The 10th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon will offer Rs. 1 lakh as incentive to Indians setting a course record.
Winners among Indians in the men’s and women’s full marathon will be richer by Rs 4.5 lakh each, the corresponding winners in the half marathon stand to gain $2,000 each.
Not surprisingly, the event has attracted entries from over 100 Indians in the full and half marathon categories. Elam Singh and Monika Athare stand out among the Indian.
Last year Elam finished behind London Olympian Ram Singh Yadav in 2:18:27 and is aiming for a win this time. Monika is looking at testing herself against leading Indian runners Lalita Babbar, runner-up Kiran Tiwari and Shastri Devi.
B.C. Tilak will move from the half-marathon to the full distance for the first time. Indian dominance in the half-marathon is expected to continue. Defending champion Soji Mathew will face competition from a clutch of 10,000 runners, including Man Singh, Laxman Singh, Kheta Ram and M.D. Yunus.
Also, the ‘Turbaned Tornado’ Fauja Singh, the England-based Sikh, will make his debut here competing in the senior citizens’ run over 4.3km. The 101-year-old Indian, who started running at the age off 88, has a personal best 6:02:00 at the 2003 London Marathon.
