Gopi, Athare won men's and women's races in New Delhi Marathon

Thanackal Gopi and Monika Athare on 26 February 2017 won the men’s and women’s title in the second edition of the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon.

The Rio Olympian Gopi won the men’s full marathon by clocking 2 hours, 15 minutes and 37 seconds. This was his first appearance in the race. Gopi, who is from Army Sports Institute in Pune, has already qualified for the World Athletics Championships to be held in London in August 2017. Earlier, he had clocked 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds while finishing 25th during Rio Olympics.

Olympic Champion Eliud Kipchoge Wins Delhi Half Marathon

Bahadur Singh Dhoni, also from Army Sports Institute, finished the race at the second position, while TH Sanjith was third.
The second and third finishers also breached the World Championships qualifying time of 2 hours and 19 minutes.

In women's full marathon, Monika Athare from Nashik completed the race in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 08 seconds. This was her maiden title at this distance. She also qualified for the World Championships breaching the entry standard. Athare was followed by Jyoti Gawate in the second position, while Ranjan Kumari finished at the third position.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and legendary distance runner Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia flagged off all the categories of the New Delhi Marathon.

Results of the half marathon

• Men’s title: G Lakshamanan won the title in men’s half marathon. Man Singh was second while Olympian marathoner Kheta Ram was third.

• Women’s title: Manju Yadav won the women's half marathon. Arpita Saini was second while Neetu Singh was third.