Rashpal confident of retaining marathon crown

Rashpal Singh, of the Army Sports Institute, is confident of defending the men's title in the 7th Indiabulls Home Loans Vasai-Virar Mayor's Marathon to be held here tomorrow.
Rashpal had the full Marathon by leading from start to finish last year and has warmed up nicely by recording his personal best of 2:20.23 at the National Marathon in Delhi.
The 32-year-old Rashpal will face a threat from last year's runner-up Pankaj Dhaka of JSW and Karan Singh of BEG, Kirkee, Pune.
Dhaka, who is with the Territorial Army, has been training on his own and is determined to better upon his last year's finish.

Karan, a two-time winner of the Mumbai Marathon (2014 and 2015), is making a return to long distance running after a lay-off of almost two years due to injury, and believes he has fully recovered and in good condition to challenge for the title.
The other fancied names in the full marathon are Jabalpur Armyman Sanaton Singh, who has a personal best of 2:20.11, ASIs Bhram Prakash, who clocked 2:24.06 while winning the NSG Marathon in Delhi, Anu Sathyadas, winner of the Rourkee Marathon and G B Patle.

"I have been preparing well and am currently in peak form having won an even in Allahabad just 21 days back and that gives me more confidence. This time the competition will be much stiffer with Karan also running, but that would only help me to run faster which would certainly improve my timing," said Rashpal.

The 27-year-old Karan was pleased to return to competition after recovering from injury.
"After being out of running for a long time it feels good to get back. I have been working hard during training and I am determined to get back to winning ways. This is my first big race after injury and it would be nice if I can come out a winner," stated Karan, who clocked a time of 2:21 min in winning the 2015 Mumbai Marathon.
The men's half marathon will be spearheaded by Kalidas Hirave, who has a season's best timing of 1:03.27, clocked while winning the BSF Half Marathon in Delhi.

Also in the fray will be Pradeep Singh, who clocked 1:04.34 at ADHM 2017, Man Singh who clocked 1:04.39 at the IDBI HM and National camper Govind Singh, who clocked 1:05.49 at ADHM 2017, besides Chandrakant Manwadhkar and Savhin Patil of the Railways.
The women's half marathon will also have a strong field and should see stiff competition between Swati Gadhave and Monika Atahare, who clocked 1:15.21 and 11:15.36 at ADHM 2017.
The other strong contenders are Monika Raut, Meenakshi Patil and Manisha Salunkhe.
The winner of the Full Marathon for men will stand to gain Rs 2.50 lakh, while the male and female winners of the Half Marathon will take home Rs 1.25 lakh each.

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