Sachin felicitates winners of Spice Coast Marathon
Sleepy Willingdon Island area of Kochi woke up to an unusually exciting start. Over 5000 enthusiastic runners took to the streets to participate in the third edition of IDBI Federal Life Insurance Spice Coast Marathon on Sunday. Sachin Tendulkar was present at the event to flag off all the races and cheer the runners.
Favourites Sunil and Sangeeta Shetty ran the full and half marathons respectively. Joby Paul, Iron Man of Kerala, was also present to cheer the participants. EP Parmeshwar, 100-year-old ran eight km to become the oldest participant.
The Family run witnessed the highest participation with crowds chanting Sachin, Sachin’ as the legendary cricketer flagged off the final race of the day. Lt. Col. Sundaresan R finished his 49th run and with one last race he will accomplish his dream of running 50 marathons in 50 weeks.
The full marathon title was won by Rajesh Namboodiripad who completed the race in 3:15:28 sec. He faced tough competition from Mritunjay Kumar who finished the race in 3:15:58 while Rajesh Maheshwar was happy with a 3rd place podium finish by completing the race in 3:25:46 sec. In women’s full marathon category, Shailja Sridha won the race easily by finishing in 3:58:49 sec.
In the half marathon, Soji Mathew won the men's title by completing the marathon in 1:16:57 sec and Priya Gangadharan finished the run in1:39:07 sec in the women's category.
Sachin Tendulkar, Face of the Event, IDBI Federal Life Insurance Spice Coast Marathon said, “Kerala has always been special to me; my connection with this city goes beyond cricket. It's heart-warming to see such a huge turnout across age groups and race categories in this edition. This commitment towards health and fitness is exemplary. I am confident the city will continue to bat for good health and wellbeing in future as well and the participation will only keep increasing every year”.
Results:
Male (full marathon): Rajesh Namboodiripad (3:15:28), Mritunjay Kumar (3:15:58), R.Maheshwar (3:25:46)
Women (full marathon): Shailja Sridhar (3:58:49)
Male (half Marathon (21.1km): Soji Mathew (01:16;57), Nijin Ravichandran (01:23:59), Mahesh Shanmugan (01:27:22)
Women (half marathon): Gangadharan (01:39:07), Merina K (01:49:12), Asha NS (02:04:47)