Top Indians to run at NDM
The second edition of the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon will see a stellar line-up of top Indian athletes this Sunday including Olympian Gopi T. and Kheta Ram. The race flags off from Jawaharlal Stadium.
Ethiopian long-distance track and road running legend, Haile Gebrselassie, will be present to cheer on and encourage participants.
Gopi will be eyeing the full marathon title this year. At the Rio Olympics, he registered a personal best timing of 2:15:25s, while Kheta Ram was just a second behind him, clocking 2:15:26s. They finished 25th and 26th respectively, at Rio. At the International Half Marathon at Baghdad, Gopi clocked 1:04:55 to finish fifth. The experienced runner will be looking to better his time in Delhi this year and take home the title.
Setting the pace in the half marathon is Olympian Kheta Ram who won a full marathon in Mumbai last month in 2:19:51.
Also in the fray is G. Lakshmanan, who won the half marathon in Mumbai last month, completing the race in 1:05:05. Man Singh and M.D. Yunush will also be looking to better their timings here.
Jyothi Gawate represents the elite women with a timing of 2:50:37 for the full marathon and Monika Athare has a 1:15:38 for the half marathon.
With 1,000 participants registered for the full run; 6,000 for the 21-km section and 10,000 and 4,000 for the 5,000m run, the marathon will witness more than 13,000 participants at the start line.
The prize money up for grabs is `27 lakh spread across various categories. Sachin Tendulkar will flag off the race.