Top Indian marathoners, including Olympians Thanackal Gopi and Kheta Ram, will take part in the second edition of New Delhi Marathon on February 26.
The race will be flagged off from Jawaharlal Stadium by cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar. Sports Minister Vijay Goel will also be present.
Ethiopian long distance running legend Haile Gebrselassie will grace the marathon race to cheer on and encourage the participants.
Athletics Federation of India has granted the race the status of National Marathon which will continue for the next few years. IDBI Federal Life Insurance is the sponsor of the race.
Olympian Gopi will be eyeing the full marathon title this year. At Rio Olympics, Gopi registered his personal best timing of 2:15:25s, while Kheta Ram was just a second behind his compatriot, clocking 2:15:26s to complete the race. They had finished at 25th and 26th positions respectively at Rio.
An experienced runner, Gopi will be looking to better his time in Delhi this year and take home the title.
Setting the pace in the Half Marathon category will be Olympian Kheta Ram who won a full marathon in Mumbai last month by completing the race in 2:19:51.
Also competing for the title will be G Lakshmanan, who won the Half Marathon title in Mumbai last month, completing the race in 1:05:05. Man Singh and Mohd. Yunus will also be looking to better their timings and give their best in this edition of the race.
Among the women's elite will be represented by Jyothi Gawate with a timing of 2:50:37 for full marathon and Monika Athare with a timing of 1:15:38 for half marathon.
With 1000 participants registered for the full marathon, 6,000 for the half marathon, 2000 for the 10K and 4000 for the 5K run, the event will witness more than 13000 participants at the start-line.
The prize money for the event is Rs 27 lakhs spread across various categories.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
