NEW DELHI: The infamous pollution in Delhi refused to dampen the spirits of Indian elites who smashed the course records in their respective categories at the 2017 edition of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday.
Indian elites Nitendra Singh Rawat and L Suriya broke the course records in their respective categories, with Rawat taking home the Indian Elite Men’s title beating defending champion G Lakshmanan in a photo finish (1:03:53). Avinash Sable came third with 1:03:58. Over 34,000 runners participated in the race.
Rawat, Lakshmanan and Sable also beat the course record set by Deepchand Saharan in 2009 of 1:04:00. Rawat said he had a point to prove by winning the race here. “I wanted to prove myself by winning this race so my strategy was to not take lead but keep going on until end. This win will prove that I belong to the national camp,” said Rawat while speaking to media.
L Suriya topped the Indian Elite Women’s category, who won the race by a minute. The 27-year old from Tamil Nadu set a course record with 1:10:31, beating Lalita Babar’s 2015 record at the event of 1:10:52. Her performance should be good enough to secure her a place on the start line of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in the Spanish city of Valencia next March, which would be her first global championship outing. Veteran Sudha Singh came second with 1:11:30 followed by Parul Chaudhary at 1:13:09.
None of the top athletes have expressed dissatisfaction over the weather conditions, which had prompted the Indian Medical Association to seek a ban on the marathon from the Delhi High Court earlier this week. The HC, after hearing organisers Procam International as well as the Delhi authorities, had ruled that the event could proceed as planned with the organisers’ promise to take precautions.
Winner of 2015 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon Berhanu Legese repeated his feat on Sunday winning the Men’s Elite Category in 59:46. Making her half marathon debut, reigning 10,000m world champion and world record holder Almaz Ayana beat the women’s field with 1:07:11.
Legese, who led Ethiopia’s 1-2 placing with compatriot Andamlak Belihu coming in five seconds later, later said, “The weather was great, there was no issue at all. In fact the weather was favourable for a run like this. I would love to come back to Delhi to participate in the event again.”
Sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore flagged off the race in the presence of event ambassador Anthony Ervin and former sports minister Vijay Goel.
Reigning world 10,000m champion Ayana, who led home an Ethiopian clean sweep of the podium positions in the women’s race, said, “There were not many good track competitions so I decided to participate in this event. I always run to win, and this race too wasn’t different.” When asked if she would come back to Delhi after making a winning debut, “Yes, I will come back next year,” Ayana said at her post race interview.
The winners got richer by $27,000 while runners-up got $20,000 and third-placed runners earned $13,000. First placed Indian Elite athletes earned Rs 300,000 with runners up getting Rs 2,50,000 and third placed runners winning Rs 175,000. A course record jackpot of Rs 200,000 will be shared amongst all three Indian Elite Men’s winners Rawat, Lakshmanan and Sable, while L Suriya will have the entire sum to herself.
