Kochi (Kerala)[India], February 16 : Harshad Mhatre, who hails from Maharashtra, and represents India Railways, won the Kochi Marathon 2024.
The 28-year-old Harshad Mhatre finished the full marathon in the men's category in what was a photo finish after clocking a time of 2:35:50 hours. Dinesh Kisan Patil, who also hails from Maharashtra finished second with the same timing in the Kochi Marathon, a coveted event in the country. Meanwhile, Ramavath Ramesh Chandra, who is a native of Telangana, finished third after clocking a time of 2:38:37 hours.
In the women's category, it was once again a Maharashtra woman, who dominated the race from the start to the end. Arati Patil was crowned as the champion as she finished the marathon with a time of 03:37:03 hours. Kerela's Anju Murukan, who clocked a timing of 04:25:17, finished second in the full marathon.
In the Half Marathon (21.097 KM), it was Nabeel Shah, who emerged victorious in the men's category. Nabeel Shah clocked a finish time of 1:17:43 hours. Sajith KM, with a finish time of 1:19:56 hours, and Rajesh Thankachan, with a finish time of 01:22:47 hours, finished second and third respectively in the men's half marathon.
In the women's half marathon, it was Jolsana Anthony, who bagged the first prize with a timing of 1:38:25 hours. Neena Katwal, with a timing of 1:40:47 hours, and Gayathri G, who clocked the finish time of 1:45:00 hours, finished second and third respectively.
Commenting on the success of the Kochi Marathon, M V S Murthy, Chief Marketing Officer, Federal Bank, said, "We would have clocked close to 100,000 km in the 2nd Edition of the Federal Bank Kochi Marathon. Super proud that we hosted runners from 10 different countries / 21 states / ~500 specially-abled athletes and brought the World to Kochi in #GodsOwnCountry for the #GodsOwnMarathon.
The journey of a mile begins with the first step. We will continue to build the running community across the country by offering them and their families Kochi, as a reason to travel and experience the God's Own Country in a run or simply walking around town."
Meanwhile, in the 10K Run, in the men's category, it was Sreerag AS, who emerged triumphant with a timing of 00:33:35 hours. Prabhakar K, who clocked a finish time of 00:39:57 hours, and Ravi A, with a finish time of 00:40:13 hours, finished in second and third place respectively.
In the women's category of the 10K Run, it was Beena George, who finished first with a timing of 00:40:41 hours. The second place was bagged by Akshaya K with a finish time of 00:46:25 hours. Tesna Joseph clocked a finish time of 00:46:55 timing.
A 3 km Green Run and 1.3 km 'The Special Run' for the differently-abled was held in association with the Raksha Society.
The winners were felicitated by V. Abdurahiman, Minister for Sports, Government of Kerala; Justice Devan Ramachandran, Kerala High Court Judge were the chief guests at the prize distribution ceremony. N. Ravi, DIG, Indian Coast Guard; Indian former netball and basketball player and actress Prachi Tehlan; Cine Actor Hakim Shah, Federal Bank Executive Director Shalini Warrier, Chief Mentor Ashuthosh Khajuria, Aster Medcity Kochi Operations Head Dhanya Shyamalan and Lulu Group India Commercial Manager Sadhik Kasim.
The marathon was flagged off at 4 AM at the Maharajas College Ground here by V.K. Raju, Assistant Commissioner of Police and M.V.S. Murthy, Chief Marketing Officer, Federal Bank. Former sports persons Sathish Pillai, T.C. Yohannan, Indian Volleyball player Rajanpreet Singh, Federal Bank MD and CEO Shyam Srinivasan, Assistant Commissioner of Police Jayakumar, official Medical Director of the marathon Johnson K. Varghese, Gardenia Cosmotrade LLP (Tiger Balm) Partner Puneet Motiani and Haw Par India Pvt. Ltd. (Tiger Balm) Country Head Dipanjan Ghosh were present on the occasion.
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