Kochi: National champion Jyoti Gawate and Arjun Pradhan will lead the women’s and men’s elite field in the inaugural Kochi Marathon here on Monday.
The marathon will flag off from Maharaja’s College Ground and will take place in four categories of Marathon (42.195km), Half Marathon (21.097km), 10km Run and 3km Green Run.
Over 6000 runners from 20 states have registered for the marathon across India.
Among the top runners in the women’s elite category is Jyoti, who won the New Delhi Marathon. Her personal best is 2:45:48 while her best in the 25 kilometres is 1:35:35.
She will fight for the top honours along with Ashvini Jadhav who has a best of 3:00:54, while her best in 10 km is 40:34, and Arpita Saini, who has a PB of 3:14:20, will also compete in the women’s elite category.
In the men’s elite category, the field will be led by Arjun, who has his personal best timing at 2:20:06 in marathons and 1:05:30 in half marathon.
Arjun will be challenged by the likes of Anil Kumar Yadav, Vipul Kumar and Neeraj Kumar Maurya.
Two other prominent runners in the half marathon include Amarjeet Singh Chawla and Lata Alimchandani.
While Chawla is visually impaired and has successfully completed 146 half marathon and 229 runs, Alimchandani is the first Indian woman over 60 to complete the world marathon majors. She will also take part in the half marathon.
The runners of these races will compete for total prize money pool of Rs. 10 lakhs.
