THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Muniyappan M, a professional long-distance runner from Tamil Nadu, lifted the coveted 42 km Full Marathon title of Trivandrum Marathon, which elicited huge response from within and outside the state, giving a sporting thrust to rebuild the rain-shattered Kerala.
A member of Genesis Sports Foundation, Coimbatore, Muniyappan covered the distance by 2 hours, 45 minutes and 45 seconds. Harman Bishnoi from Rajasthan (03:00:07) and Vinod Kumar (03:13:43) finished the runner-up and second runner up in the segment.
Giving away prizes, totalling Rs 10 lakh, to winners of different race categories of the event “Run for Kerala—Run to Rebuild”, Minister for Industries, Sports and Youth Affairs, E P Jayarajan today said the marathon will be held in all district centres annually. He said the response to the event was quite heartening, as people had turned to participate voluntarily in an assertion of unity and fraternity.
Principal Secretary, Sports and Youth Affairs, A Jayathilak, Director Sports and Youth Affairs Sanjayankumar , and President, Trivandrum Runners Club, N S Abhayakumar were present.
In 21 Km half marathon for men, Rahul Kamal (01:12:07) bagged the first prize and Abhilash R (01:12:34) and Ram Kumar C (1:14:46) finished the second and third. In the 21 Km run for women, Kalaiselvi from Trichy, TN,(01:40:37) lifted the first prize, followed by Reshmi Dwivedi from Uttar Pradesh (1:54:39) and Zoya Zia (02:01:27), finishing second and third.
In the 10Km road race for women, Preetha Sujeetha Warrier (00:57:22) raced past her close chasers Ambika Ramachandran (01:00:19) and Tania Liz Pradeep (01:00:20) to corner the first three positions respectively. In the 10 Km road race for men, Abhinand Sundaresan (00:41:47), followed by Appala Naidu (00:43:03) and Sivaparasad K (00:43:37) lifted the prizes.
Technopark-based UST Global, which emerged the winner in Corporate Run segment, was presented the Ever Rolling Trophy by Jayathilak.*
