This story is from October 20, 2014

Tirath, Shyamli triumph in Bengaluru marathon

Thousands of runners from the city and many hundreds from other cities made the most of a cool Sunday morning in the Garden City as they pushed themselves to be competitive in various distances in the inaugural Bengaluru marathon.
Tirath, Shyamli triumph in Bengaluru marathon
Thousands of runners from the city and many hundreds from other cities made the most of a cool Sunday morning in the Garden City as they pushed themselves to be competitive in various distances in the inaugural Bengaluru marathon.
BANGALORE: Thousands of runners from the city and many hundreds from other cities made the most of a cool Sunday morning in the Garden City as they pushed themselves to be competitive in various distances in the inaugural Bengaluru marathon.
Before daybreak, marathon runners were flagged off by running legend Haile Gebrselassie who exhorted them to give off their best.
Around 1,000 runners took to the streets at 5 am and they were followed by the half marathon runners with around 4,000 runners getting on to the roads at 6 am.
With no foreigner in the elite athlete field, the Army runners made a clean sweep of honours in men's full marathon, which saw Tirath Kumar of 58 Gorkha Training Centre finishing first in 2 hours, 25.51 seconds.
It was faster than his time of 2::33: 30 at the Mumbai marathon in January.
"It was a good race and the weather was nice. I came after some rigorous training in Hyderabad," the 25-year-old sepoy, who migrated from Nepal, said about the race which took the runners through Old Madras road, Indiranagar 100 feet road, CMH road and inner ring road to Wilson Garden and back to Sree Kanteerava stadium, Tirath's colleague Krishna Singh finished second a full minute behind while his senior Neeraj Pal Singh was two minutes off the pace in third place.

In the women's full marathon the honours went to Shyamli Singh in 3 hours, 16 minutes, 18 seconds followed by Sudha Vig (3::17:20) and Jyothi Gawate (3::29:07s). The winners in both the races won a prize money of Rs 2 lakh, 1.5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively.
The organizers' lack of experience in conducting such a mega event came to the fore in the men's half marathon as the leading bunch, comprising some of India's best runners, lost its way after the half-way mark apparently "with the pilot vehicle losing its direction." The lucky break helped Dasari Vasu take the winner's cheque of Rs 1 lakh, followed by Nirmal Kumar and BC Tilak who won 50,000 and 30,000 each.
However, the women's race did not have such problems as the officials managed to salvage the competition. The 2006 Asian Games gold medalist, Sudha Singh quelled the challenge from young L Suriya to win in 1 hour 18.23 minutes. Kavita Raut, returning from a stress fracture, claimed the third place in 1 hour, 20.26 seconds.
"I was training for the Open Nationals (November 2-5) and today's race was a good preparation for that. Now I can take a short break," said Sudha who had continued her training after finishing fourth at the Incheon Games. Bronze winner Kavita Raut was happy with her effort. "Bangalore is like a second home for India campers and so we knew the weather. It went according to plan and I'm happy with my result."
RESULTS: Full Marathon:
Elite: Men: 1. Tirath Kumar (2::25:51s), 2. Krishna Singh (2::26.07s), 3. Neeraj Pal Singh (2::27.03s).
Women: 1. Shyamli Singh (3::16:18), 2. Sudha Vig (3::17:20), 3. Jyothi Gawate (3::29:09s).
Open: Men: 1. Raja Raja (2::34:28s), 2. Jagadheesan M (2::39:33), 3. Prakash Dasade (2::55:02).
Women: 1. Ere Buguler (3::39:57s), 2. Elizabeth Chapman (3::46:06), 3. Bhagawati Bhagawati (3::51:48).
Half-Marathon: Elite: Men: 1. Dasari Vasu (1::11:57s), 2. Nirmal Kumar (1::12:10), 3. BC Tilak (1::12:18).
Women: 1. Sudha Singh (1::18:23), 2. L Suriya (1::19:12), 3. Kavita Raut (1::20:26).
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