Jegadheesan Munuswamy and Shailaja Sridhar won the full marathon in the men’s and women’s categories of the Wipro Chennai Marathon held here on Sunday.
The 28-year old Jegadheesan, who’s been a full-time runner for the past three years, said: “I trained very hard. I was determined to participate and believed that I would do well. This win is very special for me. The event was very well organised.” He had finished second in the competition last year.
She might not be a full-time runner but Shailaja Sridhar, a housewife from Delhi who assists her friend in e-commerce on a part-time basis, has also been a regular at marathons across the country for the past three years. She intends to participate in the Boston Marathon for the second successive time.
“I am from Delhi and I am delighted to have won in Chennai. I have been running for the last three years and have taken part in the Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad marathons. I am eagerly awaiting the Boston marathon this year.
My practice includes three running sessions apart from cycling once or twice a week and yoga on a regular basis. I would also like to thank the volunteers who were very helpful.”
Soji Mathew, the half marathon winner from Kerala who represented the group ‘Soles of Cochin’, has participated in over 50 marathons so far. “I have participated in over 50 marathons and I take part in 4 to 5 marathons every year. Running in Chennai was a challenge because of the humid conditions but the arrangements were excellent and the people were very friendly and cheered me throughout.”
Around 16,000 runners participated in the ‘Spirit of Chennai’ run on Sunday. The full marathon commenced at 4 a.m. from Kasturba Nagar MRTS station and covered a distance of 42.2 km while the half marathon started at 4.30 a.m. from the same venue and spun a distance of 21.1 km. The 10km run that saw the maximum participation, started at 7 a.m. from Napier Bridge. The CPT-IP ground was the finish point for all three categories.
The results: Full Marathon: Men: 1. Jegadheesan Munuswamy (2:35:20), 2. Bairavanathan (2:41:49); 3. Nagesh Pawar (2:44:11).
Women: 1. Shailaja Sridhar (3:49:36), 2. Helena (3:54:45), 3. Sneka (4:20:00).
Half Marathon: Men: 1. Soji Mathew (1:11:26), 2. B.C. Tilak (1:13:56), 3. Vinod Kumar (1:14:45).
Women: 1. Padmavathy (1:31:21), 2. Poongodi (1:40:39), 3. Vasantha Mani (1:42:11).
