Army runner Pal to defend title at Vasai Virar Marathon

Defending champion Neeraj Pal of the Army Sports Institute is set to retain his title in men's full marathon at the 5th Vasai Virar Mayor's Marathon tomorrow.
With the pull-out of Elam Singh, a former steeplechase national champion and runner-up among Indians in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon three years ago by clocking 2:18:27, the Hyderabad-based Neeraj Pal has emerged as the top contender for his second successive title in this event.
Elam Singh has skipped the race as he's at the national cross country camp, it was learnt, and in his absence Neeraj, who produced a strong, disciplined effort last year to complete the race in first place in 2:22.38, is the favourite.

But he can expect a tough contest from last year's runner-up and teammate Prahlad Sahai Meena who has a personal best time of 2:21.29 set at the Kolkatta full marathon last year, and Girish Chandra Tiwari (Air Force) who had finished in third place in 2014.
Army youngster Kheta Ram, who finished second in the half marathon last year and will be making his maiden venture in the full marathon, is also expected to give the top trio a run for the money. He has shown plenty of promise in the shorter half marathons with a personal best time of 1:04.49.

A B Balliappa AB (personal best time - 1:06.23) is one of the favourites to claim the top honours in the men's half marathon. He had finished in 4th place in the Mumbai Marathon.

Amrutraj Chavan, Shahendra Singh and Man Singh are the others who could stake a claim to win the title.
In the women's half marathon, Kiranjeet Kaur of Punjab and BSF; Monika Raut and Rohin Raut, both from Maharashtra, and Kiran Sahadev of Meerut, UP are the main contenders.
The winner of the full marathon for men will get Rs 2.50 lakh, an increase of Rs 50,000 over last year, while the male and female winners of the half marathon will take home Rs 1.25 lakh each, an increase of Rs 25,000 over last year.

There is an increase in the prize money for amateur runners as well across age groups.