20K participants in Chennai marathon; Kovai man wins

CHENNAI: More than 20,000 runners participated in the 11th edition of Chennai marathon held by Chennai Runners here on Sunday. For the full marathon, in male category, Vinod Kumar Srinivasan from Coimbatore won the award, while Kenyan runner Brigid Jerend Kimitwai won the female category.

The marathon, besides having over 20,000 runners, consisted of 30 debutant runners with visual impairment, 50 blade runners and 50 participants using wheelchairs. Additionally, the marathon saw a range of runners from professionals, passionate runners, groups from various corporates across Chennai and people participating in the marathon for the first time.

The marathon conducted in the city was the largest running event to be held in Chennai and second-largest for the country. The marathon had four events for men and women, including a full marathon (42.195 km), which was the flagship race of the event. Other events included, the perfect 20 miler (32.186 km), the half marathon (21.097 km) and the 10 km run. Overall the winners were given Rs 20 lakh worth prize money.

Brigid, the female winner of the marathon said, "This is my first time participating in a marathon ever. I trained for 3 months in Kenya to win. I hope to come next year too."

Meanwhile Vinoth, male winner of the marathon said, "This is my 30th marathon. I couldn't complete my first 10 marathons but then I slowly started improving with training."

Vinoth is participating in the Chennai marathon for the 5th time, managing to win fourth in 2018, second in 2019 and third in 2020.

"This is a result of my continuous training. I trained for 3 months at Coonor at high altitude as preparation,” added Vinoth.