KOCHI: He had never run a full marathon before and on Sunday when C. John Paul tried it at the IDBI Federal Life Insurance Spice Coast Marathon here, it turned out to be a winning one at Willingdon Island.
“I used to do half marathons before and I've got second and third positions,” said the 30-year-old Paul who hails from Irinjalakuda. “The race was okay but the humidity was an issue and I could not sleep well last night. I am surprised by the victory but I expected a faster time.”
Paul won the main event, the 42.2km run, in 3:07.05s. A. Ayub (3:14.55) and C.A. Benson (3:22.31) finished second and third. Shino Mol staved off a strong challenge from Marla Hall (5:11.18s) to win the women's marathon in 5:11:18s with Aruav Pillai finishing third.
Nearly 7000 runners, running in various categories including the half marathon and the 7km fun run, took part in the event which was flagged off by Sachin Tendulkar. The cricket great also gave away the prizes and the presence of actor Tovino Thomas lit up the day.
M.P Nabeel Sahi won the men's half marathon in 1:19.57s with Avinesh Kumar (1:23.05s) and M.P Aswin (1:26:30) taking the next two prizes. Merina Mathew took the honours in the women's half marathon in 1:51.08s while Marta Ceconni (1:56.25s) and Josmy Joseph (2:02.09s) were second and third.
The main event, the marathon, began at 3.30 p.m. but it was the fun run which truly lit up the morning. There were people running with familes and many with colleagues. And there was one 70-member group, from the BPCL, which virtually let the world know what they desperately wanted.
'Don't sell BPCL, save BPCL, stop privatisation' ...the slogans had a prominent place on their tees.
The marathon had some very interesting characters too, like 103-year-old E.P. Parameswaran Moothath and 90-year-old P.C. Jacob.
Tendulkar appeared very impressed with Parameswaran and Jacob.
“I was lucky to meet Parameswaran, he's a role model. These are possibly the greatest examples of what we are going to achieve in a healthy and fit Kerala,” he said.
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