New Delhi: India’s top marathon runners will compete in Sunday’s New Delhi Marathon, a qualifying event for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in September-October. However, they lamented the 4am start to the elite race, concerned about running in the dark which they felt might not be conducive to give their best timings.
The race will be flagged off from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The marathon races in elite category starting at 4am, followed by open category (4.05am), half marathon (06.15am), 10k (07.45am) and 5k (8.30) races.
Among the Indian elite runners will be Rio Olympian T Gopi, who came close to breaking the national marathon record in Valencia, Spain in December. Defending champion Man Singh, AB Belliyappa, Anish Thapa, Kartik Karkera are also in the field. The women’s line-up will have Bhagirathi Bisht, who won the New Delhi Marathon 2025, Nirmaben Thakor Bharatjee and Ashwini Madan Jadhav, among others.
All eyes will be on Army runner Gopi who clocked a personal best of 2:12:23 in Valencia, where he came 46th. The 37-year-old was close to breaking the long-standing national record of 2:12:00, set in 1978 by the late Shivnath Singh. He will look to meet the Asian Games qualifying standard (2:15:04) set by the Athletics Federation of India. The women’s qualifying standard is 2:31:52.
“We’ve prepared well and will give our best. The only challenge is the 4am start. It is too early when there is darkness and the glare of the lights. In one of the races here, when the start was this early, some of us took a different route by mistake,” Gopi told HT. “Organisers need to look into these things, especially when this is an important race where Asian Games qualification is at stake,” he said.
Man Singh said since the weather is pleasant, the start could have been pushed to 5.30am or 6am. “They might have kept it so early for traffic issues. But it is difficult for the runners to race so early. It is very dark at that time. We have not trained for a 4am start.”
“The Army team has been training together (Gopi, Belliyappa) and we are pushing each other. We competed in Valencia and skipped the Mumbai Marathon (January) to prepare for this meet. The course is good and flat here for a good race. We will give our best shot,” he said.
