LAHORE, Jan 29: The second Lahore Marathon was held peacefully amid tight security here on Sunday as Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi announced making it a permanent event.

Religious parties, especially the MMA, had threatened to disrupt the mixed run, terming it un-Islamic. However, nearly 12,00 law-enforcement personnel effectively countered the threat by rounding up a large number people a couple of days before the event.

While the chief minister termed it a success, MMA called it a failure as “only a few women attended it due to their campaign”.

Organizers claimed that over 22,000 participants, including special children and disabled people on wheelchairs, competed in the three categories of the event — 42km, 10km and 5km fun race. But independent analysis suggested that the number was less than 10,000.

Over 1,000, including 33 foreigners, 19 men and 14 women, took part in the 42km event, which was dominated by Ethiopian runners.

The 10km race, competed by nearly 2,500 runners, was also dominated by Ethiopians.

Local people took part in the 5km fun race, which was a disorganized event.