Delhi Half-Marathon – The Hindu

Gulveer Singh and Abhishek Pal will lead the Indian challenge while Sanjivani Jadhav and Lili Das will headline the women’s field at the 20th Vedanta Delhi Half-Marathon. 

The marathon, to be flagged off on October 12 from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, has a prize purse of $260000 with $27,000 each for the men’s and women’s champions. A special performance bonus of Rs. 2 lakh has been announced for any Indian athlete who sets a new event record along with an additional $2,000 for a sub-60-minute finish. 

Gulveer, the national record holder in 5k and 10k and the reigning Asian champion in both events, will be participating in his first road race this year and only his third road event after the Tata Steel 25k last year and the TCS World 10K in 2022.

Abhishek, the Indian winner in 2023, is in good form after winning the 10k in April and a 5k-10k double at the National Inter-State senior athletics championships last month. 

 Lili Das.
| Photo Credit:
File Photo: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Among women, defending Indian champion Lili will be hoping to retain her title but would expect stiff competition from Sanjivani, twice former champion here and winner of the World 10K Bengaluru this year, and the 2023 winner Kavita Yadav.

Meanwhile, Ethiopians Alemaddis Eyayu and Jemal Mekonen would be among the top international names in the women’s and men’s sections respectively with defending champion Alemaddis hoping to retain her title.

The 29-year old Mekonen, with a personal best of 58:33, will be looking to go under the one-hour mark in his maiden appearance. He will be joined by Kenya’s Benard Biwott and Olympic 5,000m silver medallist Ronald Kwemoi in his half-marathon debut with eight sub-60-minute runners among the starters.

Alemaddis, who won in 1:08.17 last year, will face strong challenge from fellow Ethiopian and former half-marathon world record holder Ababel Yeshanesh and Kenyans Lilian Rengeruk and Catherine Amangole.