Braving the morning chill, residents from all parts of the Capital came out in large numbers and joined several celebrities to participate in the Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday. As many as 32,500 runners participated in the Half Marathon 2014, which offered total prize money of $2,62,167.
Ethiopian national Guye Adola and Kenyan national Florence Kiplagat took the honours in the men and women categories respectively. Both won a prize money of $27,000 each. Adola demolished the course record to emerge triumphant in the international elite men’s category.
Reacting to her victory, Florence, who was also the defending champion, said she did not feel any pressure to retain the title but had faith in herself. In the International Elite Women category, she clocked 01.10.04, beating compatriot Gladys Cherono (01.10.05).
The fastest among the Indian participants were Suresh Kumar and Preeja Sreedharan. Preeja successfully defended her title (01.19.03) followed by Monika Athare 01.19.12 and Sudha Singh 01.19.21.
“I trained for the half-marathon in Trivandrum, where it was comparatively hotter, due to which I had to acclimatise to the cold weather here. But I am happy to defend my title and win a half-marathon for the second time in a row,” she said, adding that she will soon head on a holiday to concentrate on her family.
Also running were actor Bipasha Basu and cricketer Gautam Gambhir. Bipasha is also the face of the seventh edition of the event, sponsored by Airtel. The race also witnessed participation by other famous people including industrialist Anil Ambani, and actors Rahul Bose and Gul Panag. Among dignitaries present to cheer the participants and athletes were Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore.
The event also brought international athlete Paula Radcliffe to India for the first time. She was the brand ambassador of the Delhi Half Marathon 2014.
The 21-km half marathon began from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at 6.40 a.m.