The Inaugural chapter of the IDBI Federal life Insurance New Delhi Marathon saw Santosh Kumar and Rohini Raut win the men’s and women’s titles respectively as more than seven thousand running enthusiasts including the eighty odd elite athletes throng the Jawahar lal Nehru Stadium in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
Santosh clocked 2:20:51 to win the men’s marathon while Sanjith luwang of Army Sport Institute, Pune, was second in 2:21:05. Another elite runner, Rahul Pal, took the third spot in 2.21.46.
“I felt good as this was my first marathon since 2010 as I was suffering from pain. With only one chance remaining to qualify for the Olympics, I would like to participate in the london marathon to be held in April,” said Santosh of Western Railways.
Notably, the IDBI Federal life Insurance New Delhi Marathon was conferred with an AIMS certification, helping it to attain qualification status for major marathons like Tokyo, Boston and Berlin. The event has also been granted the status of National Championships by the Athletics Federation of India.
In women’s marathon, the Raut twin sisters took the first two positions with Rohini clocking 2:50:45 whereas Monika bagging the silver at 2:55:48. Jyoti Gawte of the Army Sports Institute of Pune won the bronze. “Did not perform up to the mark since I was expecting a performance of under 2 hour 40 minutes. Given a chance in a month time, I shall be able to achieve my target,” Rohini Raut said.
Meanwhile, Rakesh Kumar won the men’s half marathon with a time of 1:08:22 while Satyendra Singh (1:08:26) and Pradeep Singh (1:08:32) took second and third positions respectively.
In women’s half marathon, Kiran Sahadev won the gold in 1:19:54 while Manju Yadav (1:21:38) and Monika Chaudhry (1:22:12) bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
From corporate life, to running
After spending 11 years in a plush corporate job, Kavin Kondabathini from Mumbai got hooked to the sport of running six years back and since then has made it a mainstay. He uses both in a way to earn his living as well as mentoring people who are looking for guidance.
Kavin, who transitioned to a full time runner is now the head coach of The Reebok running squad based out of Mumbai.
Speaking after participating in the first ever Full Delhi Marathon, Kavin said: “The race was a success in my eyes and the thing that stood out most for me was the pleasant weather.
Had this been in Mumbai, things would have been very difficult as the humidity gets to you.
Now an Ultra Marathon Runner, the Mumbaikar won two Bronze medals at the World Masters Athletics meet in Turin (Italy) in 2013.
Meanwhile, Sunil Shetty (53) and his wife Sangeeta (49) know how it feels to be in the record books. The couple edged their name in the limca Book of Records when in November 2014 they became the first Indian couple to continuously run for twenty four hours.
Sunil, who is a self employed learning and development consultant, considers running to be his soul. Running in Delhi, Sunil quipped about the fact that except for a good running track, the weather helped and the facilities were second to none.
“We have spent our last three Sundays running and though we are yearning for a break, we would make it four on the trot, next week.”
“Everyone is running for something, be it money, principle, fame and the like. You stop running in life, and that’s the end of it. I decided that after I retire I will run to excel,” said Kulbir Singh Malhotra who ran his second half marathon on Sunday.
With the honors of participating in last year’s Sydney marathon to his name, Singh has also served as an official of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India.