Indian runners ready for new challenges at Delhi Half Marathon

TopIndianrunnersare bracingfornewchallengesinthe Sunday’s Delhi Half Marathon. Last year’s winner in the Indian section G Lakshmanan exuded confidence of retaining the trophy. Olympian Nitender Singh Rawat, on the other hand, felt it would be a good opportunity to evaluatehisperformancefollowing an injury lay-off.

“The weather has improved. Hopefullywewillgetafastrace,” he said after training on Saturday. After sustaining an injury during the marathon at the Rio Olympics, the Services runner has been on his own as he was shuntedoutofthenationalcamp.

“Agoodperformanceherewill certainly help me make the cut for next year’s Commonwealth Games,” Rawat said. “The past oneyearhasbeenverychallenging in terms of recovering from thehamstringinjuryandmanaging the kitchen in the barracks. Allthosemomentswillmotivate metorunfasteronSunday,”said the runner from Kumaon Regiment based in Ranikhet.

With top male distance runners including Rawat and Lakshmananoptimisticofbreaking the 1:04 hour time barrier for the 21.098 km distance, Indian fans should expect improved results. Besides army runners, Kalidas Hirave from Maharashtra will be among those to keep a close watch on. He had recently clocked 1:03.27 for the 21km.

Parul Chaudhary, one of the topfemaledistancerunnersmaking her marathon debut, is equallykeentomakeanimpression.“Havebeendoinggoodtiming in training,” said the runner who is currently based in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.

She will compete against seasoned runners like Sudha Singh and Swati Gadhave. Both have goodrecordsandareknownfaces on the national circuit.

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