By Rohit Mitra
New Delhi, Feb 22 (.) It was a festival of running in the national capital as 30,000 participants, including 15,000 half-marathoners and 7,000 full marathoners, took part in the 11th edition of the Cognizant New Delhi Marathon on Sunday morning.
Olympic medallist Vijender Singh and tennis star Rohan Bopanna flagged off key races in the morning at the JLN Stadium, and later also bestowed the glittering trophies and prize money to the winners.
The event included a total of four races- Full Marathon (42 km), Half marathon (21 km), 10 km race and a 5 km race.
The New Delhi Marathon is an AFI certified National Marathon which offered an opportunity for Asian Games qualification for the runners.
Dr Kartik Karkera emerged as the winner in the Men’s category in the Full Marathon, clocking a timing of 2 hours 13 minutes and 10 seconds; in doing so he has also qualified for the upcoming Asian Games in Japan.
The men’s race was closely contested, as the Nashik resident narrowly beat Armymen Gopi Thonakal (2 hours 13 minutes and 12 seconds) and Man Singh (2 hours 13 minutes and 15 seconds) by a few seconds.
Gopi Thonakal and Man Singh have also qualified for the Asian Games.
The Women’s event (Full Marathon) was won by Thakor Nirmaben, who clocked 2 hours 41 minutes and 15 seconds. Bhagirathi Bisht (2 hours 43 minutes and 28 seconds) and Ashwini Jadhav (2 hours, 56 minutes and 59 seconds) won second and third positions respectively.
For Men a timing of under 2 hours 15 minutes and 4 seconds was required to qualify for the Asian Games, while for women 2 hours 31 minutes and 59 seconds was required to qualify, with none of the women making the mark.
Speaking to ., Dr Karkera said that besides the Asiad qualification he was also targeting breaking the national record. “My target was to finish in the top two. I was also aiming for national record timing. I was on course to do so till 35 kilometres, but after that I slowed down a little bit. It was a very fast finish; as you can see the gap between the first, second and third was very little, a matter of seconds. The competition was really tough. I guess, all three of us are capable of winning medals for India.”
The national record for Full Marathon stands at 2 hours 12 minutes, which was set in 1978 by the late Shivnath Singh. The Asian Games qualifying standard is 2 hours 15 minutes and 4 seconds, set by the Athletics Federation of India.
Thakor Nirmaben, who had won silver on the previous two occasions, this time achieved pole position in the Elite Women’s category. The Nashik-based runner took 2 hours, 41 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the race.
Nirmaben told . that she had trained extra hard this time to ensure a gold medal.
“The route is flat and comfortable and the weather is fine. This is why we can track a good timing here. I am happy with my performance as I bettered my best today. This time I trained harder as I raised my weekly and daily mileage during practice. I feel that in one-and-a-half to two years, I will reach the Asian Games qualification timing.”
Both Dr Karkera and Nirmaben train under retired veteran Sports Authority of India (SAI) Coach Vijendra Singh. An overjoyed Singh said that it is his good fortune to have such sincere and hardworking wards.
Speaking about Nirmaben, Singh told . that she is a rhythmic runner who will get even better in the future.
“Nirmaben comes from a poor financial background. There was a time when she had to train by borrowing money on interest. She has been with me since 2021. She has an amazing level of commitment. She has never gone home to Gujarat. Next time, you will see a different Nirma; even today she was saying that ‘I will do even better’. Today she ran the last 3-4 kms alone, and as and when she gets better competition she will improve further. She has a strong heart, and is a rhythmic runner – heart, lungs and rhythm – marathon is about these three things.”
He added that it is hard to find someone as focused as Kartik Karkera, as the athlete hardly thinks about anything else apart from training.
“It is hard to find someone like Kartik; even my children are inspired by him. He is with me since two years. In these two years he has never even tasted one teaspoon of white sugar, such is his discipline. When to eat, what to eat, when to train, apart from this he hardly thinks of anything else.”
Race Director & CMD of NEB Sports Nagaraj Adiga, speaking on the occasion, noted that the annual race is getting bigger with each passing edition.
“Every year, the New Delhi Marathon is becoming bigger and better, with the cream of India taking part in the event. The presence of several athletes from other countries is the crowning glory for us.”
In the other key races, Kuldip Kumar (01:08:51) and Genet Shikur Reshid (01:19:36) grabbed the bragging rights in the half-marathons. Ravi Bumbak (01:09:33) and Mohmmad Sahil Anigeri (01:09:41) took the next two positions among men, as did Ekta Ekta (01:19:39) and Priti Lamva (01:19:59) among women.
Results:
Marathon (Men): 1. Kartik Jayraj Karkera (02:13:10); 2. Gopi Thonakal (02:13:12); 3. Man Singh (02:13:15)
Marathon (Women): 1. Thakor Nirmaben Bharatjee (02:41:15); 2. Bhagirathi (02:43:28); 3. Ashwini Madan Jadhav (02:56:59)
Half-Marathon (Men): 1. Kuldip Kumar (01:08:51); 2. Ravi Bumbak (01:09:33); 3. Mohmmad Sahil Anigeri (01:09:41)
Half-Marathon (Women): 1. Genet Shikur Reshid (01:19:36); 2. Ekta Ekta (01:19:39); 3. Priti Lamva (01:19:59)
10K (Men): 1. Manav Sharma (0:30:40); 2. Prakash Rai (0:30:44); 3. Vishal Singh (0:34:45)
10K (Women): 1. Anjali (0:37:05); 2. Neha Neha (0:41:50); 3. Anupriti Mishra (0:41:48)
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