run-vacations organized at heritage destinations, offering a consistent, high quality experience. Scenic locations/routes, excellent design and community involvement are key ingredients of our runs. Through these runs, we promote awareness of the heritage sites and bring in direct economic benefits for locals through heritage tourism. Local arts, crafts and cultural heritage are incorporated deeply into our run-vacation experiences.

1. Go Heritage Runs – An Overview

2.  The Mumbai Marathon, first held in 2004,
triggered a distance running boom in India that
continues to this day. CAGR = 37%
 Over 1 million registered runners took part in
1199 events across distance categories in 2017.
Running Data Sources: Publicly available data from distance running events held across India between 2009 and 2017.
Image source: procamrunning.in.
Running in India is seeing exponential growth - 1 million+ runners in 2017
Run Vacations | Holistic experiences | Fun runs | Scenic routes

3. The running industry is growing globally too – Asia faster than NA &Europe
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With 20% of global marathon finishers, running in Asia is in the early stages of a long-term running culture - compared with North America and Europe
where the running industry has matured.

4.  Routes designed
around or through
cultural and natural
heritage sites
 Content shared to
spread awareness
about heritage sites
and run destination in
the lead-up to the run
 Aspects of art, crafts,
culture and heritage
weaved in
 Custom Finisher Medals
and T-shirts are great
souvenirs
 Emphasis on high
quality locally-
influenced design for all
run collateral – runner
bibs, certificates,
information books.
 Runs, not races
 Untimed, non-
competitive events
 Highly inclusive and
open to runners and
their families alike
 Fun run series – come to
4 runs and the fifth run
is free!
 A weekend of
exploration and travel –
Additional local
experiences in addition
to the run itself - Eg:
Dance performance,
heritage walks,
bouldering
 Typically planned in
under-appreciated
destinations to create a
positive impact on local
tourism economy.
Go Heritage Runs is a great way for tourists to actively explore heritage
Run Vacations | Holistic experiences | Fun runs | Scenic routes

5. We are a run series and many travelers come back again and again!
 All runners receive a run
passport – and a “passport
stamp” at each run
destination.
 Come to four runs and the
fifth run is free!
 Some of our most loyal
runners have been to 10 run
destinations in one calendar
year!
Run Vacations | Holistic experiences | Fun runs | Scenic routes

6. We incorporate a destination’s arts & crafts into our design & run collateral.
Run Vacations | Holistic experiences | Fun runs | Scenic routes
 Including local arts, culture and crafts is a great way to
create a customized, local experience.
 Incorporating these into runner finisher medals and t-
shirts is an excellent, highly visible way to achieve this.
 We have experience identifying and executing these
customizations.
FINISHER MEDALS FROM OUR PREVIOUS EVENTS:
HAMPI - Impression of Narasimha on Terracotta
BIDAR - Bidri craft on metal alloy with silver in one line -
made by a National Award-winning Bidri artisan.
WARANGAL - Cheriyal painting on plywood – a dying craft
OOTY - Toda embroidery on recycled magazine paper base
HALEBIDU - Inspired by the soapstone temples and outlines
the Hoysala temple’s star-shaped layout-achieved by a grid
of rotating squares.
UDAIPUR - Miniature painting installed in a light hardwood
frame

7. BADAMI, KA – 2015, 2016, 2017
Runners ran along a rocky trail amidst cave
temples and a fort in this 6th century North
Karnataka town.
HAMPI ,KA – 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Runners ran along a trail passing ruins of 1st
cent. and 14th cent. monuments (UNESCO
WHS), streams and banana plantations.
WARANGAL,TG - 2015, 2016
Runners ran past 14th cent. temples and
forts in a town that was once the seat of the
Kakatiya empire.
OOTY, TN – 2015, 2016, 2017
Runners ran along a trail within a historic
boarding school, and then up to a UNESCO
WHS – the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.
BIDAR, KA – 2014, 2015, 2017
Runners ran past a 500 year old fort, a Sikh
shrine, and monuments dating back to the
Mughal & Bahmani periods.
SRIRANGAPATNA, KA – 2017
Runners ran through this river island town
steeped in religious, cultural and historic
significance.
KHAJURAHO, MP – 2017
Runners ran past world famous temples –
and stayed on for the Khaujuraho Dance
Festival.
ORCHHA, MP - 2017
Runners ran past 14th cent. temples and
forts in a town that was once the seat of the
Kakatiya empire.
HYDERABAD, TG – 2015, 2016, 2017
Runners ran along a trail within a historic
boarding school, and then up to a UNESCO
WHS – the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.
COORG, KA – 2016,2017
Runners ran along a rocky trail amidst cave
temples and a fort in this 6th century North
Karnataka town.
HALEBIDU, KA – 2017
Runners ran along a rocky trail amidst cave
temples and a fort in this 6th century North
Karnataka town.
UDAIPUR, RJ – 2015
Runners ran along a rocky trail amidst cave
temples and a fort in this 6th century North
Karnataka town.
Our experience – 25 runs across India with 12000+ runners

