Olympic bronze medallist and Commonwealth Games gold winner Sakshi Malik will flag off the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation Marathon here on December 8. More than 15,000 runners will participate.
The men's elite full marathon will be headlined by Army's Pradeep Singh, who boasts the fastest personal best of 2:16.55 in the field and is likely to face a strong challenge from Army-mate Dhanwant Prahlad, who has a personal best of 2:18.10.
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Two-time winner and last year's runner-up Mohit Rathor will also be in the fray. He holds the course record of 2:18.05, which he set in 2022. The women's half marathon will feature the defending champion Prajakta Godbole from Maharashtra, who has a personal best of 1:14.21, Phoolan Pal (personal best of 1:16.20), Archana Jadhav, and Tamsi Singh.
The half marathon elite men's event will be led by Arun Rathod, who is the fastest in the field, with a personal best of 1:04.39. He is set to face challenges from Dinesh (1:05.44) and Deepak Kumbhar (1:05.45). The total prize money in the event is Rs 58 lakh, from which the winner of the full marathon will win Rs 3 lakh while the winners of the half marathons will get Rs 2 lakh each.
Western Railway has sanctioned two special trains for participants to travel to Vasai and Virar, departing from Churchgate Station at 2:30am and 3:00 am, respectively. Cash prizes have also been announced for a photography competition.
Special buses have been also arranged by the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation to ferry participants from Vasai and Virar to the starting points of the half marathon, full marathon, 10K and 5K races.