Olympian Gopi Thonakkal wins the Marathon Elite Male Indian
By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Jan 16:
The Ethiopian long distance runner Hayle Berhanu Lemi won the International Elite Full Marathon title by completing the 42.195 km run within 02 hours, 07 minutes and 32 seconds, in the TATA Mumbai Marathon 2023 held in Mumbai in which over 55,000 people participated on Sunday.
Philemon Rono Hailu (Kenya) (02:08:55), Zewdu (Ethiopia) (02:10:23), emerged second and third respectively in the race which began from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in South Mumbai at 5.15 am.
The 18 th edition of the Marathon was categorised as : Full Marathon(42.195 kms), Half Marathon(21.097 kms), 10 km run, Dream run(6.6 km), Senior citizens run (4.7 km),and champions with disability(2.1 km). The Half Marathon began from Reti Bunder, Mahim in Central Mumbai.
Marathon Elite Male Indian
Olympian Gopi Thonakkal, the first Indian male to win the Asian MarAsian Marathon Championship in 2017, clocked 2:16:41 to finish on top of the domestic Elites and 10th overall. Gopi, returned to competition after three years following knee surgery. The Indian Army runner was followed by Man Singh (2:16:58), who was 17 seconds behind, and Kalidas Hirave (2:22:00).
Other Results
Marathon Elite Women: Anchalem Haymanot (Ethiopia) (02:24:15), Rahma Tusa (Ethiopia) (02:24:22) (second), Letebrhan Haylay (Ethiopia) (02:24:52) (Third). Marathon Elite Women Indian: Chavi Yadav (02:50:35), Arti Patil (03:00:44), Renu Singh (03:01:11) and Jigmet Dolma (03:01:11). Half Marathon Men: Murli Gavit (01:05:20), Ankit Deshwal (01:05:48) and Deepak Kumbhar (01:05:51). Half Marathon Women:Parul Chaudhary (01:15:07), Nandini Gupta (01:24:12) and Poonam Soune (01:24:59).
Prizes
Prize money for Tata Mumbai Marathon Elite Run was: 1st: $45,000, 2nd: $25,000, 3rd: $17,000, 4th: $12,000, 5th: $8,000. Winner among Indian Elite Marathoners-Rs two lakh. Top overall Half Marathon fishers- Rs one lakh (first), Rs 75000 (second) and Rs 60,000 (Third),
The Ethiopian duo of Hayle Lemi and Anchalem Haymanot won with new course records to take home the USD 45,000 winners prize and a course record bonus of USD 15,000 each.
The participants including amateurs, fitness enthusiasts and the world’s best distance runners, took to the streets of Mumbai in the Marathon which is held on the third Sunday of January every year.
Corporate leaders, including Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran, Administrator BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, actors, models, senior citizens and elite runners and amateurs turned up for the race.
