India’s Second Biggest Marathon, NMDC Hyderabad Marathon Powered by IDFC First Bank was held on Sunday. It was its 12th edition. The two-day Annual Running Ritual culminated with Full, Half and 10 K Runs.
Shri. C.V.Anand, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner and Shri Vinay Kumar- Director Technical, NMDC jointly flagged off Full Marathon.
Shri Ronald Rose, IAS, Commissioner GHMC, Shri Vinay Kumar, Shri. Naarayan T V, Chief Mktg Officer IDFC FIRST BANK flagged off the Half Marathon
Shri V Vaidyanathan - MD & CEO - IDFC FIRST Bank; Shri Amit Sinha - Country Head - Branch Banking - IDFC FIRST Bank kick-started 10 K Run.
The top three winners of the Men Full Marathon were Gopi Thonakal (Bib No: 980), finished in 02:33:38; Thirtha Kumar Pun(Bib No: 977) time: 02:26:11 and Stephen Kosgei(Bib No: 955) Time: 02:26:11.
The top three women winners in this category were Tamsi Singh (Bib No: 903), finished in time: 03:06:24; Yamini Thaler (Bib No: 913), Time: 03:12:33 and Dorcas Tarus(Bib No: 926), Time: 03:16:28.
The winners of the Half Marathon in Men category were Ramesh Boddipalli (Bib No 20244) finished in time: 1:15:06; Sujith K(Bib No: 23588), time: 01:15:36 and Manoj K(Bib No: 23590), time: 01:15:54.
The Women winners in this category were Preenu Yadav (Bib No; 20224), finished in time: 01:32:55; Navya Vadde (Bib No: 20243), time: 01:33:20 and Faheem Firdose (Bib No: 22752), time: 01: 41:41
The 10 K winners in the Men category are Vinit (Bib No: 10852) clocked 00:32:24 time; Ramesh Chandra Ramavath (Bib No: 11892) time: 00:33:42 and Abdul Salam (Bib No;17376), time: 00:34:37 and women category are Bhagyalaxmi Donthu (Bib No: 18441), time: 00:43:06; Gunja Kumari (Bib No: 14661) time: 00:43:58 and Theyana Baskaran (Bib No: 14681), time: 00:52:29.
The first three winners of the full marathon in both men's and women's categories walked away with Rs 2.5, 2 and 1.5 lakh cash prizes respectively. The top three Half Marathon winners netted cash prizes of Rs 25000, 20,000 and 15000 respectively and 10 K winners Rs 20,000; 15000 and 10,000.
·The total prize money for the 12th edition was Rs.27,00,000.
The organisers, Hyderabad Runners have introduced a new category New Course Record and gave away rupees one lakh for each men and women winner as cash prize.
The Full and Half Marathons started from People’s Plaza Necklace Road and ended in Gachibowli Stadium. The 10 K Marathon began from Hitex and ended at Gachibowli Stadium.
The half and full marathons travelled through the important landmarks in the city giving the runners a picturesque view of the Hussain Sagar Lake, Raj Bhavan Road, KBR Park, Jubilee Hills Road No. 45, Durgam Cheruvu Cable Bridge, Bio-diversity Junction, University of Hyderabad and finishes at Gachibowli Stadium
The 10K Run which started from Hitex Grounds and merged with the Half and Full Marathon route near IKEA Circle and finished at Gachibowli Stadium
Speaking on the occasion CV Anand said the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon is the prestigious calendar of events and happenings of Hyderabad that has got international recognition and reputation. It is the signature event of the city and has international participation in it. Police too own this event and extend the fullest support and cooperation as it contributes to the active lifestyle of the people.
The GHMC Commissioner Ronald Rose while interacting with the media on the sidelines of the event said the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon is a feather in the cap of the city. The GHMC too extends full support and cooperation for the smooth conduct of the event. To take running culture further and inculcate this into non-runners, we extend support to Hyderabad Runners by allowing them to use 12 major parks of GHMC for training and roping more into the fold of running.
On the whole, 21000 registered to participate. 1400 participated in the full Marathon, 4000 in the Half Marathon and 8700 in the 10K. 6500 participated in the 5K, which was held yesterday. 500 participated from various NGOs.
NMDC Director Technical Mr Vinay Kumar, immediately after flagging off, also participated in the 10K Run along with his wife Mrs Babita Vinay Kumar and completed it successfully
The event saw Arundhati and a couple of others participating in saree, Sriram in Dhoti, and Isha Centre in traditional attire. The Marathon also had a unique runner Dr. Hariharan, a 74-year-old man, who is said to have participated in 250 Marathons since his age of 59 years. Don’t run for doctors, good health or for others. Run for fun and you will continue to run, he said. Running is like a stress buster, he said. Dr Hariharan says ‘ran’ is there in his name. He is said to have the unique distinction of having run seven continents, which not many Indians can boast. His admirers say that he has that unique distinction and he is the only second Indian to have such recognition.