India’s best long-distance runners will be vying for the top spot when they compete alongside world-class athletes in the country’s premier 42.195 km race, the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, to b
India’s best long-distance runners will be vying for the top spot when they compete alongside world-class athletes in the country’s premier 42.195 km race, the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, to be held in the city on Sunday. The marathon takes place from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Bandra via the Bandra-Worli Sealink.
The full marathon for the first time falls in a compulsory timed category with over 5,000 runners.
A total of 40,285 runners from different corners of the world will take centrestage at the 13th edition of SCMM. This includes 14,431 registrations for the half marathon and 18,934 entries in the Dream Run. Other categories like DHL Corporate Champions received 364 entries, while the senior citizen run had 899 entries, Champions With Disability saw 363 entries and the Police Cup had 64 registrations.
Asia’s richest marathon with a prize money of USD 3,77,000 will see an array of Indian and international athletes at the start line. Leading the international pack will be course record holders, Jackson Kiprop and Valentine Kipketer gunning for the title amongst other world-class athletes.
The Indian contingent will be led by the Olympic trio of O.P. Jaisha, Sudha Singh and Lalita Babar.
O.P. Jaisha is one of the top women athletes from Kerala and is the current marathon national record holder. She achieved this record here last year.
In the men's category all hopes will be centered on Nitendra Singh Rawat, who made his mark at the recently held World Military Games and qualified for the Rio Olympics. As has been seen in the past, foreign contestants are most likely to take the top three spots, considering the intense preparations they undergo.
The event has helped to raise more than Rs 150 crore towards charity in the last 12 years, benefiting hundreds of NGOs. The figures raised for charity through the event have seen a meteoric rise, from Rs 1.44 crore in 2004 to Rs 24.71 crores in 2015.
This year, organisers expect the figure raised for charity to cross Rs 25 crore. So far, funds have been collected for 287 NGOs with the support of 157 companies, who are fielding 266 teams.