8. About Manthan Awards: The Manthan Award is given by
the Digital Empowerment Foundation to discover, recognize
and honour the best use of ICT and digital tools for
developmental purposes. The Award was launched on 10th
October 2004 in partnership with World Summit Award,
Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India, and
various other stakeholders engaged in promoting digital
inclusiveness for development in the whole of South Asia &
the Asia Pacific region.
2015: Received the Manthan e-Culture, Heritage and Tourism Award
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9. 2016: CN Traveler rated our runs as among the most scenic in India
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10. 2017: Began working with Tourism Depts. to promote run tourism.
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 Runs conducted across 6 destinations including
World Heritage Sites and Tentative World Heritage
Sites.
 Over 2000+ tourists traveled from the metros and
nearby large cities thus providing stimulus to the
local tourism economy.
 Direct benefit to local artisans (who make finisher
medals – Lambani handicraft, Bidri craftwork, etc)
 Hampi, Halebidu, Srirangapatna, Badami, Bidar,
Coorg.
 Pilot Runs conducted across 2 destinations
including World Heritage Sites.
 Runs planned at 10 destinations including four
tiger reserves and national parks (Go Heritage Run
- Green)
 Over 2000+ tourists and local participants for the
runs at Khajuraho and Orchha.

11. Seeing is Believing - Run Videos
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Hampi Hyderabad
BadamiKhajuraho

12. Every reputable national, regional newspaper in India has written about us

13. But most importantly, the running community loves us!
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14. But we are not just a business, we are a business that does good
 PROMOTE HERITAGE DESTINATIONS: GHR draw
attention to under-appreciated sites, currently in
Karnataka, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh.
 NEW AUDIENCES: Our runs attract newer audiences to
appreciate heritage and experience it through travel.
 TOURISM IMPACT: Our runs are known to fill hotels with
high spending tourists, avg. spending – INR 4000-6000
per day. With run-vacations, we enable longer stays
directly increasing spending.
 ARTS & CRAFTS: By using local arts and crafts in our
designs, even medals, we promote and directly
contribute to their preservation.
 GLOBAL MARKET ACCESS – With our online store, local
arts and crafts are now provided access to global
markets.
Directly
 We fund all of GoUNESCO’s global programs which
promote heritage and provide engagement platforms for
laypersons
 GLOBAL INTERNSHIPS – Students from 40+ countries in
2/4/6 month online internships. Research, writing and
engagement.
 ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS – Volunteer driven, centrally
driven global events held every quarter, in 110+ cities
across the world till now.
 HERITAGE PROMOTION – High quality articles produced
and published on gounesco.com covering all things
heritage from across the world.
 GoUNESCO provides our runs an “unfair advantage” by
easing permissions and government support which are
critical for public events. It also lends us unimpeachable
credibility and validation.
 Supported by UNESCO New Delhi
Via GoUNESCO
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15. … And have been commended for our work across the world!
Run Vacations | Holistic experiences | Fun runs | Scenic routes
“At the outset, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for your GoUNESCO initiative. The idea to
incite people’s dialogue on heritage through a participatory on-line game is truly creative and I would like
to congratulate you upon your ingenuity to apply your IT skills for heritage awareness raising, as much as
your dedication to support the UNESCO cause. “
Shigeru Aoyagi
Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, Maldives, India and Sri Lanka
UNESCO-Welterbestätten besuchen und die Eindrücke über soziale Medien teilen – mit dieser Idee möchte die
Initiative "GoUNESCO" das Welterbe für junge Menschen attraktiv machen. Internationale Studierende des
Masterstudiengangs "World Heritage Studies" an der BTU Cottbus unterstützen eine Internetplattform, auf der
Reiselustige ihre Besuche von Welterbestätten dokumentieren und sich online Reiseherausforderungen stellen
können.
Source: GoUNESCO – Reisen zu Welterbestätten
The German National
Commission for UNESCO
commends the GoUNESCO
Travel Challenges in April 2014
The UNESCO New Delhi Office
commends GoUNESCO in
March 2014.
We became a partner of The
EU Heritage Tour – a project
co-financed by The European
Union in 2014.
See also: EU Heritage Tour